Oxford Foundry Impact Report 2019-2020

Page 1

Oxford Foundry Impact Report 2019-2020

ACTING TODAY: CREATING TOMORROW

1


OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

2


CONTENTS 4. What is the Oxford Foundry? 5. Introduction 6. OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan 7. Headlines 8. The Action Plan 9. Impact Stats 10. OXFO Startup Runway Fund 12. Global Taskforce 16. Volunteers 18. Global coverage 20. 01 Scaling ventures: Nye Health 22. Ufonia 24. Oxwash 26. Scoodle 28. Infogrid 30. myo 32. Appli 34. SmashMedicine 36. Archangel 38. Lantana 40. 02 OXFO Rapid Solutions Builder 47. Crowdless 49. What else have we

been up to?

50. OXFO programmes 55. Sociability 57. Albus Health 59. 3 years of OXFO 60. What's the future? 61. A VUCA world 62. Evolving our programmes 63. Dean Peter Tufano and Thank you 67. Our Governance 68. End

Oxford Foundry 3-5 Hythe Bridge St Oxford OX1 2EW info@oxfordfoundry.ox.ac.uk www.oxfordfoundry.ox.ac.uk

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

3


What is the Oxford Foundry?

T

he Oxford Foundry, entrepreneurship centre at the University of Oxford, was set up by Saïd Business School and opened by Apple CEO Tim Cook in October 2017. We support all 24,000 students at Oxford, as well as all alumni, to better society through entrepreneurship. We do this through knowledge exchange, multi-disciplinary collaboration and experiential skills and training. The Foundry is building a new generation of ventures that, whilst commercial, are focused on people first. To date, the 32 ventures on the Foundry’s accelerator have raised £40m, created 146+ jobs globally, and are creating positive impact around the world across different sectors and industries. The Foundry has 3,300+ members from all four divisions and 39 colleges of the University, representing 103 nationalities. It has delivered over 10,500 hours of learning.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

4


Introduction "Wow. What a year 2020 has been. This impact report has made us sit back and reflect – something that has felt like a luxury given the pace of world events this year. Our world as we knew it was put on pause, brutally broken and divided, as the pandemic set off a chain reaction that highlighted serious cracks in the make-up of our society. We are living in a world where racial equity and equality still need to be fought for, where the protection of our climate and communities still needs to be campaigned for, where access to employment, income and health security isn’t a universal right. On an individual level, for many people this year has brought extreme anxiety, loneliness, loss, excessive pressures of home, family, childcare, whilst working remotely, and a deep-seated fear of the unknown.

empathetic, focused on taking the harder path and forging a clear road for others behind them. They want to change the way business is done and ensure all business is societally focused whilst being commercially successful. We are aware that we are incredibly fortunate to be placed within one of the best universities in the world, a place that has access to world-leading multi-disciplinary intellectual capital, talent and networks. This platform brings with it the opportunity to make change, and that includes our foundational principle of democratising access to entrepreneurship and widening access to our opportunities.

As Higher Education institutions, we have a unique and vital role to play in continually evolving to support recovery from the pandemic, and ensure economic and societal prosperity. We have partnered with The world has changed: both public charities to extend our learning and private sector institutions are initiatives to those beyond Oxford’s changing, how we educate people is doors, and we aim to expand these changing, the way we work is opportunities as we continue to grow. changing, and our belief systems are evolving. This year has been one filled We have supported the creation of Oxford’s first scholarship for Black with loss and grief for many but has students from disadvantaged also served as an opportunity to backgrounds, and we are pleased to press reset: to speak up and right share that this academic year we are past wrongs, to advocate for change, launching 20 Student Entrepreneurial and to use whatever platforms we have to enforce change. This year has Fellowships for students from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic given us a window of opportunity to backgrounds, creating paid build back together, and better. We placements with selected high-growth are committed to this change at the startups within our portfolio, Foundry. Our commitment is to alongside access to networks, nurturing students with the core resources, platforms and learning. We entrepreneurial and technologybased skills they will need to thrive in are committed to seeing a more our future workforce, and to support inclusive leadership community in our workforce as well as success and market needs. We are firmly focused growth for founders of all on building strong communities and resources through our accelerator to backgrounds. support early-stage ventures that are As you’ll see in this 2019-2020 impact solving some of our world’s biggest report, a lot has been going on! In problems. addition to our primary focus, we wanted to ensure that we could play a To date we have had 15,600 small part in supporting the heroic engagements with our activities and efforts of so many people, including skills and training initiatives, and our ventures have raised over £40 million our front-line workers, researchers and scientists, carers, transport in capital and been valued in excess workers and more. This was done in of £100m, having created 146+ jobs two ways: firstly by supporting the in less than three years. They’re exponential scaling of our portfolio working tirelessly in areas such as ventures who were responding to the climate change and energy, health pandemic itself, and secondly by equity and data security. creating a startup programme accelerating existing businesses that This community of entrepreneurs were focused on pandemic recovery. and students gives us optimism for We did this through repurposing our future. They are inclusive, 100% of OXFO team time a week resilient, compassionate and

ahead of our first lockdown; raising a startup grant runway fund; pulling together an international taskforce of incredible people to support pandemic response and recovery, and by making a call to volunteers to provide intellectual capital, time and expertise to those startups. As you’ll see throughout this report, we were blown away by the strength of our community, the resilience of our entrepreneurs, the dedication from our students, and the immense contribution from external partners and individuals with time, expertise and funding. Having just celebrated our third birthday in October 2020, the strength and backing we have from our community, from you, in this short span of time has permitted the impact you will go on to read. We are still at a nascent stage in our own journey, but your continued belief in us and our work has already led to us positively impacting real lives, systems and processes. Thank you. We’re grateful to have you all on this ride with us and we look forward to growing together and continuing to do our part."

Ana Bakshi Executive Director, Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

5


2;)2 &RYLG $FWLRQ 3ODQ

6


31 December 2019 'Nearly 30 people struck by outbreak of mystery illness in Chinese city'

28 February 2020 'Coronavirus latest news: First case of virus being passed on within the UK as infected tally hits 20'

30 January 2020 'CDC confirms first human-tohuman transmission of coronavirus in US'

8 March 2020 Oxford Foundry starts refocusing and planning how to support

9 March 2020 'Italy Goes Into Nationwide Lockdown as Virus Numbers Spiral'

11 March 2020 'World Health Organization Declares COVID-19 a 'Pandemic''

13 March 2020 'First known person-toperson transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the USA'

15 April 2020 Oxford Foundry launches Covid-19 Action Plan

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

7


OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan We started planning the Oxford Foundry Covid-19 Action Plan as soon as Covid-19 hit. The Action Plan was launched in April 2020 and focused on two critical elements: 1. Rapidly scaling ventures in our portfolio who were responding directly to Covid-19 We dramatically increased support, scaled our networks and brought together a grant fund to support the ventures in our portfolio directly helping the pandemic - nearly 50%. Through the generosity of the Foundry’s network of entrepreneurs and business leaders, we aimed to provide the crucial runway and resources the ventures needed to achieve maximum impact, as quickly as possible. 2. Rapidly building, scaling and implementing new solutions to challenges arising as a result of the pandemic, in order to build resilience for the future We developed and launched the OXFO Covid-19 Rapid Solutions Builder programme, a programme to empower Oxford’s talented entrepreneurial students and alumni to build practical solutions to the secondary and tertiary problems that the crisis has brought to the surface – challenges such as food scarcity, supply chain breakdown, coping with mass bereavement and trauma, and the remote delivery of education.

The OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan covered four critical impact streams: Healthcare, Education, Inclusive Social Engagement & Mobility, and Operations, Logistics and Supply Chains. Healthcare As cases of Covid-19 rose in the Spring of 2020, our aim was to focus on using innovation and entrepreneurship as a means of creating resilience in local, national and global healthcare systems to address the disruption caused by the virus; to provide training and mental health support for frontline medical professionals; to ensure healthcare equity and accessibility for vulnerable and marginalised groups; and to use new technologies to build better healthcare systems for the future. Education With the pandemic causing schools, universities and other learning establishments around the world to close, millions of students and educators at every level had to adapt to online learning almost overnight, and parents and carers were faced with the challenges of home schooling their children while continuing to work themselves.

Inclusive Social Engagement & Mobility The pandemic severely limited the possibility of face-to-face social interactions, which was potentially devastating for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and people with disabilities. It also continues to have a strong impact on livelihoods and local economies, with many jobs set to be lost and not replaced in the postpandemic era. Operations, Logistics & Supply Chains The pandemic caused large-scale disruption to national food production and distribution systems, and highlighted the need for stronger and more resilient global supply chains. Protecting one another through social distancing, and ensuring that the elderly and vulnerable have priority access to food, pharmacy and grocery delivery services was also identified as a paramount need.

OXFO team (top left to bottom right, Alex Feyler, Katy Clapham, Sophie Gammage, Jonny Thomson, Kate Nilsson, Amy Lothian, Rose Talbot, Ana Bakshi, Dan James)

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

8


OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan Nearly 50% of our OXFO venture portfolio responded directly to Covid-19

100% of OXFO team time was redistributed

90

17

70+

116

private and public sector partners

experts involved including Biz Stone, Cofounder of Twitter, Angela Ahrendts DBE, Former SVP Apple Retail & CEO of Burberry, and Marcus East, Technical Director, Office of the CTO at Google

new connections made between experts and ventures

online Rapid Solutions Builder masterclasses and 1-2-1 sessions

13

36

portfolio ventures scaled

pieces of OXFO press coverage since March 2020

Volunteers

180

x5

people. The talent pool of volunteers across students, alumni and local communities the ventures had access to

volunteer connections made across students, alumni and local communities

conversions to paid internships/ job roles

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

9


20 ventures given critical funding to adapt and scale in support of others

' 0) # s897B777 / -/0+ - )/ 0)2 4 0) When Covid-19 hit, our Runway Fund gave ventures the vital time and space they needed to continue to support others

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

10


The OXFO Startup Grant Runway Fund provided crucial support to OXFO portfolio startups responding to the pandemic. Donors to the Fund ensured that it reached its £120,000 target within two weeks of its launch. This fantastic generosity ensured that we could mobilise and leverage talent and innovation from across the University to support individuals and sectors hit hard by coronavirus. Grants of £5,000 were given to ventures following an online application process, and grants of £10,000 were given to the four solutions selected by judges to be scaled on the OXFO Covid-19 Rapid Solutions Builder. Examples of how the grants gave critical support to ventures include: hiring interns, software development, buying essential product equipment, evaluation, wellbeing resources for medical students and junior doctors, content-creation and awareness campaigns, and patent applications.

As Ana Bakshi stated earlier this year, "The Runway Fund provided crucial funding to ensure our startups could scale and have a greater positive impact on society. The ventures in our portfolio have been helping hospitals, care homes, parents, schools and many other sectors hit hard by coronavirus. A huge thank you to everyone who donated or gave generous time and support to make the grant fund possible." Exceptional thanks are due to contributors to the Fund including: Mohamed Amersi, Biz Stone, Pete Flint, Alexsis de Raadt St James, Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI), Leith Ben Ammar, Mike Smith, Mark Evans, Holger Bollmann, Santander Universities, Mustafa Mohammed of Genix Healthcare, Citi Private Bank, and Dr Selva Pankaj and Tharshiny Pankaj. We are incredibly grateful for your support. We also owe a special thank you to the WPM team, the Saïd Business School Development team, and Oxford University’s Development Office and Finance Division for rapidly setting up the infrastructure to process these generous contributions.

The OXFO Covid-19 grant recipients are: Appli Archangel Imaging Boresha Technologies Crowdless Devie Infogrid Lantana Publishing MO Intelligence myo Novoic Nye Health Oblivious AI Oxford Cancer Analytics Ltd Peergos Scoodle SmashMedicine Sociability Ufonia Vatic Yoxly

“The funding has been used to support the infrastructure costs of our deployment in India and for onboarding our first hire. It is helping us broaden our impact by alleviating some of the technical costs associated with the build, its ongoing support, and the strength of the overall implementation. We have been able to add more functionalities and enable many more use cases of our technology for widespread application in both the context of Covid-19 and general commercial applications." Robert Pisarczyk, Oblivious AI "The £10k Runway Grant has enabled us to build and sustain our engineering and product team, allowing them to refine our Crowdless app and also build out other enterprise solutions. This massively improves our competitive positioning and our ability to respond quickly to customer needs." Alex Barnes, Crowdless

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

11


Entrepreneurs, the public sector, private sector, and policymakers unite to drive ventures forward

HQTYCTF

OXFO brings /*" /# - >7+ 3+ -/. $) "'* ' taskforce to support ventures Experts from around the world join forces for OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

12


When we put out the call to join our OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan, and pledge to do whatever we could to help our ventures help others, we were overwhelmed by the generosity, energy and passion of our community. Thank you to all our champions, mentors, judges, and supporters including: Adam Stoten Professor Agnes Binagwaho Ajit Jaokar Akhil Paul Alexsis de Raadt St James Alex McPherson Amit Oberoi Angela Ahrendts DBE Angela Gichaga Lord Ara Darzi Arlan Hamilton Arunma Oteh Ash Rust Ayse Baybars Ben Finkel Ben Legg Ben Lewis Biz Stone Brent Hoberman CBE Brian Gibson Dr Bruno Holthof Cesar Jeri Sir Charles Godfray Charlton Mak Professor Chas Bountra Chris Chamberlain Chris Wearing Claire Davenport Colum Conway Danny Klein David Black David Buttress

Sir David Dalton David Farquharson David Kell Dominic Jacquesson Drummond Gilbert Ed Lee Ed Matthews Dr Elizabeth Kiss Evan Sharp Farzana Baduel Fintan McGovern Fraser Hardie Frederick Blackford Gabriel Fior Gayle Curry Dr Helen Routh Professor Ian Goldin James Mitchell Dr Jan-Emmanuel De Neve Baroness Jan Royall Jay Cee Straley Jenny Tooth OBE John Abel Josh Elman Jorge Hansen Joyeeta Das Julia May Dr June Raine CBE Justin King CBE Kal Patel Karen Hendrickson Kevin Roberts CNZM Laurens de Bruijn Marc Abraham Marco Peluso Marcus East Mark Evans Mark Graves Martha Lane Fox CBE Professor Martin Williams Mary McKenna Masha Feigelman Matt Lerner Matt Perkins Mike Sullivan

Miles Young Mohamed Amersi Dr Nessa Carey Nicola McConville Nicole Cowell de Gruchy Nicole Vollebregt Niresh Rajah Nooman Haque Paula Espana Dr Pegram Harrison Dr Peter Drobac Professor Peter Tufano Pradeep Kakkattil Raif Jacobs Robin Saunders Rudi Sellers Sangu Delle, Esq. Srin Madipalli Steve Lee Stuart Small Professor Sue Dopson Dr Susanna J Dunachie Sir Terence Stephenson, FRCP Toby Coppel Vaidyanathan Kalyanasundram Vishal Punwani Professor William Scott-Jackson Yo Percale Amongst others...

"Many brilliant researchers across the University, have tapped into their networks in academia, industry, regulatory agencies, government and funding organisations, and have rapidly built large scale partnerships in order to fast track new innovations, including for example the production of new vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and ventilators. The Oxford Foundry has similarly engaged the full breadth of our student body, alumni and investor network to create practical solutions. It is inspiring to see young talent using all their creativity, intellectual prowess, entrepreneurial skills and energy, to help patients across the globe in this period of global crisis." Professor Chas Bountra, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Innovation, University of Oxford, Chair of OXFO Academic Steering Committee

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

13


GLOBAL TASKFORCE "As we move through this pandemic, we know the world is in crisis. But fresh insights, strong solutions, and new heroes of every kind are emerging. If we can harness talent, expertise and creativity, and put it to the greater good, then our post-pandemic society will be all the stronger. That is the work and everyone now has an opportunity to play their part. So ask yourself, how can I help? What do I know? What can I bring to the table?" Arlan Hamilton, Founder and Managing Partner, Backstage Capital, Honorary Advisor, Oxford Foundry

Õ

"First and foremost, providing well-resourced, highquality, accessible and fair health services are central to our future global resilience. We must also remember our mental wellbeing and what repercussions the pandemic is having, particularly on marginalised and vulnerable groups. I’m looking forward to seeing the solutions that are submitted to the Rapid Solutions Builder. I will be looking for solutions that are viable and have a well thoughtthrough product or service, that are relatively straight forward to implement, and that have social impact at their core.” Professor Agnes Binagwaho, Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity

"Challenges around social inclusion and engagement have been dramatically heightened in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is critical now that we find adaptable, responsive and efficient solutions to tackle these challenges, and that we deploy and scale them swiftly to help the most vulnerable people in our society whose everyday safety and security is now even more compromised.”

Colum Conway, Chief Executive, Social Work England

"At this moment in history, it's imperative that we harness the ability of networks like Oxford for the greater good and for the future of society. We are currently engaged on two fronts. First, we are supporting our existing ventures already directly responding to the pandemic. Next, we are mobilizing this vast network of great minds to come up with actionable solutions to the myriad problems that lay ahead. We can all, both individually and collectively, respond to the challenges the world is facing at this moment. In doing so, we give ourselves the greatest chance of standing stronger together on the other side.” Biz Stone, Cofounder, Twitter, Medium, Jelly. Chair, Oxford Foundry Advisory Board OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

14


“Now is the time to put people before profit. Our goal is to relieve pressure on our vital services, save lives, and make sure the wellbeing, education and livelihoods of our populations remain supported. The Oxford Foundry is central in mobilising and directing talent towards these goals, from both within the University and outside. In these challenging times, the Foundry is a beacon of light and ultimately, when the pandemic will pass the learnings imparted by the Foundry will prevail and the world will be a better place as a result." Mohamed Amersi, Chairman, The Amersi Foundation, Advisor, Oxford Foundry

"The world faces a myriad of challenges to address the pandemic of today, and the uncertain world of tomorrow. But I know that these entrepreneurs, and the global network supporting them, will be fundamental to developing solutions that will allow us to build a better future.� Alexsis de Raadt St James, Founder and Managing Partner of Merian Ventures. Advisor, Oxford Foundry

"This is a truly global pandemic. As communities, as nations, and as a world, we need to work across boundaries and across silos. This is the time for open-mindedness, transparent communication and shared endeavour towards a common goal. As our world is reshaped and reframed by this pandemic, we need to ensure that decisions about our future are inclusive, and everyone has their say in the world we want to create.� Arunma Oteh, Academic Scholar, University of Oxford; Former World Bank Vice President & Treasurer OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

15


Francesca Blase BA Geography student, Hertford College

Karen Waserstein MPhil graduate in Russian, Central European, East European and Eurasian Studies at St Antony's College

Sneha Ramshanker Physics undergraduate at Pembroke College, current President of the Oxford Robotics and Additive Manufacturing Society (OxRAM)

Joe Pocknell Oxford Strategy Group, Director of Client Engagement, BA student in Economics & Management, Hertford College

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

16


When almost half of our OXFO portfolio ventures refocused to tackle the effects of the virus, they needed significantly more runway – specifically access to more talent and funding – in order to accelerate their product development and go-to-market plans. The Foundry sent out a call for volunteers, receiving over 180 responses within two weeks from students, alumni and people from local communities who were keen to donate their time and skills to work with the ventures to fight the pandemic. “As an entrepreneurship centre embedded in a university ecosystem, one of our key strengths is our convening power. We were able to rapidly mobilise the abundance of talent that Oxford has to offer, and find the crucial extra skills and personnel that our ventures have needed at this time. It is gratifying to see how many people stepped up to offer their help, and to know that in a time of crisis, we could connect them with the teams that most needed them.”

to a health-related initiative tackling the pandemic. iLoF needed help with marketing, and as this is my core skillset I worked on their marketing materials and their new website. Working with the founders, I learned a lot about running a young company and managing the different aspects involved. The experience enabled me to identify my strengths, and this turned out to be really helpful when interviewing for jobs this summer, as I’ve had a clearer understanding of my value as a candidate.”— Karen Waserstein, MPhil graduate in Russian, Central European, East European and Eurasian Studies at St Antony’s College.

Oxford University’s student societies were also keen to volunteer their members’ time and expertise to support our ventures as part of the Action Plan. One such society is the Oxford Strategy Group (OSG), a student-run management consultancy group that advises Healthtech venture Ufonia took on public and privately-listed many student volunteers to help them companies, non-profits and expand their autonomous governments on their strategy and telemedicine solution so that it could operations. As part of the support the huge backlog of medical partnership, 12 OSG members appointments that have been worked on consulting projects for cancelled due to the pandemic. Physics Oxford Foundry-supported ventures undergraduate at Pembroke College including Crowdless, whose app and President of the Oxford Robotics provides real-time updates on how and Additive Manufacturing Society busy local shops are and has now (OxRAM), Sneha Ramshanker, had 60,000+ downloads across 12 volunteered with Ufonia and has since countries, and myo, a service been taken on as a paid intern. “Up connecting care home residents, until now I’ve tended to work on AI staff and families. projects more as a hobby, so I never really had a chance to collaborate with Volunteer Francesca Blase, BA other people. This experience has Geography student, Hertford College taught me a lot about how team said; “Working with myo has been a projects work in the programming/AI great experience and as a team, we space.” feel that we are producing work “In the wake of the pandemic, some of which has a direct and positive our long-term goals suddenly became impact. Our team has worked well short- or mid-term goals, and we knew on remote platforms despite having that we’d need more people, and to cater to three different time access to funding, to achieve them. zones!” For Crowdless, the OSG Thanks to the Foundry’s call for volunteer team, led by Daniel Jones volunteers, we got the help we (currently doing a BA in Economics & needed.”—Dr Nick de Pennington, Management at Pembroke College), Ufonia’s Founder and CEO. worked on ways of expanding the platform’s user base, and helped Another venture to take up the offer of build a financial model. Dan writes, volunteers was iLoF, a deeptech “Despite having to communicate venture using AI to find a cure for through Zoom, I felt we built a really Alzheimer’s. When the pandemic hit, good relationship over the weeks of iLoF refocused their attention on our project. It was amazing to see developing a low-cost rapid first-hand how quickly Crowdless stratification tool for Covid-19 infection has evolved, and to be a part of that and clinical outcome risk assessment. process. I’m now also a regular user “I knew that I wanted to contribute of the Crowdless app, and it feels

brilliant to have been able to contribute to such a constructive and innovative business.” Samuel Loh, a consultant on the team who is currently doing his BA in History and Politics at St Anne’s College, said, “Our experience benefited from our client’s generosity and willingness to work closely with us at every step of the process”. Joe Pocknell, OSG Director of Client Engagement, BA student in Economics and Management, Hertford College said; "The partnership has provided valuable experiences for our consultants, and has hopefully made a positive impact on the growth of these ventures too. As a student-led consultancy which provides services to a wide range of businesses, we felt our talents at the OSG could be put to meaningful use by assisting ventures battling through the pandemic and seeking to make an impact. The Covid-19 crisis has undoubtedly been the hardest period in recent years for any growing business. The Oxford Foundry’s Covid-19 Action Plan gave us a clear opportunity and platform to get involved and make a difference, and provided valuable experiences for our consultants too. In the future, OSG is keen to further develop its relationship with the Oxford Foundry, and to carry on providing ventures with valuable support, particularly at a time of such uncertainty. It has been a fruitful beginning to what we hope will remain a long-lasting partnership." Alex Barnes, Cofounder and CEO of Crowdless said the partnership has really helped them scale, “The OSG volunteers took the time to understand our specific needs and requirements, and produced some excellent market research, business modeling and forecasting that we were able to take forward and use right away. For a small team, working at capacity to tight deadlines, it was so valuable having this added expertise and strategic support. We had three volunteers. They each made a great impact in marketing, market research and b2b customer outreach respectively.”

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

*'.2 :

17


GLOBAL Media reports of what OXFO and our ventures were doing to respond to the pandemic reached a potential global audience of over 300 million

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

18


The Oxford Foundry has been featured in the press 36 times since March 2020, and the ventures over 60 times. Examples include: Sky News 18 December 2020 Covid-19: British inventors unveil saliva swab test 'that returns result in 15 minutes' The Times 23 November 2020 Oxwash, the ‘Ocado of laundry’, ready to take its chance to clean up The Hill: Changing America 22 October 2020 How the COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented innovation The Times 5 October 2020 Starting a business is easier when you’re among friends The Guardian 5 September 2020 'This isn't an outdated ivory tower': how Oxford University leapfrogged its rivals The Sunday Times 16 August 2020 Campus start-ups cram for recovery Poets & Quants 13 August 2020 Good news for Oxford on the job front as it prepares for a year unlike any other The Guardian 28 July 2020 A third of schoolchildren identify as Black, Asian or minority ethnic yet fewer than 5% of children’s books feature BAME main characters

TechTribe 6 July 2020 App designed by caregivers combats loneliness in care homes The Grocer 26 June 2020 How to make supermarket shopping feel safer and more normal The Evolving Enterprise 17 June 2020 Oxford Foundry selects innovations for COVID-19 recovery MedTech Innovation 16 June 2020 Oxford Foundry launches £120k grant fund for start-ups responding to COVID-19 Mobile Marketing magazine 15 June 2020 Oxford Foundry grants £120,000 to startups aiding economic recovery

Professor Louise Richardson, ViceChancellor, University of Oxford speaking in The Guardian. The University of Oxford topped The Guardian’s rankings for the first time in a decade. The Oxford Foundry is highlighted as a key contributor.

Design Products and Innovation 10 June 2020 Oxford Foundry launches four new innovations for COVID-19 recovery BBC South TV news 4 June 2020 The Oxford Foundry and Crowdless app support Covid-19 recovery The Telegraph 4 May 2020 Twitter Co-founder invests in laundry start-up's £1.4m funding round BBC 21 April 2020 Coronavirus: The tech minnows changing the NHS MedTech Innovation 20 April 2020 Oxford Foundry launches two-part plan to accelerate COVID-19 solutions

Sifted 20 July 2020 Today’s students want to become startup founders

DigitalHealth 3 April 2020 New digital service ‘to allow every UK GP surgery to offer remote consults’

Sifted 14 July 2020 Opinion: Our big university challenge

Oxford Mail 1 April 2020 Oxwash Oxford laundry service helps the NHS

Express 8 July 2020 Novoic seeks a million volunteers to cough up and help curb Covid-19

“It isn’t just the outdated image of an ivory tower, this is an institution that is deeply engaged in the world. There is a real entrepreneurial culture here.”

Metro 1 April 2020 'I created vital tech for the NHS and I’m giving it away for free'

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

19


01. OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan: Scaling ventures responding to the pandemic

Nye Health enable 10 million patients to have remote consultations with GPs Pandemic accelerates development and adoption of new remote consultation tool


F

ace-to-face meetings with GPs and hospital doctors have been severely limited by Covid-19 restrictions, but over 10 million patients across the UK have been able to access consultations via video or phone call, through Nye Health’s remote consultation tool. The digital health startup, one of OXFO’s portfolio ventures, accelerated the build and roll-out of their Nye Phone service as soon as the pandemic hit. Within six weeks, initially operating an emergency response team out of the Oxford Foundry building on Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford, it was up and running, free for the NHS to use, and helping UK GPs care for their patients remotely. The Nye Phone is a browser-based phone and video call system that is fully encrypted and compliant with NHS Digital standards. It means that any clinician can call any patient from anywhere, while at the same time accessing all necessary records, systems and databases. The line is high-quality, comes from a land-line number, and is totally secure; all patients’ data and insights are kept within the NHS. The service has enabled doctors to work remotely during lockdown and free-up capacity as restrictions have started to ease, triaging patients so that more urgent cases are prioritised for face-to-face appointments.

Examples of OXFO Taskforce and wider support include Mohamed Amersi putting Nye in contact with the Department of Health and Social Care; Claire Davenport, CEO of notonthehighstreet.com provided mentorship and leadership support, and Marc Abraham, Head of Product Engagement at Asos, advised on product development and operations to help Nye scale quickly. Nye has now supported 1,000,000 minutes of patient care, raised £5.2m investment, £3.8m of which during the pandemic, and the team has grown to 12 members. During the pandemic, Nye were featured widely in the press, including the BBC and Express, and Cofounder and CEO Dr Alexander Finlayson was voted an Everyday Hero in the Metro Awards. 'The rate of growth was unprecedented; keeping up with demand whilst ensuring everything continued to run smoothly certainly made for some late nights. Our whole team stepped up to the challenge, and it has been a turbo-charged learning process. And whilst there have been days where we’ve run on pure adrenaline, just knowing that we’re playing a role in the wider pandemic fight has been the purest form of motivation imaginable,’ said Dr Finlayson.

“The rate of growth was unprecedented... Our whole team stepped up to the challenge... it has been a turbo-charged learning process.” Dr Alexander Finlayson, Cofounder & CEO, Nye Health

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

21


There were surgery cancellatioQV LQ WKH ILUVW ZHHNV RI &RYLG DFURVV WKH 8.

0//$)" *2) /# '$)$ ' &'*" Ufonia support the NHS with the backlog of surgery follow-ups OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

22


A new service to automate postsurgery review is helping in the task of clearing the backlog of clinical procedures that built up during the pandemic. The AI-powered tool developed by OXFO portfolio venture Ufonia is live at Buckinghamshire Hospital NHS Trust helping manage the follow-up of patients who have undergone cataract surgery – the most common surgery in the world. This use of AI technology aims to improve healthcare systems worldwide by automating routine tasks and freeing staff to focus on delivering high-value care. This increases capacity for healthcare providers and front-line staff, as well as significantly reducing costs. A formal academic study of the system is due to commence in Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) and Imperial College in early 2021, and further clinical use cases are being developed with other hospital sites, including the use of the system to triage head and neck cancer care at St George’s Hospital in London, and the rolling out of a Covid-19 admin use case in Oxford University Hospital. Ufonia has raised a pre-seed round of £170k from Angel Investors including Mark Evans, Charlie Songhurst and Jean Nehme, introduced by the Foundry, grant funding of over £1.6 million from Innovate UK and NIHR among others, and their work is

supported by SBRI Healthcare and Innovate UK's Sustainable Innovation Award. The Foundry supported Ufonia by providing 50 volunteers during the peak of the pandemic, four of whom are now full-time paid interns or staff members on a team of 12. Dr Nick de Pennington, Ufonia’s founder and CEO, explained that using already exceptionally busy, qualified staff to deliver the manual task of following up after surgery had led to burnout amongst healthcare professionals. This meant that expensive temporary workers were often brought in to fill the gap and, in some cases, patient follow-ups were missed altogether, risking serious conditions deteriorating, sometimes irreversibly. Following Covid-19, this has only got worse. “As the UK went into lockdown and more than 500,000 clinical procedures were cancelled, some of our long-term goals suddenly became short- or mid-term goals,’said Nick. ‘Through The Foundry we were able to connect with more people and access funding that would allow us to develop our product in a way that would help with Covid-19 recovery. ‘With their help, support and connections, we’ve been able to move fast, embrace the challenges, and to turn this crisis into an opportunity to grow and scale up while making what we hope is a real positive difference to many people.’

7KH 2[IRUG )RXQGU\ KDV UHDOO\ FRPH WKURXJK IRU XV ZHȇYH EHHQ DEOH WR PRYH IDVW HPEUDFH WKH FKDOOHQJHV DQG WXUQ WKLV FULVLV LQWR DQ RSSRUWXQLW\ Dr Nick de Pennington, Founder and CEO, Ufonia

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

23


Following 2[IRUG Oxwash launch in Cambridge and London

+ U " ' 0) -4 1 )/0- # '+. B the 10') - ' , ) Oxford's 1 $) /-$ ' Oxwash exponentially scale to support WKH vulnerable and KHOS save the planet

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

24


“By doing the laundry for the Oxford vaccine team... we were able to collect, launder, disinfect and deliver their garments and scrubs, and make things that bit easier for them as they did their incredible work...” In the early months of the pandemic, eco-laundry company OXWASH switched its attention from the catering and hospitality industries to supporting Oxfordshire’s NHS hospitals and GP practices. In addition to introducing contactless collections and enhanced hospital-standard sterilisation wash protocols, OXWASH raised money through a GoFundMe donation campaign, supported by the Oxford Foundry, to offer 2,500 free washes to NHS workers and vulnerable individuals. OXWASH offers an end-to-end service, with laundry collected and returned to customers by a fleet of electric cargo bikes and dedicated riders. The net environmental impact is zero, with renewable energy powering the entire process, including water reclamation and OXWASH’s state-of-the-art bleach/ harsh chemical-free processing. To date, their systems and services have saved over 3000 cubic tonnes of carbon. An 8kg wash saves 32 litres of water, and 100 million plastic microfibres a day are removed from the environment.

“Our NHS frontline workers are superheroes, but even superheroes need to do laundry. By doing the laundry for the Oxford vaccine team, and by donating free service washes to frontline workers, we were able to collect, launder, disinfect and deliver their garments and scrubs, and make things that bit easier for them as they did their incredible work under such tough circumstances,” said founder and CEO Dr Kyle Grant. OXWASH has just launched in London, following Oxford and a recent launch in Cambridge, and has built a host of partnerships with companies including Deliveroo, Ocado, Peloton, Airbnb, and, most recently, with fashion company Hurr to support the sustainable circular fashion industry. They recently announced a £1.75m seed funding round with investment from Reckitt Benckiser’s venture arm RB Ventures, announced with a double page spread in The Times. The Foundry has connected OXWASH to investors including Biz Stone, Cofounder of Twitter, and Ben Legg, former Chief Operating Officer of Google Europe.

OXWASH are currently generating in excess of £100-250k per annum, serving 86+ clients, have 22 team members and are recruiting more. They are also opening OXWASH:Labs, a platform for businesses to use their unique washing technology to test clean assets such as new clothing made from different fibres.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

25


35,000 new users joined Scoodle during the pandemic

'' /# 2*-' L. ' ..-**( Scoodle support students with home learning OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

26


"Online learning has now become an essential part of life, and people are starting to recognise the critical role that educators have in our society" Ismail Jeilani, Cofounder, Scoodle

As schools closed for lock-down and parents and carers faced the challenge of home education, OXFO venture Scoodle opened its online learning platform free to all students across the UK. An additional 35,000 users joined, and Scoodle provided over 250,000 answers to study-related questions. 100,000 users are now supported by the platform, and the Foundry has connected Scoodle to The Prince's Trust to help support students from less advantaged backgrounds. Scoodle is designed to connect ‘people who want to learn, with people who can teach’, but it’s more than just a means of finding and booking individual tutors. Students can ask questions on any academic

subject and get an answer within minutes. They can view online videos, lessons, and resources. And they can not only book tutorial sessions, but join larger classes that are run by teachers all over the world. All tutors get to create their own public reputation and profile, and they have their own data-driven Tutor Score, which helps parents and students to assess and evaluate them. Cofounder and CEO Ismail Jeilani said, "One of the biggest shifts Covid-19 has brought about for education is the evolution of online learning from a luxury to a necessity. Online learning has now become an essential part of life, and people are starting to recognise the critical role that educators have in our society.

We want Scoodle to play a huge part in making it possible for educators to be famous and recognised." To date Scoodle has raised £2m from investors including Oxford Foundry Advisory Board Chair Biz Stone, Tiny VC, IFG Ventures and Angel Investors from Google, Miniclip, the University of Oxford and China First Capital Group. Their team has grown to eight team members.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

27


Infogrid has collected 250 million data points

)/ -) / *! #$)". 1 )/0- # '+. . 1 /$( ) (*) 4 INFOGRID is freeing up nurses' time by automating manual checks

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

28


INFOGRID has rapidly scaled its services to make thousands of buildings 'smarter' including hospitals. In one NHS Trust alone they have saved 10,000 hours in manual checks and monitoring – which can now be devoted to patient care and treatment of Covid-19 and other conditions. INFOGRID works by supplying tiny, wire free sensors that organisations can easily fit themselves wherever needed in their building, and their low-cost connectivity solution can be applied in a range of other buildings to monitor social distancing and other measures needed to slow the spread of the virus. Sensors connect with the INFOGRID Cloud platform, which allows users to visualise their data through a browser or mobile and respond where necessary. That means no more infrequent supply checks or manual counting of visitor numbers. Temperature, humidity, proximity and desk or bed occupancy for example, can all be monitored 24/7.

To help during the pandemic, the Foundry connected INFOGRID to networks including NHSx, Strategic Blue, and Vodaphone Group and with volunteers to support."We worked with an OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan volunteer who helped us identify potential hardware partners for our solution, enabling us to get moving faster than would otherwise have been possible." INFOGRID built a people counting solution "Safe spaces" and a Cleaning Validation solution which enabled companies to ensure their buildings, and spaces within buildings like washrooms, did not get too crowded and for social distancing to be maintained. To do this they integrated a sensor with non-intrusive laser technology which reliably counts the number of people entering and exiting a space, into their platform. This enabled them to calculate in realtime the number of people inside the space vs. how many should be there for it to be socially distanced. They also developed an indicator screen to use on tablets to indicate whether it was safe for additional people to enter or not.

As buildings become more efficient, they are more eco-friendly and INFOGRID has a mission to help combat climate change and be a leader in the green building revolution. INFOGRID has just announced a ÂŁ11.5m Series A raise from UK and US investors, featured on Sky news. They are growing 70% quarter-on-quarter, and have 18 team members across three offices in London, New York and Tallinn and are recruiting 14 more, creating vital jobs to help rebuild economies. Before the pandemic, INFOGRID was already saving 60 clients - including the NHS - time and money across 2500 sites by automating manual checks, such as pharmacy storage and legionella monitoring. As founder and CEO William Cowell de Gruchy said, "The transition to automated remote monitoring solutions has long been underway, but Covid-19 has massively accelerated the need for this. INFOGRID is in a strong position to help organisations such as the NHS to stay ahead of the tech while they fight the pandemic."

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

29


4000 families are using myo to stay connected

*((0)$ /$*). '$! '$) !*- - #*( - .$ )/. ) /# $- ! ($'$ . Pyo offers its app free to care providers for the duration of the pandemic OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

30


“We are so proud to be offering our service for free to all UK care providers for as long as it takes for the crisis to stabilise...” myo

Thousands of families have been able to cope with the restrictions on visiting care homes a little better after OXFO portfolio venture myo offered its app free of charge to care providers throughout the UK. Unlike mainstream social media platforms or digital communication apps, myo was designed specifically for care homes. It bypasses the problems of residents not being able to use technology or forgetting day-to-day events by involving caregivers, who download the app to their own phones. They can then share pictures and videos of residents’ lives with their families and friends, and read out messages or show photographs that are posted on the platform in reply. Over 4000 families downloaded myo for the first time in the first weeks of lockdown, and engagement with existing customers increased tenfold. The company later worked in partnership with Caring Homes Group (CHG), one of the UK’s largest providers in elderly care, to make it more widely accessible. The Foundry connected myo to Oxford's AHSN, to Atea to explore expanding into Nordic countries, Houzen Holdings and others. myo is multi-lingual and is now used in over 120 institutions in three countries. myo raised a seed round of £1.5m, and Munich-based BonVenture Group has announced that it is investing a seven-figure amount. The impact has already

been felt. Relatives' trust in the quality of care has increased by 70%, caregivers have saved 30% more time when using myo to communicate, and experience a 500% increase in positive communication with families; they receive 350% more appreciation, and residents see a 300% increase in contact with their families. Care homes experienced improved staff retention levels, an enhanced reputation and increased profitability. Richard Böckel, myo’s Cofounder and MD, who founded myo following working in a care home and seeing the need said: ‘With doors to care homes now closed to limit the further spread of Covid-19, myo’s communication platform is vital as perhaps never before. We are so proud to be offering our service for free to all UK care providers for as long as it takes for the crisis to stabilise and we stand with all those on the frontlines of health and social care at this time of unprecedented human challenge.’ myo now has 19 team members across the UK, Germany and Croatia. During the pandemic myo has won multiple awards including Laing Buisson's Innovate in Care, and Rising Star Award, and it was a Care Sector Supplier Award finalist.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

31


/ # 1 )/0- . &. /* .(**/# 0)$1 -.$/4 ($..$*).

1000 students are using Appli

Appli partners with educational charities to support disadvantaged students

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

32


With UK A-level exams cancelled and schools closing, the university applications process was unusually fraught in 2020, with fears that students from under-represented backgrounds would suffer the most. That’s why portfolio venture Appli immediately swung into action to set up partnerships with educational charities across the UK. It aimed to make its AI-powered platform more widely available and help potentially disadvantaged university students get access to the best data and advice to boost their applications and plan for their future. Appli supports university applicants through using AI technology and machine learning to work out exactly what each university is looking for when they choose who to accept. It analyses data from previous applicants to compare how an individual’s profile compares with those of previously successful and rejected applicants. This helps candidates to refine their university choices and know where best to focus their efforts in preparing their applications. Appli has raised

pre-seed funding of ÂŁ135k, is revenue-generating and has established paid distribution partnerships with educational consultancies, tutoring companies and schools across the UK and Hong Kong. Over 1000 students have now signed up and provided Appli with their application data for the 2020 admissions cycle. ‘We wanted to make sure that no student missed out on a university education because of Covid-19’, said Appli Cofounder and CEO Christian Holland. "We knew that many of them would be feeling isolated at home with less direct help from their schools, and that it would be only too easy for unsupported students to lose confidence. We are continuing to work with educational charities and other strategic partners to help students from under-represented backgrounds to realise their potential."

“7KLV KDV JLYHQ PH VR PXFK SHDFH RI PLQG EHFDXVH Ζ FDQ EH FHUWDLQ WKDW Ζ DP DSSO\LQJ WR XQLYHUVLWLHV WKDW DUH ORRNLQJ IRU WKH VWUHQJWKV Ζ KDYH � 0HJDQ $SSOL SDUWLFLSDQW

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

33


x11 growth during Covid-19

) ($ *!! - # '+. ( $ ' ./0 )/. (*1 *)'$) SmashMedicine’s award-winning platform made available in European universities

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

34


“We're improving the efficiency and efficacy of remote education”

0

edical students in six major European universities, including the University of Oxford, and members of the Spanish Council for Medical students were able to continue studying effectively from home during the pandemic by accessing SmashMedicine’s research-backed EdTech platform free of charge. The award-winning platform has been proven to improve student performance by up to 15%. It allows students, teachers and professionals to co-create educational content interactively and remotely – in particular through crowd-sourcing the wide range of clinically-based questions that help students develop diagnostic skills. The concept is sociable and includes a ‘gamification’ element that makes studying Medicine fun. The enforced move to online education is likely to develop further as an industry norm, say the team behind SmashMedicine, but without the necessary tools, students and faculties will struggle, leading to higher student and staff attrition. Engaging and thoughtful platforms such as this will play an important role in ensuring the continued supply of future medical professionals. In 2020, with support from the Foundry, additional partnerships have been established with EIT Health, Cancer Research UK, Oxford University Hospitals network (the Hill), and DEX Innovation Centre. Five additional top-tier medical school pilots have been agreed for early 2021. Over the last six months, SmashMedicine has had x11 user growth and in September 2020 alone, over 2500 unique pieces of student-generated questions and model answers were produced on the platform at one institution. Smash has raised £150,000 and for their work were awarded a University of Oxford Vice Chancellor’s Education Award 2020, and reached the final of Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Awards - nominated by the Foundry.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

35


FeverScreen could help the economy recovery

ovidU8@ ! 1 - ( - *0' # '+ " / /# *)*(4 & *) /- & Pilot project from Archangel Imaging leads the way to screening at scale OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

36


"No clunky setup, complex networks, and no supervision required. Just realtime mobile alerts to help businesses return to normal activities sooner" Trang Tran, Cofounder and COO, Archangel

Widespread testing for Covid-19 is key to getting businesses and people back to work, especially in hard-hit sectors such as retail and hospitality. And an AI camera system, more used to tackling issues such as ivory poaching and railway theft, may just prove to be the answer. OXFO portfolio company Archangel Imaging has been working with security and safety teams to trial new applications of the Argus TI, an AI-assisted thermal camera system that can scan crowds to identify people with selected attributes, such as having a fever or not wearing a mask. When combined with follow-up support services it can help organisations in the retail, transportation, sport and hospitality sectors to respond to the pandemic and keep their staff and customers safe. Archangel’s Cofounder and COO Trang Tran explained: "Being able to screen large numbers of people rapidly and effectively over a wide area is a major challenge, but vital to restoring public confidence and keeping our society and economy open. Archangel’s flexible and portable next-gen AI cameras are self-contained with communications and backup power, so they work straight out of the box. All our devices are controlled via a remote web application, so these fever screening cameras can be repurposed for other tasks straight away. No clunky setup, no complex networks, and no supervision required. Just real-time mobile alerts to help businesses return to normal activities sooner." Archangel has now been accepted on to Tech Nation's Applied AI programme 2.0 cohort, and CEO Dan Sola won Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year in the 2020 Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

¾ Announcing Argus-TI: AIassisted thermal camera system to tackle challenges related to COVID-19, August 2020 Archangel Imaging is excited to announce the kickoff of its latest project, with support and funding from Innovate UK and the Oxford Foundry.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

37


500 books donated to Read for Good

The gift of reading for hospital patients Lantana donate to hospitals

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

38


Coronavirus caused inclusive children's book publisher Lantana to switch business model overnight. The result was a massive increase in readers, partners, and publicity, with more children than ever entertained and inspired to love books despite the disruption to schooling worldwide. Lantana founder and CEO Alice Curry made the difficult decision to pull a planned print run of 30,000 books when the UK went into lockdown in March 2020. She explained, "I chose to put people first: our team, whom I could not continue to pay if our cash was locked up in books we couldn’t sell, and our authors and illustrators, whose books will stand a far greater chance of launching successfully next year once the market has started to recover."

Instead, they converted their entire backlist to ePub format and partnered with eBook distributors around the world to reach children even in the remotest regions. They partnered with non-profit organisation Worldreader to make the books accessible to up to 13 million children worldwide; set up a book club sharing book readings, author interviews, craft workshops, recommended reading lists, extensive teacher resources and book-related activities – all offered for free – to educate, entertain and relieve anxiety for children under lockdown. They also initiated a ‘buy one, give one’ scheme which has donated over 500 books to Read for Good, a charity which works with NHS hospitals to provide books for hospitalised children.

Then, as the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum, Lantana’s inclusive books, written by Black authors and celebrating the lives and experiences of Black characters, became a focal point for households across the UK, the US and further afield who were seeking to show solidarity with the Black community, amplify Black voices, and educate their children on racism and how to counter it. "The world has changed almost beyond recognition within the space of a few months,’ said Alice, ‘but what remains is the values we live by and the beliefs we uphold; at least, for Lantana, these will never change."

"I chose to put people first" Alice Curry, Founder and CEO, Lantana Publishing

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

39


02. Scaling solutions to the secondary and tertiary challenges of the pandemic

+$ *'0/$*). 0$' -

111 solutions submitted

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

40


"Startups are a key part of the lifeblood of our economy. We need to do everything we can to support them to create new markets, new jobs and positive new innovations. The solutions from the Oxford Foundry’s Rapid Solutions Builder are very high quality and will make extremely valuable contributions to rebuilding our society and economy. We need initiatives like this now more than ever and I applaud the work the Foundry team is doing.” Brent Hoberman CBE, Founders Factory | Judge, Rapid Solutions Builder

A saliva test for Covid-19; a coaching app for parents of babies, toddlers and preschoolers; a tool to protect citizens’ privacy in the contacttracing process; an app to help people avoid crowds and queues: these four diverse solutions to some of the longterm secondary and tertiary problems of the coronavirus pandemic were rapidly scaled in only two months thanks to our OXFO Rapid Solutions Builder, launched in April 2020. The teams behind the new companies – Vatic, Devie, Oblivious AI, and Crowdless were among 111 who answered OXFO’s call on 15 April 2020 for Oxford University students and alumni to submit applications to the Rapid Solutions Builder. OXFO asked for ideas in four key areas: healthcare, education, inclusive social engagement and mobility, and operations, logistics and supply chains. Crucially, the solutions had to be scalable, and have the potential to be built and implemented over a short timeframe. Just two weeks after the initial appeal, all 111 applications were in, and OXFO’s judging panel, comprising of entrepreneurs, academics, policy-makers, and investors, had the tough job of whittling them down to a shortlist of 16 – four in each area. Following a masterclass with expert Kevin Roberts (former CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi), the final four were selected by the judges. They were then enrolled on a two-month intensive programme of masterclasses and 1:1s with experts, focused on; market validation and value proposition, business models and legal support, go-to-market strategy and team building, mental heath and resilience support, venture growth, impact and leadership, and pitching and investment, and each team was given grant funding of £10k. The teams were also given bespoke support including: Vatic were connected to GSK and

AstraZeneca through the Foundry, to Verizon for infrastructure support, Ignite Law, advice on NHS takeup from C the Signs, support from Oxford University Hospitals HNS Foundation's Trust, Organ Ox Ltd, MRHA, Nucleome Technologies, and given advice on government policy in different countries by Mohamed Amersi. Their Covid-19 lateral flow salivatest 'KnowNow', is now part of the UK Industry coalition tasked with delivering Operation Moonshot, and is currently in two parallel Test & Trace technology assessment evaluations to progress to potential UK government procurement as part of the 10 million tests per day target by Spring 2021. Vatic are also involved in two private sector pilots in the events and return to work spaces. They have grown to a team of 17, recruited clinical sites for a multinational trial and raised £2.4m. Uniquely their test reacts to the presence of a spike protein on the outside of a coronavirus cell, instead of the nucleocapsid protein within it like other tests. A clinical trial is beginning in the new year. The early-years support app devised by Devie and supported by the OXFO Rapid Solutions Builder is expanding to connect with more nurseries and parents. The AI-powered coaching app has been designed to support parents of babies, toddlers and preschoolers and help them to understand and manage their children’s behaviour and development. It fills a large gap created by the pandemic as nurseries closed during lockdown and parents found themselves isolated as they attempted to work from home as well as look after their children full-time. Devie has received £90k in startup capital from the Oxford Foundry, Bethnal Green Ventures, and the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. It is currently running three pilots with nurseries; has 100 weekly active users of its beta app; and is raising £550k in a pre-seed funding round. The Foundry

connected Devie with volunteer talent through which they have now hired their CTO. Devie also received support from Martha Lane Fox CBE, Ignite Law and John Abel from the office of the CTO at Google amongst many others. They now run regular webinars to support parents and founder Puja Balachander has been invited to speak on panels and was the winner of The Pitch 2020. Oblivious AI has enabled over 300,000 individuals' location histories to be used in contact tracing of Covid-19 in Indiawithout compromising their privacy. The team has published their approach in collaboration with international research institutes and they have become invited members of the United Nations Privacy-Preserving Technology (PPT) Task Team, in which they actively contribute to international collaborations educating and promoting the use of PPT. They have secured their first multinational corporate client which is an important stepping stone in their plan for sustainable growth. The Foundry connected them to Angel Investors, expertise from Sophya, and Taylor Vinters, ongoing mentoring from the Foundry's network, Crane, and Fuel Ventues, and they are working closely with Verizon introduced by the Foundry and growing their Board with support from Foundry mentors. Rapid Solutions Builder venture Crowdless has received thousands of sign-ups a day since launching on the App Store, as people try to maintain distancing and avoid crowded supermarkets and shops. Examples of OXFO support included connecting them to Oxford's Professor Sir John Bell- a senior healthcare decision-maker, and introductions to the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. Both Vatic and Crowdless have been awarded Innovate UK funding aimed at fast-tracking the development of innovations borne out of the coronavirus crisis and the Foundry is providing ongoing support as the pandemic evolves.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

41


4 111 submissions across all 4 University divisions

100%

of RSB ventures said the programme met or exceeded their expectations

solutions scaled

100%

of teams said they felt better connected and more able to build and scale their venture

OXFO Covid-19 Rapid Solutions Builder OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

42


"This was the best accelerator program I have ever participated in. Highlights include the incredible connections the Foundry made for us in relevant industries, the 1-2-1 mentoring sessions and the masterclasses. Drawing from a huge pool of mentors and tailoring the 1-2-1 sessions to our needs dynamically through the program was incredibly helpful. Some of the key takeaways that helped move us forward rapidly were around how to reach customers and stakeholders quickly to validate product/market fit, how to sort between b2b and b2c customers, and why you should focus on either one or the other, and how to take a product to market." Alex Barnes, Crowdless "The one-on-one mentoring sessions have been really useful, and each of them has given us a clear takeaway that we can work with and build on. Recently, Brian Gibson from Microsoft helped us think through the steps between where we are now and integrating machine learning into Devie. Martha Lane Fox CBE helped us think critically about how we’re using parent experience as well as research to define Devie’s parenting advice. Charlton Mak helped us think through our value proposition to schools and childcare providers. Vishal Punwani helped us think through a lot of challenges around hiring, our business model, and fundraising. Akhil Paul has given some awesome advice on fundraising and our business model. Everyone has been incredibly generous with their time and insights, we are so grateful to have all of these critical friends through the RSB!" Puja Balachander, Devie

"First and foremost Oblivious AI wanted to help with the fight against Covid-19 with respect to the immediate challenges with contact tracing in the countries with low smartphone penetration rates. We also wanted to address the broader privacy and security problems fuelled by sudden mass homeworking, decreased mobility and stronger dependence on the digital economy as a result of the pandemic. Rebuilding trust is one of the problems companies will have to face. From our company’s perspective this has emphasised new challenges around security and privacy. The OXFO Rapid Solutions Builder has significantly helped us in almost every single commercial and business aspect. Starting from a long term vision and the purpose of the company. The value of 1-2-1 sessions with such a vast range of experts and entrepreneurs advising on every single aspect of growing a deep tech company cannot be overestimated. Some of them have already become our ongoing mentors, helping us with raising a seed round and finding business customers for our multi-party computation product. Our lead mentor from the RSB programme Paula Espana has been particularly helpful in this respect. Having her and others as part of the Oblivious AI family has driven our business and made the whole start-up journey even more exciting! From a commercial perspective, the program has significantly helped us in defining our go-to-market strategy and in iterating through the personas we will come in contact with, and how to manage their wants, needs and fears. By iterating through this we have also been able to tune the product accordingly. We will continue to do this, as well as leverage other tips and insights which we gained from the programme." Robert Pisarczyk, Oblivious AI

"We are currently working on a unique, simple, non-invasive salivatest for Covid-19. Without effective testing for Covid-19, our ability to return to life as normal will be severely restricted. Whilst centralised testing capabilities have been expanding, there are limitations on affordable scalability without decentralised testing modalities for the disease unlocked by new technologies. We have developed a test combined with tracking software that can be used at home and which tells the user in 15 minutes whether they have an active Covid-19 infection or not. Similar in format to a pregnancy test, it can deliver results that are cheap, convenient and immediate to ensure communities can be kept safe from outbreaks through onthe-spot test results. The sessions with Rapid Solutions Builder sector specialists have been extremely useful in formulating our strategy, alongside support from strategic experts at Verizon and Founders Factory. We have really learnt the value of the network as an accelerant, and picked up some useful growth hacks around building a high performance team." Alex Sheppard, Vatic

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

43


OXFO TO SUPPORT RAPID SOLUTIONS BUILDER With thanks to: Verizon Engineers without Borders Oxford Gyana OUBT OXAI Oxfest Oxford Strategy Group Oxram OxWiB Founders Factory The Oxford Guild

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

44


Verizon volunteers: “We’re in this together” One of the organisations to partner with us to offer support was Verizon Communications Inc, one of the world’s leading providers of technology, communications, information and entertainment products and services headquartered in New York City. We spoke to Cesar Jeri, Head of Innovation & Workplace Technology, Real Estate, at Verizon to discuss the impact on the volunteers and ventures – as well as on Verizon itself. Why did you feel it was important to work with the Oxford Foundry on the OXFO Covid-19 Action Plan? This pandemic has hit us all: nobody is immune. I feel we all have a responsibility to contribute something positive and to help turn things around. Because we are in innovation and technology, the idea of helping startups scale fast and deliver purposeful and much needed solutions resonated heavily – it helps society as a whole, with both economic and social recovery – building relationships remotely. It builds community, a global one.

Please tell us about your experience with the ventures.

Do you have any new goals or projects following Covid-19?

It’s been great to see the focus and drive the startups have towards making the world a better place and how open they are towards the volunteering. It is humbling and inspiring to help out such motivated individuals and to be able to inject some knowledge to help them accelerate. This has resonated with the whole volunteer team, which has now grown into a much larger group than we had originally anticipated. Not only this, but it has helped us internally make new connections and develop relationships that may not have formed organically – after all, we have volunteers from the US (East and West Coast), India, and the UK. Serendipitous relationship-building through global collaboration. What’s not to like?

Covid-19 has accelerated disruption and has helped create some awesome innovation. It has brought digital disruption to the forefront. We have just seen the tip of the iceberg and a lot more is yet to come. I wouldn’t say the goals have necessarily changed, but certainly some course-validation is necessary and adjustment to be expected.

Do you hope to make any longer term connections with the ventures? I really hope so. We are in this together, with the same purpose. We have something really strong in common that “glues us”. I’d love to continue helping beyond the twomonth period and see those startups grow and achieve the ambitions they set for themselves. I hope in the near future to see a billboard, advert, publication or anything similar and be able to say with pride “See that? Those guys played a role in getting us through the pandemic and we helped them”.

What advice would you give to startups at this time? Or to students just entering the world of work? We have seen a lot of change in recent months as well as break-neck acceleration in innovation and digital transformation. We will continue to see a lot of change. That will be part of this “new normal”. I’d say personal adaptability, mindset-shifting and resilience are key attributes. Thank you to the whole global team of Verizon volunteers including: Mike Sullivan, Umesh Munireddy, Danny Klein, Vaidy Kalyanasundram, Marek Mycawka, Jay Cee Straley, Danesh Vishnumurthy, Venkata Subbarayudu, Muthu Chandrasekaran and Richard Joel.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

*'.2

45


Thank you to all of our Rapid Solutions Builder judges:

Judges: Critical Impact area: Education

Judges: Critical Impact area: Healthcare

Marcus East, Technical Director, Office of the CTO at Google, Resident Expert at the Oxford Foundry

Mohamed Amersi, Chairman of the Amersi Foundation, Advisor to the Oxford Foundry Sir Terence Stephenson, FRCP, Chair of the Health Research Authority (HRA) Dr June Raine CBE, Chief Executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Professor Agnes Binagwaho, Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity Professor the Lord Darzi, Co-Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London

Selected venture: Vatic

Evan Sharp, Cofounder, Pinterest

Professor Martin Williams, Pro-ViceChancellor for Education, Oxford University

Colum Conway, Chief Executive, Social Work England Selected venture: Oblivious AI

Dr Elizabeth Kiss, Warden of Rhodes House Brent Hoberman CBE, Executive Chairman, Founders Factory, Founders Forum; previously CoFounder, Lastminute.com Selected venture: Devie

Judges: Critical Impact area: Operations, Logistics and Supply Chains Alexsis de Raadt St James, Founder and Managing Partner of Merian Ventures, Advisor to the Oxford Foundry Sir Charles Godfray, Director of the Oxford Martin School

Professor Sue Dopson, Deputy Dean of SaĂŻd Business School

Dr Bruno Holthof, CEO, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Biz Stone, Cofounder, Twitter, Chair, Oxford Foundry Advisory Board

Josh Elman, Product Builder, San Francisco Bay Area (Helped build Robinhood, Twitter, Facebook)

Sangu Delle, Esq. Chief Executive Officer at Africa Health Holdings Limited

Professor Susanna J Dunachie, Associate Professor, Tropical Immunology at University of Oxford

Arunma Oteh, Academic Scholar, University of Oxford; Former World Bank Vice President & Treasurer

David Buttress, Ex CEO of Just East Plc and Founder of Just Eat UK, entrepreneur, Angel Investor Judges: Critical Impact area: Inclusive social engagement and mobility Mohamed Amersi, Chairman of the Amersi Foundation, Advisor to the Oxford Foundry

Ben Finkel, Founder & CEO of Sesh Nicole Vollebregt, SVP, Global Purpose, adidas Selected venture: Crowdless

Angela Ahrendts DBE, Former SVP Apple Retail & CEO Burberry

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

46


Crowdless app downloaded 60,000 times

* $ ' $./ ) $)" ++ # '+. .#*++ -.B ./0 )/. ) ./ !! Crowdless is being used by the public to avoid supermarket crowds, and by SaĂŻd Business School to protect students and staff

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

47


"Our vision is to build the world's most detailed hyper-local places database. In the current Covid-19 environment, we're helping people manage crowding to stay safe. After Covid-19, this data will be highly useful for people looking to save time, and for businesses that want to manage crowds at their venues” Alex Barnes, Cofounder, Crowdless

One of the ideas supported by the OXFO Rapid Solutions Builder, Crowdless, was developed to provide real-time information on for example, how crowded supermarkets are. This has enabled individual users to choose to shop at less busy times or in less teeming areas, but at the same time could provide the data to help supermarkets and other organisations proactively manage visitor numbers and social distancing. Now, as universities and office-based firms seek to manage a safe return to work and study amidst changing regulations, Crowdless is becoming even more popular. Oxford’s Saïd Business School, connected through the Oxford Foundry, is just one organisational client using the app to help students, Faculty, and executive clients maintain social distancing. Several Oxford Foundry Covid-19 Action Plan volunteers supported Crowdless during the busy summer and the Foundry introduced Crowdless to Ben Lewis, former CEO of River Island, Charged Up, Vodaphone Innovation, Taylor Vintors, alumni mentor Srin Madipalli from airbnb, May Figures, Teneo consulting, and potential clients.

US pricing expert and founder of HelloAdvisr Ed Lee continues to mentor and put Crowdless in touch with contacts. The Foundry enabled Crowdless to be featured on BBC South TV news, knowing the Crowdless team very well following their winning of the Foundry's AllInnovate competition. Crowdless, (formerly Lanterne) has been downloaded free by more than 60,000 people, and is increasingly being adopted by large organisations to help manage the flow of people in their buildings. Crowdless has raised £275k, and won an Innovate UK Business Response to Covid-19 Disruption grant (£50k) and the Sustainable Innovation Fund (170k).

¾ Saïd Business School deploys app to help students maintain distance, 30 October 2020 The University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School is using a new app, Crowdmanager, to help students maintain distance while using social spaces on campus.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

48


:KDW HOVH KDYH ZH EHHQ XS WR"

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

49


Announcing Oxford’s First Scholarship for UK Black students from disadvantaged backgrounds In December 2019, the University of Oxford and Oxford Foundry Honorary Advisor Arlan Hamilton, Founder of Backstage Capital, announced Oxford's first scholarship scheme for UK undergraduates of Black African and Caribbean heritage from disadvantaged backgrounds, following Arlan's role as an OXFO L.E.V8 Women Ambassador. The Oxford-Arlan Hamilton & Earline Butler Sims Scholarship, named in part as a living tribute to Arlan’s mother, will provide a full non-repayable scholarship covering fees and living costs for one undergraduate student per year, for three years. Each beneficiary will be provided with an internship grant of £3,000 to enhance their employability. They will also have the opportunity to work closely with the Oxford Foundry, and ventures on the OXFO accelerator, to enhance their leadership skills and entrepreneurial mindset. “I just saw this beautifully manicured campus, and college grounds, and I thought about the history, and how wonderful it must be to study here. I saw some Black people – more than I was expecting, but not as many as I would have liked. I found out more about the thoughtful work that Oxford are doing to widen access for all students, and boost inclusion, and I said out loud, ‘I want to start a scholarship for Black students at Oxford'.” – Arlan Hamilton, Founder, Backstage Capital, Honorary Advisor, Oxford Foundry.

AI Impact Weekend: Tackling Climate Change

This year our AI Impact Weekend challenge, delivered in collaboration with EY, focused on tackling challenges related to Climate Change. The fiveday challenge was opened by a panel discussion with Professor Cameron Hepburn and Roz Savage MBE on the importance of the role of technology in solving the climate crisis. The event brought together 140 students from different disciplines, with 40 industry and academic mentors, to form diverse teams and build ethical AI-enabled solutions that had the potential to limit global warming and mitigate Climate Change. Live data sets were provided by IBM. Best overall idea went to team Cinderella, who created an AI tool to predict more accurately the arrival time of cargo ships into port, which could dramatically cut carbon emissions and save fuel. The best technical solution went to the Climate Development Lab for their AI-enabled solar cells for windows. The prize for best business solution was won by Pyre-ates, which uses AI to predict wildfires. “I think the interdisciplinary nature of our team really helped. We combined our expertise in artificial intelligence, engineering, law and business to develop a holistic plan. Several members of our team had never met before, but the cooperation was seamless. We plan to use the £6,000 prize to perform market research and develop a prototype. I never imagined that participating in a single competition could create such a change in my life. I encourage anyone with an interest in entrepreneurship to participate in the events at the Foundry. Our team serves as proof: no previous experience is required!” – Dylan Barratt, member of winning team Cinderella, DPhil student, Engineering Science, St Cross College, Oxford

Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Graduate Physicists course Oxford Graduate students were able to explore their entrepreneurial side by participating in a brand new sevenweek Entrepreneurship course from the Oxford Foundry, tailored for Graduate students in Physics. The course was a collaboration between the Oxford Foundry, Saïd Business School, and the University of Oxford’s Physics Department, and was the first such course to be included in the Physics curriculum. Led by Professor Pegram Harrison, Senior Fellow in Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School, over 30 students took part in the weekly online seminars led by expert startup coaches, Physiciststurned-entrepreneurs, industry experts, and senior Oxford Faculty members. In 2021 the course will be rolled out to Physics undergraduates, as well as other departments at the University. In the post-course survey, 100% of participants said that the course improved their understanding of how to translate ideas and inventions into viable businesses, and all participants stated that they would recommend the course to their fellow students at Oxford. “I have spent a lot of time focusing on the technical side of my research, but here, I was shown that there is so much more to consider. Our team wanted to address global inequalities, and we came up with a new product to address the effect of power fluctuations and blackouts on key medical equipment in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries."

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

50


We launched Cohort 3 of the OXFO Elevate Accelerator In November 2019 we welcomed our brand new cohort of 13 purpose-led ventures. Spanning diverse sectors, and using AI, Robotics, Machine Learning, satellite imagery and more, they're committed to tackling big challenges that range from predicting brain disease, to environmental monitoring and reporting, to rapid, early-stage cancer diagnostics and democratising the university admissions process. Over the programme they have been exposed to an incredible array of mentors, experts, and opportunities designed to dramatically accelerate their businesses, and to empower them to leave a positive footprint on the world. The stages of the accelerator have focused on: fundamentals, foundations and validating assumptions; leadership, community and deep-dives; reiterating/developing GTM strategy, mentor matching & client introductions, building pipelines, product building, and getting investment ready. To date, ventures on Cohorts 1-3 have raised £40m, created 146+ jobs and have been valued at over £100m. Ventures on Cohorts 1-2 have raised £34m. From Dec 2019 Sep 2020, the OXFO accelerator ran over 120 workshops, 121s and office hours, culminating in a virtual demo day in November with 250+ investors and members of our accelerator community joining.

What an inspiring and memorable evening! 89% of entrepreneurs who took part found the accelerator 'Extremely valuable' to their venture, the remaining 11% found it very valuable. 100% of entrepreneurs said the programme had a significant impact on making them better entrepreneurs, 100% would recommend the programme to another startup, with a Net promoter score of 8.9. 100% of ventures said they are planning to mentor Cohort 4 ventures to help them in their journeys. The accelerator had a wide depth and breadth of impact including one venture growing their team size by 400% and another by 450%. Thank you to our Resident experts, mentors, coaches and experts including: Aggelos Mouzakitis Alan Gleeson Alex van Someren Alexa Knight Amit Oberoi Andrea Giustina Ashley Wiltshire Amazon Web Service (AWS) Ben Legg Ben Rhodes Beth Susanne Professor Bill Aulet Brad Wilson Chris Chamberlain Cindy Gustavsson Claire Davenport Chris Smith Christer Holloman

Dan Channer Sir David Dalton David Ford David Mott David Nihill Defence Academy of the United Kingdom Dominic Jacquesson Ed Lee Ed Matthews Erik Abrahamson Farzana Baduel Fred Krahforst Gayle Curry Glen Drummond Gordon Messenger Henry Bao Hugh Tebay Husayn Kassai Igor Tikhturov Iris Good Ismail Jeilani Irwin Zaid Jack Thompson James Homan James Pattinson James Tarin Jawad Bhatti Joe de Sousa June Angelides Kal Patel Kevin Roberts Kieran Hill Dr Kyle Grant Larry Shapiro Lorenzo Alberton Marc Abraham Marcus East Martin Lambert Mary McKenna Masha Feigelman Matt Lerner Matthew Woolsey

Mike Smith Mikesh Udani Nicholas Edwards Niresh Rajah Oleg Tikhturov OSI Paul Domjan Paul Reader Peter Garratt Raif Jacobs Randy Weeks Robin Saunders Rudi Sellers Santander Universities Saqib Awan Sathya Smith Shannon Low Simon Bennett Srin Madipalli Stephen Scruton Steve Connell Steve Moyle Stuart Small Taylor Vinters Taylor Wessing Teneo Twilio Dr Vreni Schoenenberger Will Cowell de Gruchy

"This has been a transformative journey at a personal level. The positivity and support of the programme - the people as much as the information - provided me with confidence to press forwards."

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

51


Further social impact of ventures in Cohort 3 of the OXFO Elevate accelerator include:

Peergos

iLoF

European hospitals have been using a tool originally developed for Alzheimer’s Disease to sort Covid-19 patients into low, medium, and highrisk groups, with a pilot project in Portugal screening more than 400 infected people. This daily ‘stratification’ of tens of thousands of people affected by the virus allows for the effective allocation of clinical resources and the ability to target care at the most high-risk patients. ‘Right from the beginning of the pandemic it was clear that one of the biggest dangers was that healthcare systems would be overwhelmed,’ said Mehak Mumtaz, Cofounder and CEO of iLoF (Intelligent Lab on Fiber). ‘This would affect care for patients not only with coronavirus but with all other diseases and conditions too.’ The iLoF platform uses AI and biophotonics to screen patients for clinical trials. Its current focus is Alzheimer’s Disease, but the team has also developed search and stratification tools to help primary care teams identify people with long-term conditions, such as asthma, COPD, diabetes and hypertension. Developing a stratification tool for Covid-19 was an obvious next step and a high priority. ‘Managing clinical resources is critical – it’s a piece that we have to get right to beat the virus,’ said Mehak. ‘By developing a stratification tool, we have been able to optimise resources and send patients with mild symptoms to quarantine in their homes while ensuring that the serious cases can quickly get the treatment and attention they deserve. By having first-hand contact with physicians on the front line of the Covid-19 battle, we were able to swiftly understand the key asks and implement our solution.’

Peergos uses cutting-edge technology to deliver private and secure online storage. Data is secured with quantum computer resistant end-to-end encryption so that files are always kept secure in transit and at rest. It is decentralised so the end user is always in control and no metadata is shared with servers. It is also resilient against network attacks and service outages. Peergos now has over 1200 accounts on its alpha network, is very well respected within online communities, and was awarded a â‚Ź200,000 grant from the EU Next Generation Internet Initiative.

Sibyl

Sibyl's B2B SaaS solution helps law firms investigate fraudulent and exaggerated claims more thoroughly by freeing up time, automating specialised tasks, and providing data-based insights (such as likely settlement valuation). Sibyl has completed a paid PoC with a top 50 UK law firm, improving accuracy by 30% and saving 30 mins per claim (5.7k hours / year total). Sibyl was the winner of “Coolest Tech� at the Online Courts hackathon, sponsored by HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Legal Geek and the Society of Computers and Law, and was featured in KTN's AI for Services, The Artificial Lawyer and the Impact Lawyers.

Novoic

Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias will affect 1 in 3 people. The disease progresses silently for decades before symptoms become obvious and a diagnosis is made. But subtle changes do exist in the silent stages – in episodic memory, executive function, and language – and, with sophisticated enough technology, these changes can be detected in the way someone speaks. Novoic is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing algorithms to detect neurological

diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease in their preclinical stages, by analysing audio-linguistic patterns of speech. Novoic has raised £2 million in Seed funding from leading institutional investors, is working with the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and Gates Ventures to develop a global standard for speech biomarkers, and is the only speech company to have been backed by the NHS to test out its algorithms in seven common neurological indications.

Deep Planet

Deep Planet uses machine learning, satellite imagery, and agricultural data such as ground sensor, yield and weather data, to support supply chain companies and growers. They help growers to predict yield at 90% accuracy and lower irrigation and fertiliser usage by 10%, predict crop input and output over large areas and substitute and complement manual scouting. They have received grants of ÂŁ380k from the European Space Agency, Copernicus, SPRINT, and Innovate UK 2018-2020. To date, 500,000 hectares of land has been monitored and Deep Planet's data is supporting sustainable tree harvesting, deforestation mitigation, and farmer training in Somalia, regenerative grazing and holistic management of African Masaai Mara rangelands in order to reduce animal fatalities, and enabling increased fruit production with lower water usage in grape farms in Australia. Their client list includes large wine growers and supply chain companies, with more than 40 growers currently using the platform.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

52


All-Innovate competition Our flagship All-Innovate ideas competition, supported in 2020 by Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI), saw a record 150 teams from across 30 Oxford colleges enter. 60 quarter finalists attended a startup bootcamp in early March, and 30 semi finalists pitched their idea to a panel of judges, who selected the final 10 ventures. Through a partnership established this year between the Oxford Foundry and The Prince’s Trust, young people from The Prince’s Trust enterprise programme were able to attend the Foundry's Creativity, Design Thinking and Idea Exploration series' of workshops in Oxford in early 2020. Entrepreneurial skills workshops were also facilitated for a group of 25 young Prince’s Trust entrepreneurs in London, delivered by Rudi Sellers of IBM iX and Yo Percale of Mykagami.com. At the competition final, which took place online in early August, the 10 finalist teams – including two teams from The Prince’s Trust – pitched to guest judges Mohamed Amersi of the Amersi Foundation, Jim Wilkinson, CFO of OSI, Aneeqa Khan, Founder of eporta, and Jenny Tooth OBE, CEO of the UK Business Angels Association. Best overall idea, awarded £10,000 went to: Neurolytic Healthcare who are building the first prescription optimisation platform to determine the optimal treatment for migraine from Brasenose College, founded by Inna Thalmann, DPhil Candidate in Health Economics, and Roman Rothaermel, DPhil Candidate in Neuroscience, who met at the Foundry. Best undergraduate idea, each awarded £5,000 went to:

1. Cibus Health, who are developing a smart bottle that gives parents realtime feedback about infant physiology during feeding, linked to cues of hunger and satiety, from Magdalen College, cofounded by Adrian Kozhevnikov, Master's student in Engineering. 2. Genei - Learn Smart, who are using AI to reduce the time taken to research and produce written work, cofounded by Billy Richards, Mbiochem Research student at Trinity College. Best postgraduate idea, awarded £5,000 went to: VitaGUM a multivitamin-infused chewing gum that combats malnutrition and poor oral healthcare in refugee populations - from Wolfson College, founded by Harriet Lester, DPhil Biochemistry. Best idea from The Prince’s Trust, awarded £5,000 went to: Mini Mealtimes, an app that helps parents track their children’s food and nutrition, founded by Marie Farmer (pictured).

Creativity series, Idea Exploration series and public speaking masterclass 150 people attended our Creativity workshop series and 71% said that the workshops helped them to think more creatively. 420 students attended our Idea Exploration workshops, 90% said that the workshops increased their confidence to take their idea forward. 88% of participants said the workshops helped them to define their next steps in developing an idea. 100% of attendees at David Nihill's public speaking masterclass said the sessions would improve their public speaking. Workshops were facilitated by Rudi Sellers from IBM iX, Farzana Baduel, Entrepreneur First, David Nihill, and Anthemis.

OXFO Tech series Through the Foundry's Tech Series, in partnership with Ripple's University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI), Oxford students were able to gain new skills in blockchain, AI and machine learning across different industries, and to learn how to code in Python. Our Python for Beginners coding course took the form of two weekend bootcamps, delivered in collaboration with two student societies: Oxford Coding Society (CodeSoc), and Oxford Females in Engineering, Science, and Technology (OxFEST) Society. In total, 84 students across all four academic divisions of the University completed the course, and 65% of them were women. 83% said that the course increased their confidence in their ability to code using Python, 93% felt motivated to continue their learning of Python, 87% said the course increased their understanding of coding and its applications. Our Blockchain and Smart Contracts for Beginners course in November 2019 saw 70 participants learning the basics over four weeks, facilitated by Oxford alumnus Laurence Kirk, CEO of Extropy, with 63% of participants being women. The Data Science & Machine Learning for Beginners course saw participation from 186 students, across all four academic divisions. The course comprised three two-hour workshops, delivered by Ajit Jaokar, Course Director for Artificial Intelligence at the University of Oxford. Our Blockchain Tech Talent networking event in December 2019 provided opportunities for talented, techspecialised Oxford students to connect with leading Blockchain companies to explore hiring and internship opportunities.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

53


Outreach activities and speaker series In early March 2020, we welcomed inspirational speaker Mark Pollock, in discussion with Srin Madipalli, Cofounder of Accomable. They discussed resilience and perseverance as part of the Trailblazer Chronicles, a joint series between the Entrepreneurship Centre at Saïd Business School, Skoll centre for Social Entrepreneurship and the Oxford Foundry. In November 2019, 150 entrepreneurs and thought-leaders joined us for a discussion and dinner as part of Silicon Valley Comes to the UK (SVC2UK). Husayn Kassai, Cofounder of Onfido and Abby Harrison, aspiring astronaut from the Mars Foundation, discussed the ethics of technology and how technology can benefit society, chaired by Senior Editor at The Economist, Kenneth Cukier. In 2019/20, OXFO Booster Grants have been awarded to 15 student societies; from the Polish and Africa societies to the Drone and Robotics societies, helping to upskill 2000 students from all four academic divisions of the University, giving them the knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship and technology they need as our future workforce, as well as an understanding of alternative career pathways available to them. Booster grant activities included an Oxford African and Caribbean society (ACS) event with Sangu Delle, Esq. Chief Executive Officer at Africa Health Holdings Limited (AHH), chaired by Ana Bakshi, discussing his book 'Making Futures'.

The OXFO Student Advisory Board has 38 student President representatives. All were invited to an OXFO leadership day at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom where they were given a crash course in leadership from Royal Marines and leadership experts. "It was a fantastic day with a good balance of leadership theory and practical exercises to get us to think. I learnt a lot, and I am already applying some things I learnt such as prioritising personal relationships, making task goals very clear, and assuming positive traits in my team/employees." Andrea Guariglia, Leadership day participant, OXFO Student Fellow, undergraduate Neuroscience, Oxford University

Oxford Foundry building used for FACT Covid-19 study

The ground floor of the Oxford Foundry is being used for a research project called FACTS (the Feasibility and Acceptability of community Covid-19 Testing Strategies), led by Saïd Business School. The aim is to see if it is feasible and acceptable to test people regularly for coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection when they don’t have symptoms. The study aims to find out if regular self-testing with rapid tests is feasible at the University of Oxford. The tests are rapid tests that take a few minutes to get a result, followed by short questionnaires about symptoms and how the experience of testing was. The study is being done by researchers from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. Rapid tests for Covid-19 could potentially be used to allow quick access to infection status, even when people are feeling well, and have no symptoms, so that they can self-isolate if necessary and halt the spread of the virus as early as possible, a great initiative from the School.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

54


0$' $)" (*- $) '0.$1 6 ..$ ' +*./U+ ) ($ 2*-'

Sociability launch app 2.0

Sociability create a movement for a better world OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

55


OXFO venture Sociability created their app in order to help disabled people find accessible places. Now it has been backed by Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund to help businesses improve their disabled access as part of the UK’s Covid-19 economic recovery. Sociability’s Enterprise Platform complements its consumer app to make improving accessibility a collaborative endeavour. The app enables disabled people, their friends, and contacts to identify and map accessible venues and businesses in advance. It brings businesses into the loop, and allows them to communicate directly with disabled and older customers about how safe their stores and venues are. For example, they can provide information about special shopping hours for disabled customers, or about how their rules and processes are changing when new Covid-19 restrictions come into play – or when they are relaxed. For customers, this should mean that they can get out and about with greater confidence. For businesses, they will have the information to improve their store accessibility and Covid-19 safety; better serve their disabled and older customers; contribute to greater inclusivity; and improve their brand reputations.

‘Our hope is that the post-pandemic “New Normal” will be a more accessible and inclusive one – for everyone, not just those who have the loudest voices,’ said Sociability CEO and Cofounder Matt Pierri. ‘If there is a silver lining to the Covid-19 crisis, it is that we all now have a greater awareness of the importance of public health initiatives, a growing empathy with disabled people as to what social exclusion (and literal lockdown) feels like, and a greater sense of solidarity that we’re all in this together. With greater awareness comes greater understanding and, hopefully, greater change. Sociability, and start-ups like ours, are crucial tools in that change.’ To date, Sociability has raised £95,000 in pre-seed funding from the University of Oxford, through the Oxford Seed Fund and Angel Investors – Biz Stone, cofounder of Twitter, and Mike Fitzpatrick.

"Our hope is that the postpandemic “New Normal” will be a more accessible and inclusive one – for everyone, not just those who have the loudest voices" Matt Pierri, CEO and Cofounder Sociability

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

56


Hope for asthma patients Home-monitoring system aims to improve understanding of disease progression OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

57


$

n automated home monitoring system for asthma and other respiratory diseases is being developed that could also support people at risk of Covid-19. The device helps experts understand more about symptoms, and can help identify those who need care before their condition becomes critical. Albus Health has developed a small tabletop device that automatically monitors a range of symptoms and metrics at home,

which could help prediction of preventable emergencies such as asthma attacks to enable patients to self-manage their condition. The passive, non-contact and ambient device works without patients or their families having to do or wear anything, making it suitable for people of all ages regardless of their technical ability or geographical location, and does not rely on patients or their families to recognise, remember or report the symptoms.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

58


9HQWXUHV KDYH UDLVHG e40P DQG created 146+ jobs

3 years of OXFO Venture creation and growth We've supported 32 ventures across three accelerator cohorts, generating 146+ jobs and raising £40 million. The ventures have been valued at over £100m. 75% have gone on to raise investment in Europe and the US since joining the accelerator, and 80% of ventures are revenue generating. Ventures have been featured in the media over 100 times including Fortune, TechCrunch and The Telegraph and won awards including Forbes 30 under 30. The accelerator has a Net Promotor score on a par with commercial accelerators, with an 100% increase in applications each year. 100% of our OXFO venture portfolio have social missions at their core while being commercial, for-profit entities. We launched the L.E.V8 Women programme supporting 16 ventures - 21 women - through two cohorts. The programme is designed to support women to build and scale their ventures, addressing the unique challenges they face as women in entrepreneurship through workshops, 1-1 mentoring and access to networks. Ventures have gone on to raise a total of £6million in funding and create seven jobs. Following the programme, 100% of participants said the programme increased their confidence to take risks, 88% said the programme increased their resilience in facing setbacks with their venture, and 100% of participants said the programme increased their confidence in their ability to move their idea forward. Democratising entrepreneurship We ran a successful pilot programme with The Prince’s Trust, giving access to the Foundry's learning programmes and the AllInnovate ideas competition to talent from challenged socio-economic backgrounds. We've worked with the University to launch the University’s first scholarship for Black students from disadvantaged backgrounds with US tech entrepreneur and Foundry Honorary Advisor Arlan Hamilton. We are working hard towards embedding diversity and inclusion across all our programmes and at all levels.

Creating entrepreneurial mindsets, closing the tech skills gap, and supporting student careers We've formed industry partnerships including with EY, OSI, Ripple and Santander Universities. We've launched impactful educational, solution-focused programmes and initiatives including AI Impact Weekend and All-Innovate. These address world problems such as Climate Change, and fake news, through entrepreneurship and Institution-wide, multidisciplinary collaboration, bringing together students and academics, across all 39 colleges and 4 divisions. 300 students have taken part in AI Impact Weekends. Over 250 students have entered an idea to All-Innovate and £50,000 of prize money and follow-on support has been given to build winning ventures. We've delivered 10,500 hours of experiential learning. We've had 2,000 engagements across all divisions with our Foundry's tech speaker series and workshops on coding in Python, blockchain and Machine learning. More women than men participated in the Python workshops, vitally supporting women in tech. We've had 2,590 engagements with our entrepreneurial skills workshops and activities. We've introduced thousands of students to entrepreneurship through our OXFO booster grants and outreach activities. We've embedded entrepreneurship into the Physics curriculum through a successful seven week 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Graduate Physicists' course, and we are expanding this to other departments. We've facilitated student internships with ventures, for example Physics student Alex Cheema worked at OXFO venture Veratrak, Lantana hired Oxford interns, and Ufonia has taken on four interns following our OXFO Covid-19 Action plan.

Membership and community There have been 15,600 engagements with the Foundry since we launched, including re-engaging over 3,000 alumni, 560 staff, and 500 investors and external experts. This includes 13% of the Oxford student body from all 4 divisions and 39 colleges. The current Foundry membership of 3,300+ is made up of 145 nationalities, 37% Undergraduate, 32% Postgraduate/ DPhil, 27% Masters education level, with a 46.3% Female, 51.3% Male, 3% unspecified split. We've built a large and engaged online community with 10,000 followers on our social media and 300,000 website views. Strategy and reputation We've developed the Foundry's unique and successful five stage experiential learning and delivery methodology (formed from Oxford Foundry Director Ana Bakshi's research, and work building university startup hubs). We've built an Advisory Board, Academic Steering Committee and unique University-wide Student Advisory Board with 38+ student societies. We've led the Foundry to be featured in the press over 60 times including in the Financial Times, BBC, Sunday Times, USA Today, Forbes, Business Insider and The Guardian, including supporting the University of Oxford to lead the Guardian's graduate outcome rankings after 10 years. We've attracted high profile entrepreneurs, world leaders and advisors. We've developed and led the fundraising and donor strategy for the Foundry and Director Ana Bakshi published the White Paper 'Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery', October 2020. Our Impact reports and venture cohort Lookbooks are available online at issuu.com/oxfordfoundry

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

59


:KDWjV WKH IXWXUH"

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

60


$ 98&$ ZRUOG "With the major and multi-faceted global challenges presented by Covid-19 in the past year, we can remain in no doubt that we truly live in a VUCA* world: one that’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Challenges will continue to arise as we all adjust to the changes the pandemic has created, but it is how we respond, adapt to, and navigate such shifting landscapes that will determine our future success. The UK is a key epicenter of entrepreneurial opportunity and technology innovation yet there is still much untapped entrepreneurial potential in the UK that, with wise investment and support, could reap vital rewards for the UK’s economy and for society as a whole. University students and alumni are passionate, committed, and exceptionally talented. They adapt quickly and learn from setbacks, which makes them a perfect fit to rapidly start and scale the successful businesses that will lead the UK’s economic recovery. I know this, because I was one of those students. Since graduating from Oxford, I have helped build numerous high-tech businesses that have sparked economic growth and prosperity and employ hundreds

of thousands of people, including Dropbox, Airbnb, and of course, LinkedIn. As an alumnus, I recognize the enormous power of university networks to upskill and improve employability for everyone, not just their students. We can create a new economy that is not only more prosperous, but more inclusive and more sustainable than before. Talent is evenly distributed; opportunity is not, but university centres and networks like the Oxford Foundry can help distribute opportunity more equitably, and they can help lead the way for the networks and communities around them. Now is the time for us all to come together across sectors and across disciplines to create new jobs, replace jobs lost, strengthen our communities, and boost our economies.”

Reid Hoffman CBE, Cofounder, LinkedIn Founding Donor and Advisor, Oxford Foundry

*VUCA World – an acronym first used in 1987, drawing on the leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

61


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 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 three months and gain support from bespoke mentors and networks.

OXFO Entrepreneurship School

OXFO 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."

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 tos', and reference materials. This will be freely available to all Oxford students and alumni, and external partnerships.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation sevenweek course

Our seven-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 ideas competition AllInnovate will be bigger and better in 2021. We will be running two rounds with £40,000 of prize funding and follow-on support delivered in collaboration with EY.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

62


Professor Peter Tufano, Peter Moores Dean, Saïd Business School, ViceChair, OXFO Academic Steering Committee What a year it’s been... "It’s clear from this report that the Oxford Foundry, under Ana Bakshi’s leadership, continued to thrive, serve students and alumni, and catalyse entrepreneurship over the past year. That’s no real surprise. Entrepreneurship has been defined as the “pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources under your control.” The “opportunities” this year to innovate and serve have been bigger than any other year in the recent past. It’s as if Covid-19 landed us all with a “Grand Challenge” competition suddenly, across many different sectors—public health, education, the workplace, and more. At the same time that our opportunities to innovate rose, the “resources under our control” shrank, as we found ourselves without the benefit of our face-to-face support networks, the ability to travel, and more. While artists may thrive when faced with a blank canvas, entrepreneurs (and engineers and business people) often do their best work when posed with concrete problems and deadlines. Perversely, the Foundry and the many entrepreneurs it supports thrived during, and in part because of, Covid-19. When I think of the

original idea for the Foundry, that long preceded the opening of our funky facility on Hythe Bridge Street, I hadn’t conceived of a pandemic as the creative spark for entrepreneurs. But it was clear, even then, that entrepreneurs— and especially the amazing student and alumni entrepreneurs from this amazing University—would surprise and amaze, while they went on to solve some of the world’s biggest problems— if given a bit of support, a little space, and some encouragement. Thank you— to the Foundry team, to our advisors and friends, to our colleagues around Oxford, but especially to all of you entrepreneurs—for all you do. And without raising expectations—for all I am sure you will do going forward as we build forward better."

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

63


And with Peter's inspiring end to our OXFO 2019-2020 Impact report, we'd like to give special thanks for all that he's done for the Oxford Foundry...

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

64


With our special thanks to Dean Peter Tufano. In June 2021, Peter ends his highly successful Deanship after ten years. Congratulations for all that you have achieved Peter, and on behalf of the Oxford Foundry and our Advisory Board we wish you all the best for the new adventures to come! "The idea behind the Foundry was something Peter passionately believed in - the need to build equal opportunities through entrepreneurship for all students. Peter’s vision was not limited to a centre that would accelerate ventures and develop skills, but one that would embrace the power of multi-disciplinary collaboration across the entire Oxford ecosystem, bringing together students from the social sciences, humanities, medical sciences and maths, physical and life sciences, at all stages of study, and from all backgrounds. Launching something new, especially within a 900-year-old institution, requires intense focus and determination. And with all things entrepreneurial, anything new is often viewed as risky, especially when garnering support for its development. Yet, Peter’s idea and his vision for OXFO and can-do attitude garnered much early enthusiasm. He was able to secure critical philanthropic support to build a first-of-its-kind entrepreneurial centre at Oxford, build a strong team and establish an Advisory board of world-leading entrepreneurs. Peter has brought people along with him to be a part of this historic journey; his authenticity and sincerity to want to leverage on entrepreneurship inclusively and with purpose, is something that immediately drew me to OXFO. I knew Peter wanted to build something impactful and transformative with far-reaching consequences. I knew I wanted to be part of it. Peter has entrusted me with OXFO from day one, always giving me the support to be the leader, and the chief challenger I needed to be effective. He afforded me an incredible opportunity to develop and execute something full of promise and lasting potential. For me personally, Peter has been a source of life-changing counsel and friendship. I hope as we go forward into our 'new normal', we will see far more leaders taking the bold and transformational path of Peter. Thank you for everything, Peter." Ana Bakshi, Executive Director, Oxford Foundry

"Peter Tufano leads with clarity and intelligence that results in truly impactful and inspiring outcomes. His legacy at the Saïd Business School and the Oxford Foundry are no exception. Drawing on his personal experience as a longtime scholar and innovator, Peter has transformed the Oxford entrepreneurial ecosystem permanently. That’s quite an accomplishment for a 900-year-old institution like Oxford University. Students and colleagues alike will greatly miss his warmth and friendship." Alexsis de Raadt St James, Managing Partner, Merian Ventures "Peter was the engine and inspiration behind OXFO from its very inception. I remember our early discussions about the market gap and how well placed Saïd Business School was to support this in Oxford. The students are lucky that Peter kick-started the Foundry and used impeccable credentials to give it credibility from the start and build a world-class team of backers and management to support his vision." Brent Hoberman CBE, Executive Chairman, Founders Factory, Cofounder, First Minute Capital "When Peter Tufano came to Oxford he could clearly see that something was missing in the student experience: a chance to get involved in entrepreneurial activities. He often likened entrepreneurship to college sports: even if you don’t end up doing it afterwards, it helps students build character. This is why he spent countless hours planning, pitching, and protecting the Oxford Foundry. Throughout its amazing launch, Peter constantly reminded us that this was for the benefit of all Oxford students, and that this would be a way to unleash their enormous creative potential. He was right! We will always be thankful for his unwavering leadership." Thomas Hellman, DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Saïd Business School

"Peter listened to the needs and aspirations of students and alumni and saw that there was a pivotal gap in providing hands-on entrepreneurship and technology skills experience at Oxford. In a short space of time, the beautiful Foundry building had been created from reclaimed materials and its Director Ana appointed. In only three years the Foundry has had a remarkable impact and demand is greater than ever as we prepare our future workforce for what lies ahead. With Peter's foresight, and experience founding the i-lab at Harvard, Oxford's entrepreneurial talent has strong support to bring their ideas to fruition, and access to the thriving, multidisciplinary communities they need to explore their futures. I became a founding donor of the Foundry because I know how much I would have benefited from a center like it when I was at Oxford, and we're all better off because of it. Thank you Peter." Reid Hoffman CBE, Cofounder, LinkedIn "I still remember when I first heard about your concept of the Oxford Foundry Peter. It was still only an idea in your head. I am so honored that you let us be one of the early supporters of your idea. That initial idea has now grown into an amazing Foundry team and building but, more importantly, it has positively impacted the lives of Oxford students and the broader Oxford community in ways far beyond what we imagined in that first conversation. I am proud of our support of you and your vision. I hope you know that no matter what you do next to add to your already successful career, I will always be a believer, a supporter, and a friend. Thank you so much for everything." Jeff Wong, Global Chief Innovation Officer, EY "Entrepreneurship at Oxford will never be the same again thanks to Peter. His vision to create and develop a space in Oxford to inspire and nurture entrepreneurship has transformed the startup scene in Oxford. And this is just the beginning. Oxford owes him an enormous debt of gratitude for his inspiration and drive to bring OXFO to life and to make it thrive." Toby Coppel, Cofounder and Partner, Mosaic Ventures

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

65


"I distinctly recall discussing with Peter Tufano 'The Launchpad' as it was then called, when it was embedded at Saïd Business School and its limitations. Peter, being the visionary he is, immediately saw the potential of creating something big and innovative which would be a beacon for the entire University ecosystem and hence the Foundry was born! That was his first great decision, and his second great decision was to hire Ana Bakshi as its inaugural Director. When you envision great things, great things do actually happen! My Foundation is proud to be the largest funder of the Foundry and I am privileged to have served as an advisor to the Foundry from its inception. Thank you Peter for seeing the potential and acting upon it." Mohamed Amersi, Chair, The Amersi Foundation

"Peter, your leadership, vision, network, passion and hard work, have etched numerous major successes into the history of this great institution. One of these is the Foundry. The impact of your endeavours are being realised, and will continue to grow the profile of the Saïd Business School and the broader collegiate university. Our many students, faculty and alumni are indebted to you. We wish you many more great successes." Professor Chas Bountra, Pro ViceChancellor for Innovation, University of Oxford

"Building entrepreneurship and technology skills is fundamental to the success of a modern economy and a tremendous opportunity for Oxford. I was so impressed with Peter's original vision of OXFO, but even more excited with the progress there has been in just a few years. It's a world class organization - from the management team and leadership of it's Director Ana, to the facilities, to the supporters and advisors. However, what I'm so encouraged by is the countless positive experiences and enthusiasm from the students and alumni and the early promise of so many ventures and teams. What a huge impact and legacy. It's been a real joy to support and see the Foundry evolve to what it is today." Pete Flint, Founder, Trulia, Managing Partner, NFX "I knew the Dean before Peter so to me he'll always be "the new guy" who came in and left his mark. It is a joy stealing some time to spend with Peter. I think that's how I ended up so involved with the Saïd Business School and later, the Oxford Foundry. Peter has been amazing at finding the right people, the right talent, and letting them flourish in their roles. OXFO will be a huge part of his legacy. Thank you Peter, and I wish you all the best." Biz Stone, Cofounder, Twitter, Medium and Jelly

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

66


Our Governance A sincere thank you to our Advisory Board for their continued support and contribution as active Patrons to the Oxford Foundry, as well as other generous supporters who have kindly, and actively, given to the Foundry.

Oxford Foundry Advisory Board Reid Hoffman CBE, Cofounder, LinkedIn, Senior Advisor, Oxford Foundry Biz Stone, Cofounder, Twitter, Medium, Jelly |Chair of the OXFO Advisory Board Professor Peter Tufano, Peter Moores Dean, Saïd Business School

Academic Steering Committee

Professor Peter Tufano, Peter Moores Dean, Saïd Business School Vice-Chair, OXFO Academic Steering Committee Mohamed Amersi, Chair, The Amersi Foundation Professor Dame Sarah Whatmore, Head of the Social Sciences Division Professor Martin Williams, Pro-ViceChancellor, Education Miles Young, Warden of New College, Chair of the Conference of Colleges

Jeff Wong, Global Chief Innovation Officer, EY

Professor Matthew Wood, Deputy Head, Medical Sciences Division

Mark Evans, Partner, Kindred Capital

Professor Dermot O'Hare, Associate Head (Industrial liaison and Innovation), Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division

Alexsis de Raadt St James, Managing Partner, Merian Ventures Phil Libin, Cofounder, Evernote, CEO, All Turtles Pete Flint, Founder, Trulia, Managing Partner, NFX Brent Hoberman CBE, Executive Chairman, Founders Factory, Cofounder, First Minute Capital Jørn Lyseggen, Founder and CEO, Meltwater

Aphorism Foundation The Amersi Foundation Saïd Business School EY Santander Universities Ripple OSI Meltwater

Professor Chas Bountra, Pro ViceChancellor for Innovation - Chair, OXFO Academic Steering Committee

Mohamed Amersi, Chair, The Amersi Foundation

Toby Coppel, Cofounder and Partner, Mosaic Ventures

Donors and Partners

Professor Karen O'Brien, Head of the Humanities Division Mark Evans, Partner, Kindred Capital Dr Matt Perkins, CEO, Oxford University Innovation Jim Wilkinson, CFO, Oxford Sciences Innovation Dr Stephen Conway, Director of Research Services Professor Alex Betts, Associate Head (Graduate and Research Training), Social Sciences Division Jo Harris, Director of Finance, Saïd Business School

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

67


THANK YOU This year more than ever, we are hugely grateful to all the organisations and individuals we work with for their support of the Oxford Foundry and our activities. OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

68


OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

69


Building a new generation of ventures and leaders.

OXFO 2019-2020 Impact Report

69


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.