The University of Cambridge is on for a busy year of licensing, thanks to plans unveiled today by its UK agent, The Point.1888 and Fitzwilliam Museum Enterprises Ltd., the subsidiary of the University of Cambridge responsible for licensing.

The mission of the University of Cambridge has always been to contribute to society through education, learning and research at the highest international level. Known for its education and research excellence, there has been a growing interest in its collection of museums, libraries and botanic garden, which cover art, artifacts, polar exploration, anthropology, zoology, geology and the history of science.

Since signing with FME in early 2020, The Point.1888 has already facilitated successful partnerships for the university with online homewares, wall art, furniture, and accessories platform Fy, with a range of  eight prints which launched In September 2020.

To add to this success from last year, the goal for 2021 is to roll out more licensing programmes for the university brand as well as its museum collections and botanic garden.

In order to deliver on this, The Point.1888 is in the final stages of organising a Virtual Summit to be held early summer, for licensees and retailers to get to know the institution, see the key collections and hear all about the forthcoming plans.

The event will be key for extending the brand into new categories this year, which include Homewares, Garden, High end food gifting, Collaborations, Toys and Games, Apparel and Accessories.

One success initiated in early 2020 by FME Ltd involved the adaptation of works of art from the Fitzwilliam Museum to show what social distancing might look like through the ages. The team went on to inspire consumers with a launch of greeting cards, print-on-demand stationery, gin, homewares, apparel and, of course, face masks.

Bethan Garton, commercial director at The Point.1888, said: “The University and its museums normally welcome 7 million visitors each year which has been negatively affected by COVID.  We were pleased in 2020 to support their important work via licensing to generate much needed income. Our plans for this year will do so much more and we’re delighted to be seeing it all put into action.”

Len Dunne, CEO of FME Ltd, added: “All of our income goes to support the vital research and activities of our museums and botanic garden. We are excited to expand our UK licensing activities programme working with the dynamic team at The Point.1888.”