Venturefest Oxford will nurture healthy prospects for British bioscience

Venturefest Oxford, taking place on June 18, represents an important forum for companies wishing to progress to the next stage of their growth. Business entrepreneurs, researchers, innovators and academics will have the opportunity to share advances in knowledge, skills and techniques, as well as seek finance from venture capitalists and investors who are willing and able to help companies develop.

David Laskow-Pooley, chairman of Oxford Biosciences Network (OBN), pharmaceutical industry consultant, and CEO of a growing pharmaceutical business, is chairing the Bioscience session at Venturefest Oxford this year.

He says, “Bioscience draws together so many disciplines, including material science, health care, pharmaceuticals, electronics, nanotechnology, cryogenics and space technology. The true excitement at Venturefest Oxford is the interface of all these sectors. That’s where paradigm shifts really happen. Bring people together in this forum and amazing things can happen. The ideas do not have to be on a massive scale or come from major players; they can be bite-size enterprises.”

Oxfordshire is teeming SMEs and the University of Oxford has had a major role to play in establishing its home county as one of the UK’s leading bioscience hubs. Many of the industry’s SMEs are academic spin-offs and Isis Innovation, one of Venturefest’s main partners this year, is itself a subsidiary of the university, which provides technology transfer, academic and commercial consulting services across this and other industries.

Other examples can be found in Oxfordshire’s science parks: Circassia, developing allergy treatments; OrganOx, developing a method for sustaining livers at body temperatures prior to transplant – both on Oxford Science Park; as well as e-Therapeutics, a drug discovery and development company on Blenheim Office Park.

David Boal, director of business development at OBN, adds: “There are lots of small spin-offs and start-ups in the biosciences sector. Think of the early stages and, in many cases, you are looking at 3D modelling, diagnostics, therapeutics and software developments. It could be a few people or just one person and a laptop. What they all need is seed-funding and that’s where Venturefest Oxford comes in – attracting individuals and companies on the rise, as well as organisations like OBN who can provide them with support and enable them to flourish.”

For more information and to register for free for Venturefest Oxford 2013 visit[ilink url=”http://www.venturefestoxford.com”]www.venturefestoxford.com[/ilink]