The view from Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire has been at the centre of innovation in the UK for centuries. National and local investments have built up a network of science parks and innovative firms across the county. Now it has ambitions to become “one of the top three global innovation ecosystems by 2040”.

“Oxfordshire is the UK’s engine for innovation: ground breaking research and development is driving the creation of new, dynamic businesses hungry to grow and scale up; cutting edge products and services are solving the challenges in healthcare, mobility, energy and communications; and commercialisation of these new ideas is delivering manufacturing and supply chain opportunities across the length and breadth of our country,” said Jeremy Long, chairman of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, launching the Oxfordshire Local Industrial Strategy last summer.

The county, he said, should be a “playground for innovators and entrepreneurs to translate big ideas into commercially successful products and services.” It should, he said, be “a pioneer for clean and sustainable growth.”

Oxfordshire has one of the strongest economies in the UK, contributing £23 billion Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK exchequer in 2017. It is also growing rapidly at an average of 3.9 per cent growth yearon-year since 2006. It is home to a world-leading bioscience cluster, with an estimated 180 research and developments companies and more than 150 companies in associated industries.

It has world-class research and developments facilities, with four new innovation centres at the Oxford BioEscalator, the Begbroke Accelerator, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and Culham Science Centre. It also has significant strengths in the space and satellite sector. The Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire