Cambridge Graphene Centre
University of Cambridge research centre; origin institution for the CamGraPhIC graphene photonics spinout.
Last refreshed: 22 April 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Cambridge built the graphene; Italy got the factory. Is that the lab-to-factory gap in one announcement?
Timeline for Cambridge Graphene Centre
Co-founded CamGraPhIC with Professor Andrea Ferrari
UK Startups and Innovation: EC clears €211m Italian aid for Cambridge spinout- What does the Cambridge Graphene Centre do?
- It is a University of Cambridge research centre focused on graphene and two-dimensional materials, combining fundamental research with commercialisation through industry partnerships. Its highest-profile spinout is CamGraPhIC.
- What is the connection between the Cambridge Graphene Centre and CamGraPhIC?
- CamGraPhIC is a University of Cambridge spinout co-founded by Professor Andrea Ferrari of the Cambridge Graphene Centre. The Centre supplied the foundational graphene photonics research underpinning the company.Source: Lowdown
- Why is Cambridge graphene research ending up in Italian factories?
- The European Commission approved €211m of Italian state aid for CamGraPhIC, ten times any UK grant to a Cambridge spinout, making it economically rational to site manufacturing in Pisa and Bergamo rather than in Britain.Source: EC state-aid approval, April 2026
- Is the Cambridge Graphene Centre the same as the National Graphene Institute?
- No. The National Graphene Institute is in Manchester with a broader manufacturing focus. The Cambridge Graphene Centre is at the University of Cambridge, oriented towards photonics, electronics, and composites.
Background
The Cambridge Graphene Centre gained fresh prominence in April 2026 when Professor Andrea Ferrari, the Centre's founder, announced that the European Commission had approved €211m of Italian state aid for CamGraPhIC, the graphene photonics company he co-founded with Dr Marco Romagnoli. Ferrari described the award as the largest single grant ever made to a University of Cambridge spinout. The Centre supplied the foundational graphene research and the academic leadership from which CamGraPhIC emerged.
The Cambridge Graphene Centre is a research centre at the University of Cambridge focused on graphene and related two-dimensional materials. Established around 2013, it sits within the UK's graphene research ecosystem alongside the National Graphene Institute in Manchester, but is oriented towards photonics, electronics, and composite materials rather than Manchester's broader manufacturing focus. Its mission combines fundamental research with the commercialisation of graphene-derived technologies and industry partnerships, of which CamGraPhIC is the highest-profile product to date.
The CamGraPhIC outcome crystallises the strategic tension in the Centre's position. Its research is world-leading and its spinout capabilities are evidenced by the grant described as ten times any prior UK Cambridge award, yet the resulting manufacturing, jobs, and industrial capital have landed in Italy rather than Britain. The Centre thus becomes a case study in the lab-to-factory gap that Onward's Venturing Out policy series has been documenting for four years, and against which the UK Government's quantum commercialisation programme was explicitly designed as a corrective.
