Prime minister Tony Blair this week said there is "no reason" why Silicon Fen, the academic and industrial concentration of IT and electronics expertise and business in Cambridgeshire, cannot beat Silicon Valley, its rival in the United States. In an address to academics and entrepreneurs at St John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge, Mr Blair said research in the region rivals that of top US institutions like Berkeley and Stanford. Launching the government's report on e-commerce, the use of the internet for business, Mr Blair said British entrepreneurs can lead the world in exploiting the new practice.
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