The judges for the Trust’s 2019 Enterprise Awards gathered on a hot July day at the new Wood Centre for Innovation at Stansfeld Park to select the finalists for our prestigious annual celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship.
The awards, run in partnership with Venturefest Oxford, and sponsored by Barclays, Triteq, Oxford Innovation, Advanced Oxford and Marks & Clerk, recognise and celebrate the breadth of innovative companies and individual entrepreneurs working in science and technology in the Oxford region. They acknowledge the start-ups that are just starting out on their journey to success and commend established knowledge-intensive businesses that have made a positive impact on the regional economy. The Trust has been running the Enterprise Awards since 2005 and have previously showcased future high-growth local companies like Oxbotica, Immunocore, Oxford Nanopore and Adaptix.
The judging panel – made up of our sponsors and local industry experts – was asked to consider applications for the Triteq Young Entrepreneur/s Award, the Barclays Award for Innovation and a new category – the Oxford Innovation Start-up Award.
The judges were particularly impressed by the standard of entries this year and the breadth of innovation and entrepreneurship in our region. The 2019 shortlisted companies include an on online learning platform, a more affordable satellite system and a new biopsy triaging technology.
The finalists for the 2019 Awards are:
Oxford Innovation Start-up Award
recognising the outstanding performance of an Oxfordshire tech start-up.
Triteq Young Entrepreneur Award
recognising and celebrating young founders (under 40) of science and technology companies in Oxfordshire.
Barclays Award for Innovation
presented to an Oxfordshire-based company that has already spotted an opportunity in the tech market and has successfully created a business that meets the need and benefits wider society and the economy.
- Learning with Experts – an online learning platform with key experts in broad range of areas e.g. gardening, antiques and cookery
learningwithexperts.com
- Oxford Biomedica – gene and cell therapy company
oxfordbiomedica.co.uk
- Open Cosmos – build and sell small on-board satellite computers and build, launch and operate affordable satellites
open-cosmos.com
- Oxford nanoSystems – heat transfer technology to improve energy conversion
oxfordnanosystems.com
- Oxford Space Systems – developing a new generation of satellite components for use in space
oxford.space
Two further award categories will be announced later:
Advanced Oxford Breakthrough Technology Award
recognises a product or technology that could be a game changer in the field that it operates. Winner to be announced in August.
The Oxford Trust Outstanding Achievement Award
celebrating an entrepreneur who has made an outstanding contribution to innovation and society during their lifetime and has had a major impact on enterprise and economy. The recipient of this award will be announced at the Awards on 11th.
Steve Burgess, CEO of The Oxford Trust and one of the award judges, said: “There was a strong list of applicants for all the awards, which made it extremely difficult for the judges to shortlist for each category. Our region creates some of the world’s leading tech businesses and it’s a real privilege to find out more about the next star companies and entrepreneurs coming through, and those organisations that are already starting to making a real difference to the world around us.”
The winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony after this year’s Venturefest Oxford, held at Oxford Brookes University on Wednesday 11th September.
Congratulations to all those shortlisted!
The photo is Consultant Connect collecting the 2018 Barclay’s Award for Innovation.
