Cambridge has a long and storied history, going back to Roman times, when the town not only hosted a bridge over the Cam (the one next to Magdalene College today) but also was at the crossroads of east-west and north-south trade routes, as well as being the last navigable point from the North Sea. This made the town rich in trade and commerce, attracting at first monastics, and later scholars. This Wikipedia article is a good summary.

Today Cambridge encompasses not just the University of Cambridge but also Anglia Ruskin University as well as a thriving tech sector, mostly anchored at the southern end of town and with a strong presence of biotech companies, such as AstraZeneca, which is headquartered there.

As in the San Francisco Bay Area, the tech sector invigorates the city’s commerce, but has driven up housing costs to rival London.