2.2 Exploiting the commercial potential of the science and technology base

With its strong science and technology base, Oxfordshire is wellplaced to make the best use of innovation to produce new commercial technologies.

Oxfordshire is home to a significant number of world-class science and technology research establishments.

The presence in the County of the likes of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the nuclear fusion research project, Joint European Torus (JET) at Culham, plus being able to name the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford Instruments Group plc, Johnson Matthey, Siemens Magnet Technology, and Sharp Laboratories of Europe amongst its larger employers, makes research and development (R&D) an extremely important employment sector in Oxfordshire. Figures for 2004 indicate that Oxfordshire accounts for a fifth of R&D employees in the South East region.

The healthcare sector is also part of this base, and is very important in Oxfordshire, with a large amount of healthcare R&D taking place in our hospitals, universities and businesses. The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust has centres of excellence in a number of fields, and has one of the largest teaching programmes in the Country.

With its strong science and technology base, Oxfordshire is well-placed to make the best use of innovation to produce new commercial technologies. A sector-based cluster focusing on environmental technologies is starting to form, and through the exploitation of this cluster and others like it, there is potential for Oxfordshire companies to maximise these commercial opportunities.

Another important opportunity is the investment in the development of world class international facilities. For example, on the Harwell Chilton Science Campus, a multi million pound investment has been made in the Diamond Light Source and ISIS, which produce x-ray, infrared and ultra-violet beams. These beams enable scientists and engineers to probe deep into the basic structure of matter and materials in order to answer fundamental questions about everything from the building blocks of life to the origin of our planet. The key is to exploit the research that these facilities offer, enabling commercial opportunities to be maximised to the benefit of the economy. The importance of the activities on the Campus to the economy were recognised in the UK Government's 2006 budget.

Economic Opportunities

The commercialisation of ideas generated within the research establishments either through creation of new companies or transfer into established companies is demonstrated by:

• Isis Innovation, which was founded to exploit know-how arising out of research from the University of Oxford, and which has become the most successful technology transfer office in the UK, spinning out companies at a rate of one every two months on average in 2005/06.
• UKAEA Culham, which offers a package of technical support for companies in Culham Innovation Centre.
• Academics from the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, act as consultants, and also use the expertise within their Business Schools and Continuing Education departments to help develop business expertise within the economy, and thus support businesses.
• Oxfordshire R&D cluster, which exploits the opportunities of the mass of R&D within the County by making best use of the critical mass of intellect.
• CLIK, the technology and knowledge transfer organisation of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.