Evolving our programmes

Evolving OXFO programmes

We will continue to focus on our two core areas of 1. Investing in entrepreneurial and technological talent, 2. Venture creation and growth. We are always looking to improve our programmes and adapt to student and alumni demand. Some of our new and growing programmes include:

Student Entrepreneurial Fellowships

We'll be running our new Student Entrepreneurial Fellowships, supported by Santander Universities. These will provide 20 students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds with fully funded 8-week placements with the ventures in Cohort 4 of the OXFO accelerator. The placements will support students to expand their skillsets and develop entrepreneurial know-how to increase the likelihood of them pursuing careers in entrepreneurship and Venture Capital after graduation. Students will take part in roundtables with leaders from under-represented backgrounds and have access to networks and mentoring to support their career progression.

OXFO Startup Sprint

A new OXFO Startup Sprint programme will support five ventures to rapidly scale over 3 months and gain support from bespoke mentors and networks.

Elevate Accelerator Cohort 4

Nurturing high-potential, purposedriven commerical ventures and supporting them as they scale up remains a core pillar of what we do. We look for ventures who are tackling tough challenges in the world and are contributing towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) and making the world a better place. Our OXFO Elevate Accelerator will be scaling to support more ventures, including more bespoke programming for founders from under-represented groups including Women and founders from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic Backgrounds, building out our global networks of generalists as well as sector-specific experts, and peer-support networks.

Policy

We will continue to foster relationships with policy-makers to support university entrepreneurship ecosystems. In October 2020, Ana Bakshi, Director of the Oxford Foundry authored the White Paper, 'Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery' .

"Education is important, but the application of education is critical. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a small window of opportunity for us to press ‘reset’ and build a fairer and more inclusive society committed to social and economic growth and development for all." OXFO Entrepreneurship School

In 2021 we will be unveiling our OXFO Online Entrepreneurship School, a curated platform that will include a wealth of accessible, instructional videos from our incredible network of experts, investors and practitioners, alongside practical ‘how to’s, and reference materials. This will be freely available to all Oxford students and alumni, and external partnerships.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation 7-week course

Our 7-week entrepreneurship and innovation course for Graduate Physicists, delivered in collaboration with the Department of Physics and Saïd Business School will be continuing and rolled out for undergraduates and within other departments.

All-Innovate - Two rounds

Our flagship innovation competition All-Innovate will be bigger and better in 2021. We will be running two rounds with £40,000 of prize funding and follow-on support held in collaboration with EY.