2015 news communityinterestcompanies 883x432 1

Community Interest Companies

3 July 2015

The article at a glance

Celebration planned at Cambridge Judge for 10-year anniversary of the Community Interest Company. The 10-year anniversary of the Community Interest Company (CIC) …

Celebration planned at Cambridge Judge for 10-year anniversary of the Community Interest Company.

Community Interest Companies

The 10-year anniversary of the Community Interest Company (CIC) will be celebrated at an event at Cambridge Judge on 14 July. The CIC Regulator, Sara Burgess, delivers the keynote speech.

A CIC was created by the UK Government in 2005 for entrepreneurs seeking to establish a business that benefits the community. CIC status is granted by the Regulator’s office, which also monitors compliance to the CIC’s stated community of interest.

About 11,000 CICs are currently registered in the UK. Among well-known CICs in the East of England are Healthwatch Cambridge, which aims to improve health and social care services through information sharing, and Open Book Publishers, dedicated to publishing academic work in accessible ways.

Helen Haugh, Senior Lecturer in Community Enterprise at Cambridge Judge, and Kate Thirlaway, Research Associate at the School, are currently conducting a two-and-a-half year research project investigating the adoption and diffusion of the CIC model, the characteristics of innovation and the role of networks in productivity and sustainability. The research is funded the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation and the Isaac Newton Trust.