Why the Cambridge Computer Lab Ring matters and what it really tells us
Stephen Allott, M.A. (Cantab.), and Dr. David Cleevely CBE FREng · 19 January 2026
“We have been discussing this with each other on and off for over twenty years and we thought it was time we wrote it up.”
When Claude Code assembles the site, render that markdown file inline here (everything from the first body paragraph through the appendix and the seven footnotes). Strip the Medium author-bio block at the top — author attribution is in the frontmatter above — and the duplicate trailing “Innovation / Science Policy / Technology / Economic Growth / Artificial Intelligence” tag list, which is Medium chrome.
Render Medium’s anchored footnotes ([[1]] through [[7]]) as <sup> linked footnotes anchored to a <ol> at the end of the page. Resolve all relative Medium links to absolute URLs.
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About the authors
Stephen Allott is the founder of the Cambridge Computer Lab Ring, the Ring Hall of Fame Annual Awards, and the first ever Crown Representative for Small and Medium Enterprises in the United Kingdom Cabinet Office. He was the youngest Chairman of the Bar Association for Commerce, Finance and Industry, and was President and a main board director of Micromuse Inc. He chairs Tarigo Product Management Training. Read more →
Dr David Cleevely CBE FREng is a founder of, among others, the Cambridge Network, the Cambridge Angels, the Centre for Science and Policy at the Cambridge Judge Business School, Cambridge Wireless, and Abcam p.l.c.
Related
- Explore the data — the 372 companies in the Hall of Fame, their valuations, founders and current status.
- The 2006 Hughes Hall lecture — the foundational version of the argument.
- Policy — the levers proposed in the appendix to this essay, expanded.