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Welcome to OxTalks, powered by OxLEP. OxTalks is your partner in tackling business challenges and achieving your goals, giving an insight into the great work that OxLEP does to support local organisations and communities. OxTalks host Howard Bentham talks to successful leaders from Oxfordshire and beyond to hear their advice to help your business flourish.
Hello there, I'm Howard Bentham, and
this is OxTalks, the podcast powered by
OxLEP, the local enterprise partnership
for Oxfordshire and sponsored by
leading national law firm Mills & Reeve.
If you've only just discovered
these podcasts, OxTalks aims to
discuss current issues in business
and explore areas of interest in
conversation with some genuinely
remarkable and inspirational leaders.
Each of my guests is keen to
acknowledge the valuable support
that OxLEP can provide and how it
could be critical in helping your
company or organisation thrive.
As you'd expect, our focus is on
Oxfordshire's businesses in these
podcasts, but naturally, you may well
be enjoying OxTalks wherever you are.
Many of the issues we experience here
will be very similar to those to the
ones that you are potentially facing.
Why not join in the conversation
and share any thoughts and feedback.
Our social media is a
great way to get in touch.
We are @OxfordshireLEP on X and
Oxfordshire Local Enterprise
Partnership on LinkedIn.
You're welcome to raise a question
for future discussions or leave your
thoughts on the topics we discuss.
Please use the email address on
the podcast description and we
look forward to hearing from you.
In this edition, we'll explore
how to find the right business
support for startups and spin outs.
In previous OxTalks episodes, we've
separately looked at investments and the
innovation ecosystem in Oxfordshire for
entrepreneur led fledgling companies.
Do check out the editions featuring Artem
Korolev, the founder and CEO of Mission
Street, Chas Bountra, Vice Chancellor for
Innovation at the University of Oxford,
and Fiona Reid, Associate Professor
of Bioscience Entrepreneurship at UCL.
This edition, however, is aiming to
focus specifically on the help that is
at hand for startups and social ventures.
What is out there, where to look and
who to speak with about it and why
creating a network is crucial to success.
The results are clear, Oxford
University Innovation's impact report
from last year detailed the birth
of 20 new companies and spin outs.
These generated £34 million in income,
attracting nearly three quarters of
a billion pounds worth of investment.
But how does a business make
the leap from Brilliant idea
to fully function in company.
What hurdles are in the way
and who's there to champion and
nurture entrepreneurs to give
them every chance of succeeding?
I'm delighted to welcome to
OxTalks, the head of marketing,
communications and PR at Oxford
University Innovation, Andrea Stewart.
Andrea, great to talk to you, thank you
so much for being our guest on OxTalks.
Before we get into the here and
now, it's always nice to learn
a little bit about our guests.
If variety is the spice of life, yours
is a particularly well seasoned one.
Give us the whistle stop tour.
This is incredible, time working in
India, France and Switzerland, some
amazing roles in humanitarian relief
and you also had a job cleaning up
space debris in the Earth's orbit.
Tell us more.
Yeah, thanks for having me today.
Yeah, my career has been
entirely in marketing
communications and advocacy work.
So working with governments in
the UK and internationally and
I've worked across a number of
sectors, including non-governmental
organisations, industry and many
years now working at the university.
My most recent role worked for a fast
growth company on Harwell campus, a space
company called Astroscale and yes, we
were attempting to clean up space junk
with some very exciting space missions.
Brilliant, and you're now at
Oxford University Innovation.
Again, for everyone listening,
just context that, what they
do and where your incredible
experience and skill set fits in.
Yeah, so Oxford University Innovation
is known as a Technology Transfer
Office and we are part of the
university and our responsibilities
include commercialising research from
the university and that can come in
multiple forms from creating licenses,
so think of the Oxford AstraZeneca
COVID 19 vaccine as a good example.
The vaccine technology and the vaccine
expertise came out of Oxford and a
commercial partnership was created with
AstraZeneca and other industry partners to
manufacture and disseminate the vaccine.
So in addition to licensing deals,
we also create companies and those
companies come in multiple forms.
They can be spin outs where the university
has intellectual property in the ideas
that are being born into new companies.
Startups, which often come out of
students and or researchers and staff
at the university, where the IP is
independent of the university's research
and then social ventures where it's a
company but the interest and the driving
force behind the company is more driven
towards social and societal impact.
And what is Oxford University
Innovation's role within the
wider innovation ecosystem?
You talked about your time at Harwell
Campus, it's a great word, ecosystem,
because that's exactly what it is, tell
us how you fit in that particular jigsaw.
Yeah, OUI has a large part to
play in the local ecosystem
and the regional ecosystem.
In particular, it's through
the companies that we create.
We create somewhere between 10 and
20 companies a year and they're
right across the spectrum of sectors
and technologies and we can talk
a little bit about that later.
I think it's part of the university's
remit to have impact in the region and
to contribute to the regional economy,
to contribute to societal gains and
development in the region and to be part
of the ecosystem through the research
commercialisation work that we do..
If you take the examples of some of our
licensing agreement, that technology
is applied locally in the community
and also nationally and internationally
and benefits the lives of people
and the planet that we live on.
So we see ourselves as an important
contributor to the local ecosystem and
we can only deliver it in partnership.
What are your key priorities for 2024?
We mentioned in the introduction, £34
million generated in income, so it's
going in the right direction, isn't it?
Are there plans to grow what you're doing?
Always, yes.
The growth that we deliver and the
returns that we deliver for the
university are plowed back into
developing more innovation activities.
So the university takes the funds and
the returns that Oxford University
Innovation creates and puts that into
things like seed funds that help to
start these new companies with the
funding that they need to get going.
We provide a tremendous amount of
support to our academic founders for
the work that they do and then their
onward journey into the community, be
that in Oxford and in other parts of the
country, is very important to OUI that
we see that success from the birth of
the company, which starts with Oxford
University Innovation through to their
growth and their success over time.
Let's mention, you brought up money,
let's talk investment briefly.
I know in the introduction we said
we covered this off in a couple of
previous OxTalks, but important to get
your thoughts on how Oxford University
Innovation helps entrepreneurs,
young and older, to launch their
new ideas and provide investment.
Tell us how this works
and what's on offer.
It's not quite a bottomless pit,
but it's a fairly big pit, isn't it?
Yeah, the important thing is funding
and support for our academic founders
and for those innovators that
are keen to get to market and the
funding support is critical to that.
So we have a number of seed and early
stage funding opportunities that
reinvestment of the wealth creation
from our companies and licensed deals.
We have the University Challenge Seed
Fund for example, that takes some of
those early phase ideas that are yet
to be taken to market and provides
them with that funding to then create a
license, which that might then become a
company and sometimes we do license then
company or we do both at the same time.
We also have a consultancy offering,
which is about leveraging the expertise
within the university and plowing
that into the companies that we create
and into the wider industry as well.
We have an equity management fund as
well, it's called the SEM fund, which
reinvests that wealth into the companies
and helps them to grow through different
stages of investment and then we work
with an investment firm called Park
Walk as well, who manage a fund, the
University of Oxford Innovation Fund
and they manage a fund that invests
external investors investing in our
companies, and they consolidate.
You've read my mind because I was
thinking this can't surely all
come from money that's reinvested
from what you're generating, you
must have some input from outside.
That's right, so in addition to
Park Walk and the University of
Oxford Innovation Fund that they
manage to invest in our companies.
We have Oxford Science Enterprises
as well, which is an independent fund
that invests in Oxford's companies and
doesn't invest in all the companies
that are created and of course, they're
not the only investor and they can't
survive just on a single fund investment.
So we, OSE work with a number of
other investors at each stage of the
investment rounds to ensure that they're
working in consortium to build those
companies and they're not always the lead
investor for these companies as well.
Sometimes other venture capital
firms, for example, will be the lead
investment and OSE and or our own
funds will be secondary investors.
Are there any key sectors that investors
are currently looking to prioritise?
What's hot at the moment?
Yeah, we're incredibly lucky
at Oxford because we really
cover a multiple of sectors.
fascinating, isn't it?
When you actually just stop and look
what goes on, it's mind blowing.
Phenomenal.
I mean, some of the known strengths
that we have within the university
are in areas like therapeutics, for
example, in vaccine development.
We have huge strength in digital health
and health technologies as well and
in taking it outside of the medical
sciences sphere, we have incredible
strengths in AI, in quantum, in new
computing and then we take it into
those sectors that really have societal
impact, whether that's tackling planetary
challenges like climate change, energy
crisis, we really have tremendous
strengths in physical engineering
sciences and technology as well.
So it's really hard to pinpoint
one single sector that Oxford, it's
greatest strength, We really cover
a number of sectors, but those are
probably the ones where we see the new
company creation, we see the licenses
evolving very quickly and successfully.
What about the challenges that you're
facing bringing in that investment?
Times are tough, clearly at the moment
and competition for investment is strong.
You're right, it's a tough climate
for investment, and we see our
companies working incredibly hard
to find that investment to grow
and to be able to stay in the UK.
So some of the activities that we
support is helping our companies get
exposure to different types of investors,
be that in the UK investment firms,
European and for example, American, US
investment firms, and how do we do that?
It's important to give them the
introductions to help them to
scope those investment markets
and to provide the support they
need to go out to those investors.
For example, in January of this
year, for the first time, our head of
investments, Adam Workman and myself
organised an event in San Francisco
at the JP Morgan conference, and we
invited over 80 US investors from
east to west coast to come and meet
more than 15 of our companies, in...
Taking it from the mouths of Silicon
Valley then, under their noses.
Well, the only way to meet and connect
with them is to be there in situ.
It's not just about them
coming over to Oxford as well.
So we create those opportunities, but we
also, for example, last summer, brought
over a very large group of US investors
to focus on our life sciences portfolio.
We were able to take them to visit
some of our existing companies, be that
VaxiTech on Harwell campus, and to meet
with those companies, see those labs
and see the work we do in practice.
So it's important to
go in both directions.
Do you support businesses
of any shape and size?
I mean, we've got that sort of picture
in our head of the person coming out
of university with this brilliant idea,
the light bulb is well and truly on.
I guess that might not just be the one
man, or woman band, it's collaborations
and even older people involved too.
Tell us some of the stories.
There's definitely no age limit on
innovation coming out of the University
of Oxford and we see young students in
their first, second year at university
through to close to retirement or retiring
professors who have still got the ambition
and the drive to develop licensing
technology, to consult with industry to
create new companies and we support them
right across that spectrum, and not only
is age not a barrier, but also diversity,
you know, we see some of our most
exciting companies born out of students
and staff from all forms of nationality,
cultural background, and gender as well.
So we really see innovation has
no barriers from our perspective
and we see those opportunities
just coming thick and fast.
In terms of who do we support?
So our support at OUI is focused on ideas
coming out of the University of Oxford.
But of course, those ideas never exist
in isolation and the co-founders and
inventors that we work with are very
often working with experts in other
universities, they're working with
industry partners to help develop
their ideas and of course within
the local ecosystem, the creation
of those partnerships requires new
team members and to build those
teams to build the companies.
So although we focus on University of
Oxford staff, students, researchers,
by no means do we stop there, you know,
the growth happens because we work
with partners in the UK and abroad.
I'm loving your passion, you clearly
love your job and how do you get
the right support to the right
spin out, to the right startup?
Because firstly it's hard to, I think,
as an innovator, to know where to turn.
But equally, you've got to, I guess,
forensically look at an organisation and
go, you need that particular type of help.
How do you get that right?
Yeah, it's all about team.
It's about the team that supports the
founders to grow and develop, and it's
about the team that you help them to
form, to grow their companies and we
work with our partners to help build
those teams and identify the teams.
So that's primarily the investors,
that's their collaborators within the
university and outside the university,
so the academic scientific technology
expertise, and it's about the helping
them to identify how they're going to
grow, what the market need is, where
they're going to grow, and trying where
possible to keep them in Oxfordshire.
That's interesting.
The Oxford Innovation Society
is a project you're leading on,
you're very passionate about.
How does that fit into the
whole idea of what you're doing
Yeah, so the Oxford Innovation Society
is a network that's been around for
around 30 years, but the formula if
you like, to deliver that network has
been somewhat similar over those three
decades, involving two or three dinners
a year, bringing together a cross
section of stakeholders and providing
some opportunities to connect external
partners with the university innovation
ecosystem and those founders within
the university with external partners.
But what we've really looked to do this
year is to relaunch that program with a
more diverse offering for the network.
So that includes not just those
dinners that I mentioned have been
going on for many decades, but also
to bring in workshops, practical,
smaller networking opportunities
that are more sectorally focused and
that are more stakeholder focused.
So we have planned for this year a
number of investor focused events.
We have planned events to support those
spin outs in that early phase of growth
and development, working with external
expertise and partners to deliver those
events, be that through their need for
financial support, for legal support,
for team and people support, really
looking to help them with our partners
in the region to grow and thrive.
It's interesting about this relationship,
you're effectively building relationships
all across the board here, aren't you?
What about the relationships with
Oxford University Innovation, with
regional organisations, Advanced
Oxford, the Science Parks you've
touched on and of course OxLEP.
Tell us how you build and nurture those.
Yeah, we shouldn't be
ever working in isolation.
In order to deliver and support
this ecosystem, we have to be
working with partners in the region.
There are some fantastic initiatives
that already exist and that have been
helping us to build the ecosystem,
whether that's OxLEP, whether that's
Advanced Oxford, the numerous growing
and burgeoning science parks that we
see from North, South, East to West.
It's an extremely exciting time.
I know Mission Street were on
recently, but we can see that growth
happening at the Oxford Science Park,
at Harwell, Begbrooke, it really is
a burgeoning time for the region.
So we need to work with the strengths
of each of those networks and where
their USP is, their unique selling point
and their skillset and to complement
each other so we don't have duplication
in the ecosystem, be that government
relations, be that business support,
be that providing the premises and the
expertise that's needed to help our
companies and our founders to survive.
And just to be clear, Oxford University
Innovation, you have to have a link
with Oxford University, nobody can
just come and knock your door and
say, Oh, I've got a great idea.
Yeah, no, our focus is on building ideas
that come out of the university in Oxford,
but our impact is around creating economic
societal impact for the region as a
whole and towards the country as a whole.
That seems a perfect time to bring
OxLEP's Director of Business Development,
Richard Byard into the conversation.
Richard, great to see you.
Do you want to pick up on
what Andrea's saying there?
Because it's amazing, quite frankly, what
Oxford University Innovation are doing,
and OxLEP are doing this on a, it's
just the wider scale, isn't it, really?
And the partnering is just so important.
Absolutely, yeah, the passion, the drive
that Andrea's shown is very clearly
evident, and I think for me, that just
summarises the Oxfordshire ecosystem.
There is a huge amount of talent, there's
a huge amount of ambition, there's a
huge amount of drive, and it's dispersed
across the whole of Oxfordshire in
multiple organisations, whether that
be OUI, whether it be OSC, whether it
be OxLEP, whether it be a multitude of
other organisations and the challenge
we've got is unearthing it and finding
it and bringing it together, and that's
what Andrea and the team do, it's what
we do and effectively, be that connective
tissue across the multiple stakeholders
within Oxfordshire because we've got
that shared ambition, we've got that
shared drive, and collectively we do
some great stuff and Andrea's already
given us some wonderful examples.
One that sticks with me from an OxLEP
perspective is our, in the early days
of our innovation support for business
programme which the University were a
key partner of, we supported an early
stage spin out who brought some new,
innovative approaches to Ebola vaccine.
Brilliant!
And, you know, that company's taken off
significantly and do some great work and
it is about that economic and societal
ambition and the key benefits that we
can make together, collectively and it
is that collective network where we've
got the strength, where Oxfordshire
has come a huge way over the past
decade or so, supported by people like
Andrea, organisations like OUI and
the LEP as well, and it's something we
really must build on and drive forward.
The interesting point I had in my
head there when you were talking,
Richard, was that your job is to
try and unearth these companies, I
was suddenly just thinking about the
entrepreneur that has this amazing
idea who's going, where's the help?
Where can I find the help?
And if you like, it's sort of the two
sides of the coin here, isn't it really?
And however brilliant your ideas
and growth plans are on paper, you
still need that support, so knowing
where to look is half the battle.
Absolutely, and we have a responsibility
within the broader ecosystem to make
our services as accessible as possible,
to ensure that everyone that can access
them is aware of them and also that we
have that sort of collective open door.
There's no wrong entry point and it
could be, and you described, Howard,
in one of your earlier questions, that
the services that Andrea provides are
not for everyone, but ultimately they
and the team will know somebody, an
organisation that can help them and that's
very much what we do at the LEP in terms
of really trying to ensure that we have
that broad overview of what the business
support ecosystem looks like, how it
can support the business moving forward.
We won't have all the answers in the
same way that Andrea doesn't have all
the answers, but we will know, more often
than not, who will have the answers and
who can provide that help and support?
And again, it's coming back to that
connective tissue and that network
of networks and the ability to know a
little about a lot and just have that
key relationship with key stakeholders
and key organisations and the ability
to disperse that knowledge and expertise
across Oxfordshire and we're good at it.
Collectively, we are really good at it
and the testament to that, you see the
significant growth in patent applications
across Oxfordshire over the past decade,
more than double of Manchester, which
often gets a lot of the news coverage
in terms of patent applications.
A way to go still, but you know, that's a
key area for us that we can drive forward.
Andrea, how does a partnership
with OxLEP strengthen your offer
and opportunities for startups
and social ventures and the like?
I think if we have a healthy innovation
ecosystem within the region, everybody
benefits because if companies, whether
they're created or spun out of the
university or whether they're created
within the local community, if they're
thriving, then more talent is attracted
into the region, our premises and the
science parks that we've mentioned
are filled and the space is being
utilised, more jobs are created.
So our partnership is critical
because we want to see our companies
supported after they've been launched
out of Oxford University Innovation
and to receive that support wherever
they're based in the region.
So OxLEP is really critical in helping our
companies to continue to grow and thrive
and critically to stay in the region.
There's a tendency as companies get to
a certain size, they look for investment
outside of the UK ecosystem, and there's
always a risk that companies will move
overseas or diversify into other markets
at the expense of being able to stay,
grow and thrive in Oxfordshire and we
really want to retain that talent and
that expertise to feed back into the new
opportunities that there are to build
licenses and companies in the region.
Do you want to pick up on that, Richard?
Yeah, absolutely, very key.
I think the more we can collectively
do to ensure that we retain those early
stage and mid size companies, the better.
Historically, perhaps a decade or
slightly less, there was a narrative, a
very accurate narrative, that we didn't
have the next stage of space available.
What we're seeing now is driven by
university investment, driven by private
investment, is a huge response to that
challenge and Mission Street picked up
on it in earlier podcast around ensuring
we have the right space available for
those mid sized companies that have
gone through the early stage incubation,
they've got their track record, they've
got credible business plan, and they need
the next space and you've got investment
just opposite where we are here on the
Science Park, you've got investment in
Oxford North, significant investment
across the county, including Bicester
Motion, the market is responding, and
that is absolutely key for us in order
to retain that talent, retain those
businesses, and retain that wealth and
ensure that wealth is dispersed around
Oxfordshire communities as best as we can.
How do you go about creating these links
with like minded people and organisations?
The actual doing it, what
goes on behind the scenes?
The doing it, the day to day activity,
stakeholder management, relationship
management, it's getting out there,
it's ensuring that we have the right
relationships with the key stakeholders
at all times and of course, that's a
challenge in itself, because that's
individual personal relationships, and
people move and often those relationships
have to be rebuilt with the organisations.
But you can't do any of this without trust
and you've got to have those personal
relationships, and you've got to have that
trust, and understand and recognise that,
and have the confidence that when you're
effectively handing a client over to
another organisation or signposting that
they will deliver, because you're putting
your name to it, you're putting your
organisational name and reputation to it.
So, we have got that really strong
network, you've got, Andrea mentioned some
of them, but the Advanced Oxford Network.
which is really, strong, you've got the
cluster groups in and around Harwell,
you've got the fusion cluster group
based around Culham, for example, you've
got, in the visitor economy, Experience
Oxfordshire doing great work as the, as
the local visitor economy partnership
and drawing that sector together.
We are not short on networks, and often
that is a confusion, it's a strength,
but equally that's a confusion as
well, and that's something that we're
very keen to work through and to help
ensure that businesses access the right
support available to them at all times.
Andrea, are the challenges that you've
got to overcome to help the links grow,
just hearing Richard say the word trust
there, I mean, I just imagine people can
get a little bit over focused sometimes,
and have that silo mentality, I'm working
on this, I don't need anyone else's
help, and obviously you've got to trust
somebody to let them into your idea.
How do you go about making
that, well, building that trust?
Yeah, I think for us it comes
back to that idea of team that no
founder or co-founding team can
do it alone, that they need the
expertise and they need it rapidly.
Often they're working with very
competitive market forces and time
is of the essence to ensure that
technology leads and they're driving
from the front of the market.
I think it's signposting, as Richard
mentioned, you know, knowing where to give
them the advice and the introductions.
Our role is not to tell our companies
what to do, it's very much to offer them
the opportunities and the connections.
So, providing those particular
fora, those physical, you know,
post COVID meeting opportunities
face to face is really important.
Bringing in people, not just regionally,
but internationally, who can provide
that expertise and that support.
Building off those, that have
been there and done it as well.
So that mentorship piece, for example,
we bring in mentors into our incubator
program, which is the startup scheme
where we grow those early ideas and that
mentorship and coaching is critical.
So knowing and understanding and
supporting teams, not to do it alone.
Andrea and Richard, thank
you both for the moment.
We'll chat again shortly.
Good to have you along for OxTalks, the
podcast powered by the Oxfordshire Local
Enterprise Partnership and sponsored by
leading national law firm Mills & Reeve.
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Let's chat more to Andrea Stewart
from Oxford University Innovation
and Richard Byard from OxLEP.
Richard, I want to pick up with you first,
if I may, about some of the changes that
are happening to the Local Enterprise
Partnerships more widely across England,
but also crucially how OxLEP specifically
is going to look in the future.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, over a year ago, the Chancellor
announced in the Budget 2023 that he
was minded to withdraw funding for
LEPs moving forward and to transfer
responsibilities to democratically
elected institutions, which is code for
upper tier or for local authorities.
So over that intervening period, we've
been working very closely with our county
council colleagues, to ensure that the
transfer of duties or functions per
government guidance happens in a pragmatic
and sensible way, but that it crucially
doesn't erode the support available
for businesses and for residents moving
forward and we've landed in a really good
positive place whereby from April the
1st, we'll be continuing to work across
the Oxfordshire economic development
ecosystem, we will continue to offer the
range of services that we have done for
many years and we will be continuing to
support businesses, innovators and the
ecosystem we spoke about earlier on.
And what does change?
And I don't want to bore anyone with
the back of house governance, but
effectively, if you think about it,
that the County Council will take
over OxLEP Limited, but the day to
day interactions with businesses, with
investors and with our skills support,
hopefully will see very little change.
And it's worth appreciating that not
all LEPs are made the same, are they?
Some are actually just
disappearing from the landscape.
But this is just to stress
that OxLEP is going to continue
its great work in the future.
Absolutely, yeah.
Across the 38 LEP that were in existence,
some are being subsumed within Combined
Authorities, some are being subsumed
within Unitary Authorities, different
structures to suit local need.
But we're very keen to ensure that the
support that OxLEP has provided over the
past decade continues, and that we're able
to ensure that the Businesses, residents,
communities can access our skills offer,
our investment offer, our business support
offer and Oxfordshire continues to thrive.
But, as you said, there are other
LEPs that are disappearing from the
landscape and local solutions are
being found that meet local priorities.
And as far as businesses that
use your services, they'll
not notice anything different.
They will not notice anything different.
Ultimately, the day to day operations
will continue, we'll have a full range
of access to services and, in fact, some
new services to help and support that
socio economic benefit for Oxfordshire.
Obviously a year ago when the Chancellor
spoke, a sharp intake of breath at OxLEP,
but hearing that things are going to be
carrying on, Andrea, good news locally.
Fantastic news.
I think it's critical that Oxlef is
continuing and that the services that they
provide to the business community and to
residents continues in particular around
the skills based training, signposting.
If we have a thriving and informed
innovation ecosystem, we're able to grow
our companies, we're able to grow our
talent base and we're able to fill all
the fantastic new sites and premises
that are burgeoning across the region.
Share some stories of startups, spin
outs that have just captured your
imagination, especially with the
background you have, I can imagine
you look at these things and go, wow,
that really has grabbed my attention.
Yeah, there are so many incredible
examples of the companies
that have been created, but
also the licensing technology.
One of the ones that stood for me,
I worked for many years with malaria
treatment teams at the university
in medical sciences and I sat next
to the office of a malaria vaccine
team up at the university Old Road
campus and in the last year, Oxford's
malaria vaccine has received WHO
pre approval for distribution.
and They started with some
trials in countries in Africa,
and now that will be rolled out.
Six hundred thousand people die
a year from malaria, most of
those are children under five.
Having a vaccine, as the R21/Matrix-M
vaccine for me was one of the most
exciting moments in the last year
and OUI, Oxford University Innovation
supported the licensing negotiations
with the Serum Institute and with
other industrial partners to distribute
that vaccine internationally and there
are other vaccines in the pipeline
which are phenomenally exciting,
tackling other extremely debilitating
and life threatening diseases.
So really working and seeing that
those technologies, that research and
that science go from the lab towards
patients in need, that's one of the most
exciting things working in this space.
Fantastic.
Richard, I know you want to tell us
about some of the new things that are
on offer, because evolution of OxLEP
is happening obviously with the back
of house, you talked about it, but
there's some really exciting things
happening, skills bootcamps, the West
Oxfordshire Business Support Program,
come on, share some news with us
because you're like a coiled spring!.
Absolutely, yeah, indeed.
So we have just gone live with a business
support programme on behalf of West
Oxfordshire District Council, and that's
a decent sized pot of grant support
and business support for businesses
within that district and we hope that
we'll be able to develop that programme
further, including other districts.
Skills Bootcamp's really exciting.
We've spoken about talent, we've
spoken about some of the challenges
in terms of talent retention and
ensuring that businesses have the
right and innovators have the right
talent in order to drive forward.
Skills Bootcamps are a short, sharp
training courses that are available
at no cost to residents and businesses
in order to help meet identified
local skills, needs, and challenges.
So, for example, we've got boot
camps launching in life sciences,
in particular sectors of life
sciences, recognising the huge growth.
We've got boot camps in things like
e bike maintenance, we've got skills
boot camps in construction, we've got
skills boot camps in visitor economy.
So, really keen and really
positive news there.
They go live as of next week and yeah,
we certainly hope that's the start of
an ongoing program supported by DFE,
fully funded by DFE, that can really
help, again, as part of the broader
ecosystem, address some of the skills
challenges Oxfordshire has and really
respond to the needs of business.
I think in terms of evolution and of
course, as I said, the County Council
is effectively taking over OxLEP Ltd.
We'll be very keen to work with them.
There are additional responsibilities
that the County Councils and
upper tier authorities across
the country are taking on.
Things like Work Well programs,
so employment support activities,
particularly for those who are furthest
from the labour market and we're really
keen to help and support that process
and to ensure that, again, we can bring
those who are furthest from the labour
market closer to economic activity, can
provide economic opportunity for them
and also to perhaps have that broader
conversation, we don't do this in
isolation, because often the conversation
might start off around skills, but equally
it could end up with a support for a new
investor, it could end up with support
for business, and it's that connective
tissue, it's that infrastructure
that we collectively provide that
provides that team Oxfordshire
approach that Andrea described.
So we've got new programs, we've
got existing programs, so our growth
hub going from strength to strength,
incredible growth in our women's network,
we've got seeing tremendous take up
there of a dedicated Women's business
support networking group sold out
every time fantastic really phenomenal.
We've got our continued support around
peer network, so business owners who
perhaps have who are facing particular
challenges, meeting regularly through
a structured program in a safe space
and just comparing notes and challenges
with other business owners and just
understanding how other businesses have
tackled similar issues and challenges.
We've got our continuing work to
support foreign direct investors
keyed in order to fill some of the
new investors that are coming forward.
One I'm particularly proud of is our
Apprenticeship Levy Retention Program.
So, circa 280 or so Apprenticeship
Levy paying businesses in Oxfordshire,
very few of them actually use it fully.
What we've been able to do is put a
team together, work with those levy
paying businesses to retain levy
generated in Oxfordshire for Oxfordshire.
We've just gone through two and a half
million pounds worth of levy retained.
So we smashed every target along the way.
That levy is helping support 161 new
apprenticeship placements and actually
behind those numbers that's 161
friendship placements, 45 percent in
health and social care, which we all
know is a key sector for us and a key
sector of labour shortage and behind
every one of those is a story, an
individual being helped and supported
to move closer to economic activity.
If there are any levy paying businesses
that want to come and talk to us, then
please do because that's a really good way
to evidence local support for local need.
Andrea that's an incredible menu of
offer that OxLEP are talking about there.
What kind of support do new
businesses need most at this
point in time that you're finding?
Yeah, I think there are many challenges
and opportunities for the companies in
these early phase growth, investment
is undoubtedly one of the biggest
challenges and for a company to grow
and thrive, finding the right investors,
having those introductions and
forming those partnerships with other
investors, there's never one investor
for a company to grow and thrive.
I think also access to talent is critical.
Talent for our companies certainly
doesn't just come from within the
university, it comes from other
companies within the region and it's also
brought and attracted into the region.
So showcasing our best technologies,
our best companies so that people know
that Oxfordshire has these opportunities
for career development and for joining
exciting young companies is really
key and how we as a region grow our
strengths, we talked about clusters
briefly earlier, but those clusters
in campuses like Harwell, for example,
marry the types of licensing technologies
and companies that we're creating,
whether that's Life Sciences Cluster,
the Space Cluster, we have multiple
AI and quantum growing and burgeoning.
So I think finding those strengths
in those sectors and showcasing our
potential best examples of that will
continue to help our ecosystem to
attract new investment, to attract new
talent, and to attract other companies
to come and grow and develop here.
Moderna breaking ground in Harwell
was an excellent example of that.
We want other multinational companies
and large companies to come to the
region so that our smaller companies
can then grow and thrive alongside them.
Richard, you're nodding.
Yeah, Moderna's a really
good case in point.
Three hundred plus jobs, many in the
manufacturing side of the business,
but a key global player that could have
landed anywhere, landed in Oxfordshire.
It's testament to our strength and our
ability to work with those developers.
But it's more about how we can ensure
that their transition from breaking
ground to investment to operational is
smooth and that's where, again, the Team
Oxfordshire approach comes together,
through providing labour market support,
ensuring that some of the programmes
I mentioned can actually provide that
supply chain of labour, ensuring that we
work collectively with local authorities
and planning authorities, site owners,
developers, to really develop that
Team Oxfordshire approach for them, and
make sure that transition is smooth.
They will be an anchor institution,
they'll create their own supply
chains, which in turn will create
social and economic opportunities
for Oxfordshire businesses.
So it's a really, it's a great thing.
We should be very proud of landing that.
Andrea, any kind of help that
you would like to see offered by
organisations like OxLEP or perhaps
local or central government that's
missing from the offer at the moment?
I think that the support that we get
from local government, from central
government is critical, that the
pots of funding are made available
through the funding institutions.
If we are able to support the research
in its earliest phases to grow and
develop, we can then kick in with the
sorts of seed funding and investment
that takes that from the lab through
to further and later stages of
development ready for commercialisation.
And keeps it here?
Absolutely, yeah, critically.
But again, it's also about us as a region
working with other regions in partnership.
We have partnerships with Cambridgeshire,
with institutions in London and
further north, Oxford University
Innovation is part of an alliance
of 10 university technology transfer
offices from Edinburgh through to MIT
and Stanford University in the States.
Sharing that learning and expertise,
seeing how other ecosystems are
working and thriving, what we can learn
from those ecosystems and how we can
collaborate is also critical and working
with government and those partners will
enable us to join those dots between
thriving ecosystems beyond Oxfordshire.
Let's bring our conversation to
a close with some final thoughts.
What would be your advice to someone
who's got a new business idea
but doesn't know where to start?
Speak to people, get that signposting
happening, whether that's OxLEP, if
it's within the university ecosystem,
speak to Oxford University Innovation,
find out what's out there and what the
strengths are of the different networks
and organisations and where they can help
you to deliver your ambition and the last
word of advice would be don't give up.
Having worked for smaller companies, I was
employee 25 or 27 at the last organisation
I worked at, I left they were over 150.
It's a long journey, it takes time,
patience and perseverance, but
don't let go of that idea, find the
people who can help you deliver it.
Huge thanks to Andrea Stewart from
Oxford University Innovation and a
big thank you also to Richard Bayard
from OxLEP as well, and thank you for
listening to OxTalks, sponsored by
leading national law firm Mills & Reeve.
There are now a number of editions
of OxTalks available from where
you normally get your podcasts.
Check out some of my previous
conversations, including with Fiona
Reid, associate Professor for Bioscience
Entrepreneurship at UCL on how to start
a business, Sarah Powell, HR Director
at Belmond Le Manoir on creating a
happy workforce and explore why you
should invest in Oxfordshire with
Artem Korolev, the CEO and founder of
Mission Street, all well worth a listen.
Please spread the word, tell your
friends or colleagues about us and if
you feel so inclined, leave us a review.
Feel free to share your thoughts and
suggestions on our social channels,
and you can email your questions for
inclusion in future editions too.
The address is in the podcast description,
it's always good to hear from you.
Remember, business support in Oxfordshire
is just an email or a phone call away.
The OxLEP Business Support
Tool can signpost you to expert
help in a matter of minutes.
It's definitely worth taking a look.
Find it on our website Oxfordshirelep.
com.
But for now, from the whole OxLEP team
and from me, Howard Bentham, it's goodbye.