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Cambridge has a well-deserved reputation as the UK's high-tech powerhouse, and 'Silicon Fen' continues to spawn companies with ground-breaking ideas.

Big names from the world of technology are constantly on the prowl looking to snap up the best the city has to offer. Last year, Apple bought VocalIQ, a speech recognition start-up, following on from Google's purchase of Deepmind and Amazon's acquisition of Evi, the team behind the technology which runs its new Echo system.

Then, of course, there is ARM Holdings, the chip design behemoth bought by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank earlier this month for £24bn, a record fee for a European technology company. Its global headquarters will remain

in the city, and is likely to double in size over the next decade.

It's likely you have an ARM design in your pocket or handbag, as they power the vast majority of the world's smartphones, as well as other devices, such as the Raspberry Pi. A single-board computer costing as little as £5, it was designed in Cambridge to give young people a renewed love for computing, and has become a global phenomenon since it launched in 2012.

This year the 10 millionth Pi was sold, and the company is on course to deliver profits of £7m, which will be ploughed back into its education arm, The Raspberry Pi foundation.

As David Cleevely, Raspberry Pi trustee and serial tech entrepreneur, put it: “Raspberry Pi has an innovative technology and innovative business model, and it's not by chance that it popped up in Cambridge, a place with a thriving eco-system which is the best of its type in the country."

Raspberry Pi is part of Cambridge's rich computing legacy, following in the footsteps of classic machines such as ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro, both of which were developed in the city.

And as new technology areas emerge, Cambridge companies seek to lead the way. Machine learning and artificial intelligence could have massive impact on our lives in years to come, and Darktrace is already making waves with its cyber-security software that uses machine learning techniques to block attacks by hackers before they occur.

Start-ups FiveAI, developing a new system for driverless cars, and Cambridge Medical Robotics, which wants to usher in a new generation of surgical robots for hospitals, are typical of the diverse group of companies looking to become the city's next 'unicorn' – a company worth more than $1bn.

Kate Kirk is co-author of the Cambridge Phenomenon: Global Impact, a book looking at Cambridge's success story.

“It is a small city that punches above its weight," she said. “The intriguing mix of technology sectors that make up the Cambridge cluster serves as a catalyst for all kinds of exciting innovations.

“Cambridge will never rest on its laurels – there's just too much going on. There's a strong pipeline of young companies across a variety of cutting-edge sectors that will be the success stories of tomorrow."