Local context
Six counties, several economies
Officially the region covers Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Peterborough is its largest city, while Cambridge, Norwich, Colchester, Chelmsford, Southend-on-Sea, Ipswich, Luton and Bedford are among its other big centres. The southern half sits within the London commuter belt; much of the north is low-lying, and a striking share of the land in the Fens lies below sea level.
Those landscapes produce very different businesses. Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire have a long agricultural tradition, and farming, packing and food processing still shape the rural economy. Along the coast, the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk is the largest container port in the United Kingdom, and London Stansted Airport in Essex connects the region to destinations across Europe and beyond, so freight and travel businesses cluster around both.
Research gives the region its third identity. Cambridge Science Park, opened by Trinity College in 1970, describes itself as Europe's original science park, and Norwich Research Park brings four research institutes, the University of East Anglia and a teaching hospital together on one campus. Each of these strands creates its own demand for software, which is why briefs from across the East rarely resemble one another.