| FOREWORD
Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery A N A B A K S H I , E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R , O X F O R D F O U N D R Y, U N I V E R S I T Y O F O X F O R D , O C T O B E R 2 0 2 0
A proposal for government and the private sector to invest in entrepreneurship and technology training and startup acceleration centres within every higher education (HE) establishment in the UK.
1 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| CONTENTS
Contents
Contents
02
Foreword
03
Executive summary
05
Introduction by Ana Bakshi
07
Endorsements
09
Current UK economic and social challenges
14
The opportunity
17
Why universities and why now?
21
How could we do it?
46
Key recommendations
47
About Ana Bakshi
50
Appendix
53
2 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| FOREWORD
Foreword
“The world is facing profound challenges - from the COVID-19 global pandemic to the ongoing threat of climate change. To successfully meet these challenges, we need to tap into the power of human ingenuity and find novel solutions that can rapidly scale up to have a positive global impact. That means bringing together talented people from all backgrounds and disciplines to create and grow startups that will open up new markets and reinvent and revitalize industries. The UK is a key epicenter for this kind of entrepreneurial opportunity and technology innovation. As an investor and participant, I’ve been privileged to witness the growth and increasing impact of this ecosystem. Yet there is still much untapped entrepreneurial potential in the UK that, with wise investment, could reap vital rewards for the UK’s economy and for society as a whole. I am a founding donor of the Oxford Foundry, university entrepreneurship center, because I know the incredible value that universities bring to the startup and scaleup ecosystem. 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. Not only do universities accelerate talented entrepreneurs and employees, they also play a vital role in bringing together their local ecosystems. University entrepreneurship centers can share crucial knowledge and startup best practices (including the most powerful lessons of Silicon Valley) with everyone in their communities so that all sectors of society contribute to solving our most pressing problems. We have a real opportunity to create jobs across the UK, not just in London or larger cities. 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 networks can help distribute opportunity more equitably. And, they can help lead the way with the networks and communities around them. Now is the time to invest; to create new jobs, replace jobs lost due to automation, strengthen communities, and boost the economy. University
3 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
REID HOFFMAN CBE, CO-FOUNDER, LINKEDIN | FOUNDING DONOR TO THE OXFORD FOUNDRY | BOARD MEMBER, MICROSOFT
| FOREWORD
entrepreneurship centers present a huge opportunity for individuals, the business sector, universities, and the UK as a whole. I urge everyone in Government, the private sector, and in universities throughout the UK to read this paper and to act.�
REID HOFFMAN CBE, CO-FOUNDER, LINKEDIN | FOUNDING DONOR TO THE OXFORD FOUNDRY | BOARD MEMBER, MICROSOFT
4 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Executive Summary
This white paper recommends that the UK government, in partnership with the private sector, urgently creates and invests in a network of entrepreneurial training and startup acceleration centres to be based in every higher education establishment throughout the UK. These entrepreneurship centres would foster the creation of innovative, highimpact, and high-growth ventures to repair and re-energise an economy that has been damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. They would help to create jobs, and provide opportunities for reskilling and upskilling, particularly amongst graduates in professional and technical roles who have been made redundant as a result of the pandemic, or who are seeing the erosion of their jobs through increased automation. They would also support the government’s levelling up agenda by reflecting and building on regional demographics, cultures, resources and skills. Universities are natural centres of gravity around which entrepreneurial ecosystems grow. They are multi-sector, multidisciplinary organisations that contain large pools of entrepreneurial students and alumni. They deliver innovative, cutting-edge research and are unique in bringing together the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences and medical sciences. They have connections to networks of industry leaders, experts, investors, mentors and advisors - and to legal, financial and technological expertise and support. By their nature, universities are ‘people-first’ organisations, and are wellplaced to embed a culture of responsibility in the ventures and leaders that they nurture. They can actively influence the creation of ventures that are socially responsible - prioritising both profit and purpose, and conscious of their environmental, social and governance (ESG) footprint from infancy. Universities support diverse populations of graduates and are well-positioned to democratise access to entrepreneurial and technology-based opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds. Universities are based in all areas of the UK, and many are located in places that have been hollowed out by deindustrialisation and, as a result, are centres of high unemployment and poverty. Through creating thriving entrepreneurship centres within all tertiary education establishments, it will be possible to reflect regional demographics and national socio-economic priorities. In addition to serving students and alumni, universities can build partnerships with their wider communities, such as local businesses. As a result, they can feed into active civic engagement, boost local economic growth, and alleviate pressure on government and the economy.
5 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Based on Ana Bakshi’s experience of founding and scaling university-based entrepreneurship centres and accelerators the majority of the last decade, this white paper proposes clear action from government and the private sector to invest in building and scaling university entrepreneurship centres throughout the UK to accelerate non-research-intensive, early-stage, highpotential ventures in order to: 1. Accelerate high growth, early-stage ventures that are socially impactful whilst commercially driven 2. Reskill the population - particularly focusing on those made unemployed, and white-collar jobs that are now, or soon, to be redundant 3. Equip current students with the entrepreneurial and technology-based skills needed for a post COVID-19 workforce - skills that are relevant to current industry needs and demands 4. Support the government’s levelling up agenda by providing local businesses with support through these centres across the UK 5. Create sustainable work experience opportunities through nurturing talent, and nurturing ventures that employ that talent, within regional ecosystems. Please see page 47 for the full list of key recommendations. For us to seize this timely opportunity, and deliver the outsize impact it has the potential for, increased collaboration between government, the private sector and universities, is vital.
6 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Universities are strong on research and education. This makes them fertile territory for Intellectual Property-based innovation, which they do exceptionally well. Many universities throughout the UK have a research commercialisation and knowledge transfer facility, whose role it is to support academic researchers in spinning out businesses. In recent years, many universities have also embraced enterprise education as part of their teaching programmes, with a focus on encouraging students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset to complement their studies, prepare them for the uncertain world of work, and expose them to alternative career pathways. But a third innovation ecosystem is also emerging from within universities: one that is focused on startups that are not necessarily related to research, that is very successful and driven by clear demand from students and alumni. The ventures in this ecosystem do not need a large amount of capital investment or specialised equipment to launch, their infrastructure is cost-effective, and compared to their research-based counterparts it takes them far less time to get their products to market and start generating revenues.
ANA BAKSHI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OXFORD FOUNDRY
This ecosystem - and the huge opportunities that it represents - is often seen as a footnote to the success of Higher Education (HE) institutions, but it is growing at a phenomenal pace, attracting large amounts of venture capital funding, and has the potential to have a major impact on our economy and society. Small businesses contribute ÂŁ1.9 trillion each year towards the economy of the UK and employ 16 million people1. Even a 1% increase in the number of scaleups in the UK could result in 238,000 more jobs after three years2. I have spent most of the last ten years establishing entrepreneurship centres and launching venture accelerator programmes within UK HE settings. I have seen what happens when energy, fresh thinking, talent and courage are cultivated in an environment where academic excellence and creativity are valued, not only for their own sake, but as a means of creating impact, jobs and growth. Universities have been the birthplace of a myriad of game-changing, successful, and sustainable businesses. Now, more than ever, it is time for government and the private sector to make this valuable startup ecosystem a core part of their strategic focus and support. 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, not just those within the usual regions or networks, or who already have resource. We are in a position to make success accessible: that is, to make successful employment, successful lives, and equal opportunities available to, and expected, by all.
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IW Capital, The importance of entrepreneurship to the UK economy, April 2019 2 The London School of Economics and Political Science, The Scale-up Manifesto, November 2014 1
| INTRODUCTION
In the UK and Europe, where networks and resources are strong, we are missing out on a real chance - not just to feed into our local and national economies, but to change systems positively, to strengthen the UK’s position as a world leader in entrepreneurship, technology and innovation, and to ensure that our future entrepreneurs and ventures are strong, resilient, and ethical right from the get-go. If corporations now demand a different kind of workforce, it is their responsibility to invest in the creation of that workforce, to nurture the talent they intend on recruiting. If you want more digital skills - invest in ecosystems that can provide such training. If you want more creative or critical thinking skills - do the same, across the region, across institutions. Create who you want to employ, be a part of that change. Similarly, if we want to be a United Kingdom that leads on global innovation, nurture diverse talent regardless of background; invest in building entrepreneurship ecosystems, in building platforms for trial, for experimentation, for achievement, for results and success to benefit all. If we want a more just and inclusive society we need to build the infrastructure that supports and nurtures all - giving everyone an opportunity as we enter our next/new normal. University entrepreneurship ecosystems can help to create stability in an uncertain world. COVID-19 is already affecting the livelihoods of millions of people, and it will soon affect millions more. For decades, jobs in banking, law, and management consultancy have been seen as safe career choices for university graduates. Companies in these sectors tend to have large, formal graduate recruitment and training programmes, which allow them to attract, promote, and retain the best talent. But in the wake of the pandemic, mass unemployment is inevitable: corporations have had to streamline and move their operations online very quickly. They are now facing decisions that, in the next six to 12 months, could make many of their middle tier staff - representing millions of jobs - redundant. When the furlough scheme ends, there may be four million or more people out of work, a fourfold increase on the record low levels of unemployment recorded in January 2020. Universities, with the support of government and the private sector, now have an opportunity to bring
8 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
this tranche of talented people back into their own ecosystems, give them fresh technology skills and entrepreneurial training, and connect them with the networks, resources and platforms they need to join established ventures, change career, or create ventures of their own. Entrepreneurial alumni, who have already started and often exited successful businesses, will have an opportunity to continue to ‘give back’ in the form of structured programming, providing skills, advice, and resources. As students and graduates build new businesses, they will create jobs and attract capital investment into economies. Importantly, creating entrepreneurship centres within all tertiary education establishments will mean that they can be adapted to reflect local and regional demographics and needs. Universities can build stronger partnerships with their wider communities, including local businesses - feeding into active civic engagement, supporting the government’s levelling up agenda, Industrial Strategy, and boosting economic growth. Education is important, but the application of education is critical. Universities have always been catalysts for innovation and nurturers of talent. Now is the time to recognise, invest in, and amplify this role at the heart of the economy and society.
ANA BAKSHI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OXFORD FOUNDRY
| ENDORSEMENTS
Endorsements
“As a member of the Oxford Foundry Board, and an investor in early-stage innovation, I have seen first-hand how important it is that higher education institutions prepare individuals for their future in a world experiencing disruptive change. University entrepreneurship ecosystems are playing an essential role in developing the skills needed to succeed and thrive. As this important and well-timed White Paper proposes, it is vital investors, industry, universities, and government collaborate to support them. In the long-term these entrepreneurs will be the bedrock of future economic growth. And if these ecosystems embed inclusivity in their approach, from product design to addressing disparities in investment for underrepresented groups, their innovations will be the driver of the positive societal transformation so needed across the world.” - Alexsis de Raadt St. James, Founder and Managing Partner, Merian Ventures | Advisory Board Member, Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford “As this report identifies, universities have a vital role to play in the post-pandemic economic recovery. As centres of research excellence, incubators of talent and catalysts of innovative new ideas, universities are uniquely placed to drive forward entrepreneurial training and upskilling within our local communities. The creation of a UK-wide network of entrepreneurship centres would further strengthen universities’ existing offering around research commercialisation and knowledge exchange. At Glasgow, we know the transformative impact a new model of provision for entrepreneurial skills and venture creation could have on jobs and growth and are strongly supportive of measures with the potential to enhance local entrepreneurial ecosystems across all four nations and regions.” - Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Glasgow "Every university should have a dedicated entrepreneurship and technology centre up-skilling talent and accelerating early stage ventures. I’ve co-founded several companies including Twitter that have created thousands of jobs across the world and know first-hand the importance of having access to the right support and networks to increase the opportunity for high-potential early stage ideas to become high-growth businesses. I’ve been a supporter, donor, and advisor of the Oxford Foundry since the start. The Foundry model is vital because it’s impossible to teach what it takes to navigate a startup without living it - and the whole community participates at different levels. Universities are the ideal places to upskill the tech talent we so crucially need, and to nurture a new generation of entrepreneurs who are purpose-led and committed to helping tackle global challenges like climate change. The social and economic impact that can be made from scaling these centres is vast and I wholly endorse this insightful and timely paper and call to action.” - Biz Stone, Co-founder, Twitter, Medium and Jelly | Advisory Board Member, Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford “I have witnessed the impact of investment in university entrepreneurship centres, through my engagement with several institutions as an investor, mentor, and champion: there is huge value in hubs that provide essential entrepreneurial and technology-based skills training alongside platforms to build and accelerate ventures. As Ana Bakshi’s seminal White Paper demonstrates, now is the time to invest in creating them where they have limited presence and scaling them where they do across every university town in the UK. Our universities are world-beating - from the research and innovation they drive to the talent and networks they nurture - but we can do more to tap into these success factors on a regional level and thus help energise local economies. By leveraging their vast existing networks and multidisciplinary resources, we can build better routes for commercialising ideas straight from the classrooms and labs of our universities nationwide. And crucially, these hubs will ensure that we continue to invest in inspiring and upskilling talent outside London. This will be a key catalyst in our economic recovery and stability.” - Brent Hoberman CBE, Co-Founder and Chairman, Founders Factory | Advisory Board Member, Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford
9 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| ENDORSEMENTS
“As we emerge from an unprecedented public health emergency, the long-term impacts on skills, employment, the economy and our communities are likely to be severe and far-reaching. There are, however, always opportunities. As catalysts for innovation, universities are uniquely placed to act as drivers of the economic recovery by providing vitally needed skills for a post-Covid world, stimulating entrepreneurship, accelerating start-ups, and enabling their local communities to ride-out the storm and rebuild. At Sheffield Hallam University, we are fully committed to supporting the growth of our local and regional economy through entrepreneurship. Our student and graduate start-up service, the Hallam i-Lab, supports over 60 start-ups per year and hundreds of students incubate their ideas through its programmes, and our new Wellbeing Accelerator programme has attracted 20 start-ups, supported through our Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre. However, if we are to overcome the challenges ahead, we need to forge a bold new alliance between government, the private sector and universities that invests in a nationwide effort to support new enterprises, create new jobs, and provide opportunities for reskilling and upskilling our communities. Ana Bakshi’s proposal to foster highimpact, high-growth ventures through nationwide entrepreneurship centres at universities across the UK will significantly contribute to the national effort to repair and re-energise our economy and support our local communities.” - Professor Sir Chris Husbands, Vice-Chancellor, Sheffield Hallam University “This is a timely and urgent report from the Oxford Foundry. The focus on student and alumni entrepreneurship will resonate widely, not least in the north-east of England with its historic tradition of creating ‘useful knowledge’. The proposal to create a network of entrepreneurial training and start-up acceleration centres would build on the significant contribution that British universities already make to the innovation ecosystem. It is also a practical way to generate additional economic activity so that the UK can emerge strongly from these difficult times. At the same time, it would develop capacity and contribute to the government’s stated intention to ‘level up’ the country.” - Sir David Bell KCB, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, University of Sunderland “The University of South Wales has entrepreneurship and innovation at the heart of its 2030 strategy. Through our incubator, the Start-up Stiwdio, we are already supporting our graduate entrepreneurs to establish new businesses and we fully endorse the recommendations from the Oxford Foundry to create further support to help new businesses emerging from the knowledge generated within higher education. More importantly, it is crucial that this investment is delivered across the whole of the UK and not just its prosperous regions. This will ensure that universities in those towns and cities that have been left behind in recent years are properly incentivised and supported to make a real difference in growing their entrepreneurial communities.” - Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE, Assistant Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise), University of South Wales “Entrepreneurship with supportive venture capital can change the world for the better. I have spent the majority of my career building and financing over a hundred high tech companies and I know that one of the key elements to innovation lies in education and the growth of environments that encourage creativity, knowledge exchange and collaboration. As this white paper highlights, we now have a great window of opportunity to invest more in entrepreneurship and technology within higher education, and we need to create welcoming, accessible entrepreneurship ecosystems for talent to succeed. Leveraging on what we have learned from the success of innovation and entrepreneurship clusters in the UK, including my own experiences in Cambridge and applying it to other towns and cities. We must bring together industry, universities and government across disciplines to scale entrepreneurship and innovation to reinvent and level up the UK economy whilst delivering outsized social impact and I fully endorse this White Paper’s action to do so.” - Dr Hermann Hauser FRS, FREng, KBE, KBE, Amadeus Capital Partners
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| ENDORSEMENTS
“Queen’s University Belfast has had enterprise running through its activities for many years. Our spin-out companies include LSE +£1bn valued Kainos Group Plc, Andor Technology, and Fusion Antibodies Plc. Such successes have resulted in Queen’s being ranked top in the UK for commercialising research (Octopus Ventures, 2019. This success has been underpinned by many of the themes that are advocated in this White Paper, including: providing entrepreneurship and leadership skills and training, and supporting ventures during the challenging early stages of their development. As the government proposes its levelling up agenda, universities have a crucial role to play in significantly contributing to the UK’s economic recovery through new venture creation, re-skilling, and job creation. Queen’s, for example, recently launched Adapt4Growth, a programme designed to help Northern Irish SMEs market-test novel ideas for future growth in the wake of COVID-19; thus, as this White Paper proposes, we are building support for entrepreneurship which has not been generated through the university’s research activities. Northern Ireland is primed to play a major role in a balanced innovation-led UK economy. For that to happen, we must continue to build and strengthen our pipeline, both in terms of the entrepreneurial opportunities and capabilities of our student population, our academic base, our alumni network, as well as the wider community. We propose to offer the network, training, infrastructure, and vision to allow individuals to take risks and build a better economic environment for Northern Ireland. It is for all of these reasons that I whole-heartedly support the proposals in this White Paper.” - Professor Ian Greer, President and Vice-Chancellor, Queen’s University Belfast “Given the rapid changes taking place in global and local job markets, along with the growing influence that Artificial Intelligence and robotics are having on traditional jobs and careers, the University of Liverpool is keen to encourage the development of graduate entrepreneurial skills as a way of generating wealth, creating jobs, and, crucially, enabling students to develop lifelong employability skills. We are happy to support this proposal and welcome the opportunity to work with the Oxford Foundry, national government, the private sector and our local partners in establishing these networks of much needed entrepreneurial training and start-up acceleration centres.” - Professor Dame Janet Beer, Vice-Chancellor, University of Liverpool “The world of work, and how whole industries operate, is changing incredibly rapidly, both functionally and culturally. It is vital that we invest in innovation and entrepreneurship to support businesses to evolve, and to support the workforce to thrive in an unpredictable world. If economies are to succeed, and we are to meet global challenges such as climate change and data security, we must give ourselves the best possible chance of success. We can do that by supporting innovation and working across different disciplines at all levels - from student to CEO - to find, build, and scale solutions and successful ventures. Look around the world today, and you can see how much entrepreneurship and innovation have given us - and how crucial they are for continuing to move us forward in disruptive, unprecedented times as we reimagine and reframe our future.” - Jeff Wong, Global Chief Innovation Officer, EY | Advisory Board Member, Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford
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| ENDORSEMENTS
“I am delighted to support this White Paper. I am of the firm belief that every university within the UK should have an entrepreneurship and technology focused skills and training centre as well as a platform for venture acceleration. In my role in heading up UKBAA, the trade body for angel and early stage investment, I have seen the fragmented ecosystem for entrepreneurship and technology and innovation skills that exists across the UK. This ecosystem is especially underserved in the regions outside the golden triangle and this structural imbalance has been compounded under Covid-19. We need to take the opportunity to now work together as part of the Government's announced skills agenda to create new systems and infrastructure focusing on our universities at the forefront. This directly supports the Government's Levelling up Agenda and the new Government R&D Road Map that supports the growth of innovation across the UK and notably identifies the importance of place-based approaches. Investing in such centres in our universities will be a focus for collaboration between industries, investors and key stakeholders, enabling the development of new effective and connected ecosystems that will be needed to rebuild local economies.” - Jenny Tooth OBE, CEO, UK Business Angels "I have benefited enormously from my university education, and I fully appreciate the important role that universities play in driving innovation in our society today. The challenges of climate change, COVID-19, and diminishing natural resources mean that it has never been more important to identify new solutions to humanity's problems. We need to train the next generation of leaders in entrepreneurship and provide the support that they need to take their concepts from the initial idea to a viable venture. For that reason, I fully support this initiative led by Ana Bakshi and think that it represents a powerful way to support innovation and entrepreneurship in the UK and beyond." - Marcus East, Technical Director, Office of the CTO, Google “There’s too much we need to do to improve lives now and to have as best a shot at the future as we can, we must encourage entrepreneurs from everywhere and within everyone. Universities are a vital part of the system of change.” - Martha Lane Fox CBE, Founder and Executive Chair, Doteveryone.org.uk “In the words of Leila Janah, talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not. It should be of top priority for us all to distribute these missing opportunities. In the UK this means creating entrepreneurship and innovation skills and training programmes in towns and cities that have never fully recovered from deindustrialisation, and it means scaling existing programmes to reskill the millions of people being made redundant. Only when these opportunities are distributed can we all prosper.” - Mohamed Amersi, Chairman, The Amersi Foundation | Advisory Board Member, Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford “Together, universities can and must, play a key role in helping the UK and wider international community respond to the pandemic. The ideas, skills and talent that flow out of our universities are at the heart of economic and social recovery, and with the support of government and industry, we can help create a dynamic economy, stronger, skilled communities and a better future. As Chair of the Russell Group I know the value and transformative impact the higher education sector has consistently shown, and as this important White Paper shows, now is the time to scale it. New partnerships with industry are critical and as former Non-Executive Director of AstraZeneca, I know the necessity of the public and private sector collaborating to make an outsized impact. The paper lays out a clear framework which I urge everyone to act upon for our short and long term economic and social health.” - Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, FRS, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Manchester
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| ENDORSEMENTS
“Universities can be terrific places to nurture would-be entrepreneurs, mentors, and people learning about what works best. Equally, to help government, business, and community work together. This proposal offers some great ideas for a government seeking to spur innovation and entrepreneurship across all parts of the UK.” - Professor Ngaire Woods CBE, Dean, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford “We all need to lean into the digital revolution and seize the myriad opportunities it presents – the new markets, the new efficiencies and the new employment routes. Now is an incredible time to launch new technology start-ups. Start-ups can make decisions and operate faster, get closer to consumers and be open to change and uncertainty - creating jobs and opportunities quickly and in a host of different sectors and unknown markets. Some of the best opportunities lie in the hardest hit sectors. Now is the time to seize these opportunities and provide people with access to entrepreneurship centres so they can do the same and create evergreen communities. As a UK university alum, entrepreneur, and investor I know the environments UK universities provide. Let us use these to create a population of entrepreneurs and modernize and grow our economy.” - Pete Flint, Founder, Trulia | Managing Partner, NFX | Advisory Board Member, Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford “Sometimes the solutions to problems that individuals or societies face will come from those with years of experience, who can see how existing systems and organizations can be improved. But other times, solutions will come from the new insights of those with less experience but deep knowledge in specialized fields, but who can make connections between disparate subjects, ask “naïve” questions, ignore conventional wisdom, and not be daunted by the seeming impossibility of the task ahead. Universities tend to be full of these disruptors, whether as faculty or students. This report makes the clear case for why government policy should place greater emphasis on universities as the innovation engine, not just for our future prosperity, but also for our addressing the collective needs of society and the world.” - Professor Peter Tufano, Peter Moores Dean, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford “This report illustrates that, now more than ever, the economy needs an entrepreneurial workforce and investment in edu-cational establishments that nurture and develop new businesses, leaders and start-ups in a more inclusive way to reduce disparities and support employment.” - Baroness Shriti Vadera, Chair, Santander UK | Chair-designate, Prudential plc “I believe in the power of entrepreneurial ventures to positively transform our economy and society. But how can we teach entrepreneurship to humans who want to start or work in the disruptive start-ups of the future, other than throwing them in the deep end and learning on the job? More broadly, the workforce of the future will need new skills and knowledge, and above all, flexibility, and adaptability. With my experience working in Silicon Valley in start-ups and investing in new tech ventures for the past 25 years, I believe Ana Bakshi’s proposal is an impactful way to offer entrepreneurial training to young people seeking to work in high growth businesses. Her proposal to implement this at scale, through higher educa-tion bodies, which are already fertile territory for entrepreneurship and innovation, makes tremendous sense and should be supported wholeheartedly by this country.” - Toby Coppel, Co-Founder and Partner, Mosaic Ventures | Advisory Board Member, Oxford Foundry, University of Oxford
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| CURRENT UK ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHALLENGES
Current UK economic and social challenges
1. UNEMPLOYMENT IS UP
The OECD has predicted that a second wave of the virus could see the UK unemployment rate reach almost 15%, meaning five million people out of work. Even without a second wave, unemployment may rise to 11.7%, the highest level since 19843. By July 2020, the UK had already suffered the largest drop in employment since the 2009 financial crisis (down by 730,000 compared with March 2020). The number of people on unemployment-related benefits in the UK reached 2.7 million.4 This figure is widely expected to rise further when the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme comes to an end. While jobs in the retail, hospitality, and travel sectors were the first to suffer the effects of COVID-19 restrictions, graduates in all sectors and of many years’ standing also face redundancy, reduced hours, and pay cuts. High-skilled graduate occupations range from directors, senior and middle managers in every sector, to professional jobs and a range of associate professional and technical roles in areas such as finance, marketing, IT, and operations management. As we move out of the immediate crisis and into what is forecast to be the deepest recession for 300 years (Bank of England, May 2020), there will be a mass loss of jobs from these areas. This will hit graduates who have been working for five, ten, even 15 years and more. For example, according to The Times5, management consultancy firm Accenture, told its staff it is likely to cut 8% of jobs at all levels. 2 . J O B S A N D E M P L O Y M E N T O P P O R T U N I T I E S F O R G R A D U AT E S ARE DOWN
New graduates are entering a job market that has been severely impacted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey by the Institute of Student Employers (ISE), supported by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS)6, revealed that employers are planning to cut overall graduate vacancies by 12% in the coming year. In addition, 14% of respondents admitted that they had already reneged on at least one job offer, and may renege on more in the future. A report by The Prince’s Trust and YouGov confirmed this trend: more than one in ten of the young people they questioned said that the job or training that they were about to start had been cancelled due to the
OECD, Employment Outlook, July 2020 Office for National Statistics, Labour Market Overview, UK, August 2020 5 The Times, Job loss pandemic: white-collar staff face silent cull as firms cut back, July 2020 6 ISE, supported by AGCAS, COVID-19: What is the impact of the crisis on student recruitment and development? May 2020 3 4
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| CURRENT UK ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHALLENGES
impact of coronavirus.7 3 . S TA R T U P S N E E D A C C E S S T O C R U C I A L N E T W O R K S , F I N A N C E , TA L E N T, A N D S U P P O R T, T O S C A L E
Startups are prone to early failure. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the five-year survival rate of businesses started in 2013 was 42.4%8. Causes of that failure include a lack of access to finance and problems sourcing talent. Of businesses and equity investors surveyed in Innovate UK’s ‘Scaling up: the investor perspective, 2017', 97% said that the absence of a strong management team was a key reason they would turn down a scaleup, and 87% would reject a company because they lacked adaptability and resilience skills. 4 . R A P I D A U T O M AT I O N A N D D I G I TA L I S AT I O N B R I N G C H A N G E
The pandemic, and particularly the shift to online working during ‘lockdown’, has accelerated the already rapid digitalisation in the private sector. Increasing automation is affecting jobs that were previously natural entry-level positions for graduates, resulting in the need to explore alternative career paths. In some instances the number of jobs available is reduced, or the jobs have already ceased to exist. There is an urgent need for reskilling and upskilling. Indeed, the OECD has estimated that about 14% of jobs across its member countries are highly automatable and another 32% will be radically transformed by technological progress9. Up to 800 million jobs could be lost to automation by 2030 - a fifth of the global workforce10. That said, technological and commercial market advances are creating and prioritising new jobs in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and data science, and placing a premium on certain skills, including creativity and critical thinking. Creativity is ranked number one by LinkedIn Learning as the top skill employers need (LinkedIn Learning, The Top Skills Companies Need Most in 2020 - And How to Learn Them, January 2019), and AI roles have increased by 485% since 2014 (Indeed, 2017). 5 . P E R C E P T I O N S O F T H E R O L E O F U N I V E R S I T I E S A R E O U T D AT E D
Presently, universities are not viewed strategically as core centres for upskilling, reskilling and venture creation: political and public opinion often focuses predominantly on the undergraduate experience and the transition from school-leaver to adult. The pandemic has raised the profile of medical research and the work of epidemiologists and other scientists, but there is still little understanding of the full range of valuable activities undertaken in universities. Times Higher Education identified as many as six different types of students that now study at university, including working professionals and
The Prince’s Trust, YouGov, Young People in Lockdown, May 2020 Office for National Statistics, Business Demography, UK: 2018, November 2019 9 OECD, Employment Outlook 2020, July 2020 10 McKinsey Global Institute, Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained, December 2017 7 8
15 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
“Up to 800 million jobs are forecast to be lost to automation by 2030 - a fifth of the global workforce”
| CURRENT UK ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHALLENGES
‘second chance students’ who may have missed out on conventional routes to higher education11. Universities need to continue to evolve to understand and adapt to the diverse reasons motivating people to go to university in a postCOVID world, and to take advantage of their diverse experience and skills. The nature of skills is also changing. Pre-COVID-19 it was estimated that by 2022 there w ould be two million additional jobs in occupations requiring higher level skills.12 The Wall Street Journal found that 40% of manufacturing workers in the USA now have a college degree13. It is likely that the UK will follow suit. University careers services need to continue to evolve to give students skills reflective of commercial and market needs in creativity, communication, teamwork, time management, and technology, moving away from traditional or soon to be redundant career pathways. In a survey of young people, more than half (58%) want to improve their work-related skills during social distancing, but one in three (34%) say they ‘don’t know where to start’ when it comes to online learning14.
Times Higher Education, Six types of modern student reflect how universities can build for the future, June 2020 Universities UK, Forging Futures, Sept 2014 13 Wall Street Journal, American Factories Demand White Collar Education for Blue Collar Work, December 2019 14 The Prince’s Trust and YouGov, Young People in Lockdown, May 2020 11 12
16 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| THE OPPORTUNITY
The opportunity
The widespread disruption to the labour market caused by responses to COVID-19 should be viewed as an opportunity to innovate and revitalise the economy, rather than as an interruption to ‘normal’ life that should simply be reversed. In 2018-19, there were 2.38 million students studying at UK higher education institutions (HESA, Student record, 2018-19) and in July-September 2017, there were 14 million graduates in the UK (ONS, 2017). There has been a steady increase in the number of graduates in the UK over the past decade, but with large numbers of this workforce at risk of either losing their jobs or not being able to access employment, universities should be seen as key to capitalising on this opportunity. With backing from government and the private sector, graduates can reconnect with their university ecosystems to upskill, reskill, and, importantly, help build high-impact startups led by graduates/university alumni. Universities have influence over huge alumni networks and can shape their success in the post-COVID world of work. Startups and scaleups accelerate economic growth and create jobs. Tech firm Onfido, founded by Oxford graduate Husayn Kassai, employs 400 people and has raised funding of £81.2 million. Eigen Technologies, founded by Oxford alumnus Lewis Z. Liu, has raised $60 million, and healthtech firm, Huma, has raised $54 million. These businesses were created by university students or graduates, though none of them had origins in academic research. The UK received a third of Europe’s total tech investment in 2019 - more than Germany and France combined - and now sits just below the USA and China for total venture capital investment. Eight billion-dollar companies, or unicorns, were created in the UK in 2019, taking the total number based in the UK to 77, and the UK technology sector now employs more than 2.93 million people (Tech Nation, UK Tech for a Changing World, 2020). Startups are unencumbered by traditional working practices and hours, and embrace flexible and remote working, with accompanying social benefits and greater employee wellbeing and productivity. They are less likely than established large corporations to feel tied to a specific location, delivering economic and social benefits to areas outside the capital. They create new markets and new ways of doing things for businesses and consumers, bringing together disparate resources to solve a range of problems, some of which can be highly localised. New ventures can, and must, play a vital role in reenergising the UK’s economy and society following the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in order to thrive, entrepreneurs and their enterprises need specific support and access to: •
Investment and a strong investor network
17 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| THE OPPORTUNITY
•
Advice and mentorship: in particular, mentoring from successful entrepreneurs who have already been through the experience of building a business
•
Talent: new ventures need educated, skilled people at all levels and for their leadership teams
•
Partnerships and networks: startups benefit from access to investors, academic expertise, potential partners and clients, and other complementary support networks.
We have an opportunity to create highly developed and world-leading entrepreneurial ecosystems in which ideas and resources (including finance, knowledge, and talent) flow between individuals and organisations to support each stage of venture creation - with each generation creating further ‘generations’ of startups which can turn into scaleups. We do not want to recreate a Silicon Valley in the UK: we want to build upon existing resources to substantially scale our own entrepreneurship ecosystem that is thriving, based on academic excellence, the UK’s brilliant intellectual capital, profit and purpose. Universities are already natural centres of gravity where entrepreneurial ecosystems can grow. Embracing a multitude of communities, including academic networks, talent, investors, businesses and other organisations, they are centrally placed to: •
Support and accelerate students, graduates, and experienced alumni who wish to build ventures that support the UK’s recovery from the pandemic, noting that this activity is highly likely to increase
•
Upskill current students to prepare them for the future workforce
•
Reskill millions of unemployed alumni, and recent graduates who no longer have viable career paths
•
Showcase alternative career paths to these audiences, including working within startups
•
Accelerate the government’s levelling up agenda, building local and cross-regional partnerships between universities and civic communities, and enabling accessibility for skills training and venture growth initiatives.
Much has been said about the need to ‘build back better’. In fact, we now have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to ‘build forward’: to create a greener, more inclusive, more equal economy and society. Universities are critical to this.
18 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| THE OPPORTUNITY
C R E AT I N G J O B S : H U S AY N K A S S A I , C O - F O U N D E R A N D C E O , O N F I D O £ 8 1 . 2 M I L L I O N I N I N V E S T M E N T R A I S E D A N D 4 0 0 J O B S C R E AT E D
2012: The idea is developed at Oxford
2012: Oxford graduate, Husayn Kassai founds tech firm, Onfido
University Innovation
2020: 2020:Onfido Onfidohas has
(OUI)'s Startup Incubator
raised raised£81.2 £81.2million million
and has investment from
and andemploys employs400 400
Saïd Business School’s
people people
Seed fund
’In a similar way to medical students needing
service attempt to life. As the former head of the Oxford
hands-on experience in hospitals to complete their
Entrepreneurs society and being a beneficiary from its
training, entrepreneurs can benefit significantly from
membership, I’ve seen first-hand the value of such a
entrepreneurship centres and accelerators to help those
resource, especially in the 21st century.’
preparing to bring their vision of a new product or
H U S AY N K A S S A I , C O - F O U N D E R , O N F I D O
£81.2m
Number of Employees
400
£90m £80m
350
£70m
300
£60m
250
£50m
£13.6m
200
£40m
150
£30m
£19m
100 50 0
£20m
£10m
£10m
£3m
Y1 (2014)
Y3 (2016)
Y4 (2017)
Y5 (2018)
Year since company was founded
19 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
Y7 (2020)
£--
Investment raised (GBP)
Number of Employees Investment raised (GBP)
450
| THE OPPORTUNITY
BUILDING BACK BETTER: W I L L I A M C O W E L L D E G R U C H Y, F O U N D E R A N D C E O , I N F O G R I D
2018: Following his time as a British Army
2009: Will completes
Officer, Will founds
his BA in History at
Infogrid, which uses
Oxford
the Internet of Things
2018: Infogrid joins the OXFO accelerator
(IoT) for remote monitoring
In just one NHS Trust, Infogrid has saved over 10k hours of nursing time by automating manual
Infogrid has 60 clients and 2500 sites across the
2019: Infogrid raises
commercial, health and retail sectors including
£2.4 million, including
four out of the top five facilities management
direct investment
companies, six NHS hospital Trusts and four major
from the Oxford
retailers. They are presently in negotiations for a
Foundry’s network
further $12m investment
of investors. 23 jobs
checks
created
’Leading a company can be lonely and daunting (in the
getting through this. Most companies fail because
army they call it ‘the loneliness of command’); there is so
their founders give up; how many world-beating British
much you don’t know and yet you can’t appear to falter
businesses have we lost because their leaders didn’t have
in the eyes of your team. Entrepreneurship centres, and
a community to help them?’
leaders they introduce you to, are a crucial lifeline to 25
W I L L I A M C O W E L L D E G R U C H Y, FOUNDER AND CEO, INFOGRID
Chart 4. INFOGRID (OXFO V
Number of Employees Investment raised (GBP)
enture): Founded in 2018 £1.1m
£1m
£1m
20 Number of Employees
£1.2m
£800k 15 £600k 10 £400k
£300k 5
0
£200k
Y1 (2018)
Y2 (2019) Year since company was founded
20 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
Y3 (2020)
£-
Investment raised (GBP)
particularly the expert advisors and other entrepreneur
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
Why universities and why now?
1 . I N F L U E N C I N G C A PA B I L I T Y
As noted earlier, in 2018-19 there were 2.38 million students studying at UK higher education institutions, and in July to September 2017 there were 14 million graduates in the UK, a steady increase over the past decade. Oxford alone has 24,000 students and 350,000 alumni (Oxford University, 2019). Universities are designed for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and the creation of life-long opportunities. Two-thirds of graduate entrepreneurs were influenced to start their business by their time at university15. What is more, many alumni feel connected to their universities for many years after graduation; formal and informal alumni networks ensure that the influence of universities extends well beyond their immediate location and the duration of a degree course. That influence is powerful. 2 . G R A D U AT E A N D S T U D E N T A P P E T I T E
There is a strong upward curve in the number of people - especially university graduates and also students - who are pursuing venture creation and venture growth as a career. This is likely to increase as we in the UK face the prospect of mass unemployment. June 2020 saw a record-breaking number of new business formations and London emerged from lockdown with 6% more new businesses than the same period the previous year. Consumer businesses have increased significantly, including 13,904 new internet retail businesses (+110%), as well as growth in sports retail (+89%), games and toys retail (+89%), computer retail (+99%), bakeries (+58%), and clothing retail (+53%) (Centre for Entrepreneurs, Centre for Entrepreneurs Business Startup Index: Covid Lockdown Analysis, 2020). Building a startup has moved on from being something that was previously seen as too high-risk, or only for the wealthy. In 2019, 22% of surveyed University of Oxford students stated that they were interested in starting a venture16. Within 24 months of opening, the Oxford Foundry (OXFO) attracted a membership of 15% of all Oxford University students. Importantly, there is a large increase in graduates who want to build ventures: at OXFO alone, Oxford alumni applications to the OXFO accelerator have grown 100% year-on-year with many wanting to come back to Oxford to accelerate their venture nine or more years after graduating.
15 16
Universities UK, Universities equip people with the skills to succeed, 2015 University of Oxford Careers Service, 2019
21 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
“Two-thirds of graduate entrepreneurs were influenced to start their business by their time at university�
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
A L U M N I R E T U R N I N G T O U N I V E R S I T Y: A L I C E C U R R Y, F O U N D E R , L A N TA N A P U B L I S H I N G
2005: Alice graduates from Oxford University with a BA
Alice gains industry 2012: Alice completes a PhD in Children’s Literature
in English Literature
experience at educational trusts and independent publishers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand
2019: Lantana hires
2017: Lantana joins
six Oxford University
the OXFO accelerator
interns
2020: Lantana has sold 90,000 books to 200 suppliers in 35 countries, and licensed their rights to book clubs, eBook, app and audio producers, and
us et moditi 2014: Alice founds Lantana Publishing, focused on restempore, corio diversity in literature for children. In the UK, a third maio disquis rerum of school children identify as Black, Asian or Minority conecae simincimpor Ethnic (BAME) yet fewer than 5% of children’s books alit assitibus, iu feature BAME main characters
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lantana pivots their business model and launches the Lantana Book Club on IGTV and Youtube sharing book readings,
theatre companies around the world and in multiple languages
author interviews and craft workshops. Within a week, Lantana’s direct sales jump by 300% and
‘Entrepreneurship centres are lifelines for startup businesses providing financial support, mentorship and a network of peers, clients and investors
social media engagement by 400%
Lantana is featured in the media including The New York Times,
who together can accelerate real change in our country.’
The Sunday Times,
A L I C E C U R R Y, F O U N D E R , L A N TA N A P U B L I S H I N G
Street Journal
22 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
BBC and The Wall
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
PA R T N E R I N G O N A S H A R E D G O A L : J O Y E E TA D A S C E O A N D C O - F O U N D E R , G YA N A
2015: Joyeeta
2016: Joyeeta founds GYANA, an organisation that
completes an MBA
creates tech platforms to democratise the power of
from the University of
AI, enabling everyone to perform data science with
Oxford
no coding experience
‘Universities and tech centres at universities are the epicentre of creativity, new energy and hot trends. By enabling and empowering them - we can make sure that the UK is always on top as far as cutting edge work is concerned and there is
2020: Gyana has raised over £5 million and is a global platform
nothing more future-proof than that.’ J O Y E E TA D A S , C E O A N D C O - F O U N D E R , G YA N A
3 . A P P E T I T E I S I N C R E A S I N G D U E T O T H E C O V I D - 1 9 PA N D E M I C
During COVID-19, more than 85,000 businesses launched online stores or joined online marketplaces from April-July 2020, according to research from Growth Intelligence, July 2020. This is the highest number of new ecommerce offerings ever recorded over a four-month period. Appetite for entrepreneurship will increase, particularly amongst the alumni workforce. 4. CONVENING POWER
Universities are uniquely placed to take on, nurture, and grow non-research related innovation. A university is a multi-sector, multidisciplinary organisation that includes a large pool of entrepreneurial students and alumni, alongside cutting-edge research and academic know-how. It has connections to vast networks of industry leaders, experts, investors, international mentors, and advisors, as well as legal, financial, tech expertise and support. It brings together the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences and medical sciences. A university provides the perfect place for entrepreneurs to leverage academic networks and resources, and to create evidence-based models to support what they do, while gaining access to the newest and most efficient technologies to move their ventures forward.
23 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
2016: Joyeeta becomes an Ambassador for Women in Innovation with Innovate UK
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
A S TA B L E P L A C E F O R E X P L O R I N G A LT E R N AT I V E C A R E E R S A N D TA K I N G R I S K S : RONIT KANWAR, CO-FOUNDER, EMPOWER ENERGY
2016: Ronit starts a BA Economics and Management at Oxford University
2018: Ronit co-founds Empower Energy, pitches at the UN as a finalist for the Hult Prize, and joins the
2019: Ronit is named in Forbes 30 under 30 Asia
OXFO accelerator
‘Entrepreneurship centres are critical to discovering and developing entrepreneurial talent because they break down informational and resource barriers to starting new companies. The current pandemic is not only providing us with a once in a
2020: Ronit joins Schmidt Futures as a consultant
lifetime opportunity to build society, Institutions, and systems, back better, but it is also highlighting problems which entrepreneurs can build companies in order to solve.’ RONIT KANWAR, CO-FOUNDER, EMPOWER ENERGY
Universities are often located in cities which themselves have innovation hubs connected with entrepreneurs, businesses, government leaders and supply chains. In regions with more challenging economies, investment into entrepreneurship centres to enable cross-fertilisation of thriving communities, would be extremely valuable, especially if created alongside cross-regional partnerships. 5 . U N PA R A L L E L E D N E T W O R K S
The benefits of accelerating early-stage startups at universities are clear: the ventures have access to multidisciplinary intellectual capital, academic expertise, and unparalleled entrepreneurial networks. Universities have strong, diverse, multi-purpose networks. Localised action groups, focused on issues ranging from climate change to AI or social entrepreneurship, create invaluable community cohesion and result in thriving environments for entrepreneurial endeavour. They provide platforms for engagement and access to new audiences, specialists in different areas, potential mentors, connectors, champions, and advisors. These networks include student societies, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), and local
24 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
2020: Ronit launches fightcovid.uk to help the COVID-19 pandemic
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
Working Groups focusing on everything from social innovation to housing. These networks also provide vital mentoring, advisory support and career opportunities for graduates and individuals. 70% of small businesses that receive mentoring survive five years or more - double the survival rate of nonmentored businesses (UPS Store, 2014). Networks are powerful and some of the most influential and fastest-growing companies rely heavily on them. Whilst not all startups succeed naturally, the risk is minimised within a university ecosystem, and pivots are faster within a supportive, honest environment. Commercial accelerators are doing an incredible job of demonstrating the impact that accelerators can have on attracting talent, building communities and valuable networks of entrepreneurial learning and engagement, and bringing in industry. Whilst these accelerators have created a substantial shift in encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, and have given invaluable opportunities to high-potential startups, they are generally concentrated predominantly in London, with limited geographical presence throughout the UK. They are also run for a condensed, intense timeframe, with many specifically focused on companies becoming investment-ready. Demand for support through these initiatives far exceeds capability to accelerate, especially on a long-term basis, demonstrating a huge opportunity for university-led accelerator programmes. Universities are large multi-stakeholder institutions. They are home to substantial resources in the form of intellectual capital, talent and extensive networks and affiliations. Importantly, they are socially driven, and provide a platform for solving world-scale problems through trial, testing and experimentation. In addition to supporting ventures to become investment-ready, they are also capable of investing more time and support into the long-term development of company CEOs as leaders, and to influence the development of impactful teams, product and company growth, culture, HR, values, impact and success. HE accelerator programmes are delivered by established entrepreneurs, leading technologists, academics and experts ‘giving back’ at scale. This enables institutions to support early-stage entrepreneurs at lower operational costs, whilst being able to offer networks, community, and support indefinitely – no matter the stage in their entrepreneurial journey. Beyond being a home for university graduates to return to and accelerate their startups, this also creates a substantial opportunity: university-led entrepreneurship centres are able to create localised ‘nodes’ in regions where there is potential to retain talent and invest in local economies through innovation and entrepreneurship. Universities, government and the private sector also have a significant opportunity to build new income streams through these initiatives - creating associated low-Research-and-Development-related investment funds - as we’ve seen an increasing trend among universities doing nationally. Also franchising models, levelling the playing field nationally, and complementing and further fuelling the vibrant ecosystem commercial accelerators have created.
25 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
C O N N E C T I N G TA L E N T: DR NICK DE PENNINGTON, FOUNDER, UFONIA
2002: Nick completes his BM, BCh Clinical
2017: Following specialised roles in neurosurgery, and with an interest in digital healthcare and healthtech, Nick founds Ufonia, a telemedicine platform -
Medicine from Oxford
the idea is developed with support from Oxford
University
University Innovation (OUI)'s Startup Incubator
Ufonia raises funding through OXFO’s networks
2020: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ufonia
of angel investors, and
takes on Oxford student volunteers, and creates
is awarded grants from
four paid internships for students, upskilling and
Innovate UK and the
exposing them to alternative career pathways
2019: Ufonia joins the OXFO accelerator
National Institute for Health Research
2020: By the end of August, Ufonia has tripled its paid employees from four to 12
Ufonia’s product is
Ufonia leverages the
used by patients
University of Oxford
including three NHS
network and talent, with
pilot sites (Oxford,
the support of OXFO, to
Imperial, and St
accelerate their work to
George’s)
meet demand
‘The energy, insights and ambition that is condensed within the human capital at UK universities provides startups, like Ufonia, with critical fuel to power the growth of new technologies and industries.’
Ufonia is awarded £500k through the NHS’s first AI in Health and Care Award
Ufonia hire the founder of another OXFO-supported venture whose business is in stasis, demonstrating the evergreen community of support within university entrepreneurial ecosystems
26 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
DR NICK DE PENNINGTON, FOUNDER, UFONIA
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
6 . TA L E N T
All startups need access to talent as they grow and build out their teams, and universities are overflowing with it. The value of connecting early-stage startups to student and recent graduate talent is mutually beneficial: the ventures have access to the finest, keenest minds, and students and graduates have the opportunity to become involved at the start of something new and purpose-led, and gain skills that reflect current market needs. In the Foundry’s recent OXFO COVID-19 Action Plan, a call was made to Oxford University students, alumni and the wider community to volunteer their time to Oxford Foundry ventures as they responded to the pandemic. This resulted in more than 180 people offering their talent and expertise in less than ten days. As intermediaries, we have been active in connecting this talent to our portfolio ventures and these connections have converted into fruitful collaborations and employment routes. As universities bring in more ventures to accelerate, and unemployed people to reskill, we will see the further creation of circular communities fostering both employment and innovation. These communities can also create internships for recent graduates and talent to work at ventures that are being accelerated, as well as internships in the broader innovation ecosystem and community. Alumni can play a central role and create virtuous cycles of skills and training and return, supporting longterm career development and growth. For instance, at Colby College in the USA, a call to alumni during the COVID-19 crisis resulted in 500 new job and internship opportunities for students (The Wall Street Journal, Universities to Their Alumni Networks: Give Our Grads Jobs, May 2020). Within our own community we have made hundreds of connections and conversions between accelerating portfolio startups and talent. Eco-laundry startup OXWASH, for example, met their now COO, and Ufonia was connected with student and alumni talent to rapidly develop their product in response to the pandemic. These volunteers, who have now been taken on as paid interns, demonstrate the possibilities of an evergreen cycle of support. It has also been suggested that careers in a single company are on the way out: the trend is now the development of portfolio careers, encompassing a range of employers and roles (Times Higher Education, New world of work: are universities preparing students for future careers?). Universities can help students to develop these portfolios through working at multiple ventures with different routes and opportunities. They are homes to both creating jobs and hiring talent. There has been no greater time, need and demand to formally embed flexible and experiential learning opportunities into curriculum and degree programmes - combining classroom learning with proactive problem solving, entrepreneurial skills development and technology practice. Especially outside of immediate groups, encouraging diverse perspectives and collaboration across disciplines, sectors and industries. We’ve witnessed an increase in the number of universities implementing this, including UCL’s Arts and Sciences BASc which allows flexibility in modular choices whilst tying in practical learning
27 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
E N A B L I N G I N V E S T M E N T: ISMAIL JEILANI, CO-FOUNDER, SCOODLE
Scoodle raises £600k, 2017: Global edtech tutoring platform Scoodle, joins the OXFO accelerator
the majority of investors introduced by OXFO, including Foundry Advisor Biz
Scoodle achieves monthly recurring revenue of US$6k
Stone, Co-founder of Twitter
Scoodle is featured in Scoodle employs eight team members
the press including in
Scoodle has 100k users on the platform
TechCrunch, Forbes,
and 500k answers
Financial Times,
have been provided
Business Insider
to study-related questions
2020: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Scoodle opens its platform to all students across the UK, free of charge to support their education at home
2020: Scoodle looks to raise a further $2 million in funding
‘Most entrepreneurs are not born into networks or wealth. Entrepreneurship centres bridge that gap better than most things I’ve seen. We’ve created jobs, helped hundreds of thousands of students and connected with hundreds of investors at Scoodle. This wouldn’t have happened without networks like the Oxford Foundry. We’re just one example of what should be many, many companies!’ ISMAIL JEILANI, CO-FOUNDER, SCOODLE
28 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
B U I L D I N G H I G H - I M PA C T R E S P O N S I B L E B U S I N E S S E S : D R A L E X A N D E R F I N L AY S O N , C O - F O U N D E R , N Y E H E A LT H
Dr Alexander Finlayson and Dr Imran Mahmud complete postgraduate courses from Oxford University in 2012/13 and pursue professional careers in consultancy, research, general practice, and accessibility to healthcare within Africa
Nye’s team of doctors, designers and defence engineers build a highly scalable communications platform which enables any clinician to contact any patient on any device from anywhere
Nye raises over £5.5
Nye is quickly
million in investment
adopted in primary
- £3.8 million of which
and secondary
was raised during
care by institutions
the pandemic - and
covering ten million
create 12 jobs
patients
full-time jobs to focus on Nye Health
us et moditi Nye returns to Oxford, ten years later, to join the restempore, corio
OXFO accelerator - actively coming back to the Oxford maio disquis rerum Foundry and University of Oxford community to access conecae simincimpor the networks, resources and support needed alit assitibus, iu
Nye is adopted by Nye features in UK
Oxford University’s
and international
COVID-19 vaccine
press
trial to help enable
reflective of industries' present needs. The University of Plymouth's MA Integrated Design Innovation course also highlights the role programmes can actively take in collaborating with the private sector to solve world challenges as part of receiving an accredited degree. 7. INTERMEDIARIES FOR INVESTMENT
Universities play an active role as global intermediaries for investment by connecting their entrepreneurs with people and organisations around the world whom they would never normally get to meet. In this way, they serve as ‘connectors’ - whether that is introducing corporations to the innovations that can help them evolve and stay agile, or brokering introductions for venture capitalists (VCs) and angel investors who are keen to meet and invest in new high-potential ventures. At the Oxford Foundry, we have seen several examples of this already; for example, Biz Stone, Co-founder of Twitter, and OXFO Advisory Board member invested in OXFO portfolio venture, Scoodle. And we have made many hundreds more introductions for ventures that have led to VC and angel investment (OXFO portfolio ventures have raised £27
29 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
2018: Imran and Alexander leave their
remote trials
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
Number of Employees Investment raised (GBP) £4m
14 £3.8m
12
better than today,
8
£1.7m
£2m
6 £1.5m 4
entrepreneurship Investment raised (GBP)
Number of Employees
£2.5m
0
tomorrow to look
£3m
10
2
‘If we want
£3.6m
£1m
part in advancing the technologies that help us get there. Entrepreneurship centres are a great way to inspire a whole army of people to drive this change.’
£200k £500k
Y1 (2018)
can play a massive
Y2 (2019)
Y3 (2020)
£-
DR ALEXANDER F I N L AY S O N , CO-FOUNDER, N Y E H E A LT H
Year since company was founded million in less than three years), the appointment of advisory board members, and the acquisition of users and clients. It is worth emphasising that university entrepreneurship centres do not only cater for students and recent graduates. More experienced graduates who wish to start new ventures tend to return to their universities precisely because of the connections and support they offer. A high percentage of startups accelerated by the Oxford Foundry are led by Oxford alumni who graduated nine or more years ago. Many universities have vibrant and growing entrepreneurial ecosystems. In 2018-19, income generated at graduate startups was more than £1 billion and on average 4,000 graduate startups are created every year (Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA, 2020)). Businesses that are part of an accelerator programme have a much higher survival rate, and raise 40% more funding to scale, on average, than those which are not (BEIS, The Impact of Business accelerators and incubators in the UK, 2019; Wayra Telefonica O2, The rise of the UK accelerator and incubator ecosystem, 2014; Beauhurst, Accelerating the UK, 2018). We need to scale existing centres and invest in modern day entrepreneurship centres in regions where they don’t exist.
30 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
“In 2018-2019, income generated at graduate startups was more than £1 billion”
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
SUPPORTING DIVERSITY IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP: ESTHER AGBOLADE, FOUNDER, QUARANTINE CLASSROOMS AND SEVYN ASO
2018: Esther becomes a member of the Oxford
2018-19: Esther
Foundry through Oxford’s African & Caribbean Society
becomes ACS
(ACS), supported by the Oxford Foundry
President
2018: Esther takes part in the University of Oxford’s ideas competition, All-Innovate, and hosts the live final
2019: In partnership with OXFO, Esther delivers the ‘Build-a-Business’ workshop series to upskill 100 fellow students across the University, with the support of a £2k OXFO Booster Grant
Esther joins OXFO’s Student Advisory Board us et moditi (SAB), where she is able to take part in roundtable restempore, corio discussions with leading entrepreneurs, such as Evan maio disquis rerum
Sharpsimincimpor (Co-founder, Pinterest) and Robbie Brozin conecae (Founder, Nando’s), which inspires her to explore alit assitibus, iu entrepreneurship further
2020: Esther graduates with a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oriel College, Oxford University
2020: Esther starts a graduate scheme in September 2020 with Campbell Lutyens - a private equity company in London
2020: Esther’s experiences at OXFO give her the confidence to explore alternative careers and pursue entrepreneurial endeavour in her life after university. During the COVID-19 crisis, Esther starts Quarantine Classrooms - a free online tuition and public speaking learning platform for GCSE students, as well as Sevyn Aso, a clothing brand inspired by the entrepreneurial culture in Nigeria
‘University entrepreneurship centres provide undeniable benefits in the form of jobs created and economic contribution. But there’s also another side with much longer lasting benefits. Entrepreneurship changes the way we think and develops within us a more collaborative mind. This is key in the increasingly integrated society we live in.’ ESTHER AGBOLADE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY ALUMNA AND FOUNDER
31 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
.. S R I N M A D I PA L L I : C O - F O U N D E R , A C C O M A B L E
2015: 2012: Srin Madipalli completes an Oxford MBA at St. Peter’s College. Srin is a selftaught coder
Srin Madipalli and Martyn Sibley co-found Accomable - an online platform to find and
2016: Accomable raises £300k seed funding
book accessible holiday accommodation
‘University entrepreneurship centres provide so much more than just venture creation support. They provide
2017: Accomable
community, networks, and relationships that last a lifetime, and are thriving hubs of action and inspiration in towns and cities throughout the UK. They hold the key to
2017: Accomable is acquired by airbnb
unlocking economic and societal success, creating jobs, opportunities and new ways of thinking. They have never been more needed than they are now.’ S R I N M A D I PA L L I , C O - F O U N D E R , A C C O M A B L E
8. BUILDERS OF RESPONSIBLE BUSINESSES
By their nature, universities are ‘people-first’ organisations, and for this reason they are well placed to embed a culture of responsibility in the ventures and leaders that they nurture. They can actively influence the creation of ventures that are socially responsible - prioritising both profit and purpose. At the Oxford Foundry, our mission is to build successful, responsible, ethical ventures whose founders are resilient, compassionate, and focused on social impact as well as profitability. This chimes well with current expectations: in PwC’s ‘Workforce of the Future’ survey 2018, 88% of millennials wanted to work for a company that reflects their own, purpose-driven values. Driven by this approach, we believe that the future face of the startup ecosystem will look very different in ten or twenty years: stronger, more diverse, and more accountable. With the OXFO accelerator, we have introduced environmental, social and governance (ESG) impact-tracking metrics for the companies that we support, ensuring that they are conscious of their ESG footprint from infancy, and can keep this front and centre in strategic growth as they develop. 100% of our OXFO-supported ventures have social missions at their core, while being commercial, for-profit entities. We will need strong leaders and ethical businesses for the road ahead, particularly post-pandemic, and universities have a large part to play here. In addition, university alumni networks and their wide circles of contacts and donors already encourage a culture of ‘giving back’. Entrepreneurship centres can cement this culture through providing a mechanism for established and
32 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
amasses 1,100 properties with accessibility adaptations across 60 countries
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
M A R I E FA R M E R A N D L I L I D H M AT T H E W S : O X F O PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H T H E P R I N C E ’ S T R U S T
2019: The Oxford
2019: OXFO runs a workshop in London for 30
Foundry establishes a
people on The Prince’s Trust enterprise programme
partnership with The
and invites them to take part in OXFO All-Innovate
Prince’s Trust
workshops
2019: Ten Prince’s
2020: Two Prince’s Trust ventures, Mini The finalists receive
Mealtimes, founded by Marie Farmer, and
1-2-1 mentoring to help
Finding Roots, founded by Lilidh Matthews,
develop their startups
pitch in the All-Innovate 2020 final. All-
and Marie wins £5,000
Innovate 2020 is supported by Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI)
Trust students take part in the Foundry’s All-Innovate bootcamp with mentors, advisors and Oxford networks
‘It’s crucial the UK isn’t left behind,
‘By investing more into entrepreneurship,
we need to invest in innovation. Time
you take a risk on leaders who may not
and time again the data shows that
have otherwise had the opportunity, but
diverse thinking leads to better and
have the potential to make the most
more robust products and business.
impact in solving our country’s problems.
Entrepreneurship centres are the keys
By increasing resources across the country,
that unlock our/that potential. Now
entrepreneurs need dedicated spaces
is not the time to pull back, with the
where they can connect with mentors,
rise in digital business the barrier to
receive industry guidance, upskill across a
entry has never been lower but we
range of business needs, build their team
need to continue to support younger
and receive the mental support necessary
people to take advantage of this. Our
to drive innovation forward, solve our
economy will regret it if we don’t.’
problems and boost our economy.'
M A R I E FA R M E R , F O U N D E R , M I N I M E A LT I M E S
L I L I D H M AT T H E W S , F O U N D E R FINDING ROOTS
successful entrepreneurs and leaders to contribute skills and resources pro bono in a structured and formalised way. 9. DRIVERS OF DIVERSITY
Universities are one of the few places where there is access to a core, concentrated group of individuals over a set period of time. This means that they are well placed to influence and help evolve national and international
33 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
numbers concerning diversity in leadership and in the future workforce. McKinsey’s Delivering through Diversity, 2018 noted that companies that performed best for gender diversity on their executive teams were 21% more likely to experience above average profitability than competitors, and companies leading ethnic and cultural diversity were 33% more likely to outperform. Diversity makes both economic and social sense. Universities have a responsibility to facilitate best practice, to make these connections, and empower more people from underrepresented backgrounds, including women and people of colour, to have access to opportunities. Student teams have more diverse founding teams than non-student founded startups, with 40% having a female founder, and 43% having at least one founder from a BAME background17. Universities support diverse populations of graduates. They can work against the exacerbation of further conscious or unconscious inequalities in the labour and job market faced by underrepresented groups. At the University of Oxford, 11,000 of our 24,000 students are women, and a further 36,500 alumnae have graduated in the last ten years. By supporting even 10% of these women proactively, there is an opportunity to make a significant contribution towards shifting national and global percentages of women in boardrooms, starting ventures, accessing venture capital, and taking on leadership positions - especially if this action is also taken in every tertiary educational establishment in the UK. Through establishing university-based startup programmes such as the OXFO L.E.V8 Women initiative, we can increase greatly the number of women founders and women in the boardroom in the next five years. Universities can also act as conduits to investment for founders from all underrepresented groups. Currently, less than 1% of UK venture funding goes to all-women teams and just 4% of deals18. Universities can facilitate change, make connections, and empower more women and people of colour to progress as founders and leaders. In the current environment, millions of underrepresented communities including women, people of colour, and people with disabilities will lose jobs, both graduates and non-graduates. Dedicated initiatives would enable universities to serve as conduits for reskilling underserved communities who have lost their jobs, and provide them with opportunities and platforms to build ventures or take on leadership roles moving forward. Universities as diverse bodies, working with regional and national communities, have the potential to remove barriers to entry and provide opportunities to make startup venture support accessible, whether for an entrepreneur from a low-income background, or for one who has no higher education qualifications. Universities can and should democratise access to entrepreneurial endeavour and leadership opportunities.
17 18
Creator Fund, State of Student Startups Report, July 2020 The Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, 2019
34 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
C R E AT I N G A N E V E R G R E E N C O M M U N I T Y: ALEX CHEEMA, BSC PHYSICS ALUMNUS, ST HUGH’S COLLEGE, OXFORD
2016: Alex Cheema
2017: Alex becomes
studies Physics at the
a member of OXFO
University of Oxford
through Oxford University’s Coding society
Alex meets Veratrak, a startup in the Foundry’s portfolio, and completes an internship with them. Veratrak uses blockchain technologies to add transparency to the pharmaceutical supply chain, and has raised funding in excess of £1.2 million
At the age of 22, Alex has had leadership experience, delivered peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange, and gained valuable work experience with an early-stage tech startup, thanks to the Oxford Foundry
At the Foundry Alex meets the Oxford Blockchain Society and becomes President
2018: In partnership with OXFO, whilst a student, Alex delivers a seven-week OXFO course on ‘Coding In Blockchain and Building Smart Contracts’ to 100 fellow students across Oxford upskilling students at all levels of study and across all four academic divisions of the University
Alex moves to Berlin to work for a fast-growing non-profit organisation, Gaming for Good, which uses blockchain to distribute a Universal Basic Income Cryptocurrency to individuals in need. It has raised over $25 million for Save the Children
‘Entrepreneurship centres fill an overlooked but essential gap in the education system. They broaden the perspective of students, providing them with skills that enhance their ability to work effectively with people from all walks of life.’ ALEX CHEEMA, OXFORD UNIVERSITY ALUMNUS
35 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
B R I D G I N G I N D U S T R Y, A C A D E M I A A N D TA L E N T: M E H A K M U M TA Z , C O - F O U N D E R O F I L O F ( I N T E L L I G E N T L A B O N F I B E R )
2018: Mehak
2017: Mehak Mumtaz
completes EMBA
completes her DPhil
2019: iLoF joins the
modules with Saïd
in Pathology at the
OXFO accelerator
Business School,
University of Oxford
University of Oxford
’With entrepreneurial ambitions
Mehak wins
at an all-time high amongst
iLoF receives €2
Microsoft’s $1 million
the current generation,
million from EIT
M12 competition for
Health to help
female founders
entrepreneurship centres in
combat Alzheimer’s
universities play a vital role in developing entrepreneurial capabilities and mindsets. For
Number of Employees Investment raised (GBP)
introduction to the enterprising world, for others it might be a
20
testbed or a launchpad. But in both situations, they serve as a safe space to nurture and test ideas, and partners, and very importantly, help them determine whether entrepreneurship is a viable career choice for them. Apart from helping launch businesses, these centres are also becoming increasingly important to upskill students for a competitive and rapidly changing job market which prizes enterprising behaviour in graduates.’ M E H A K M U M TA Z , CO-FOUNDER, ILOF
Number of Employees
meet like-minded team members
£1.85m
£2m
18
£1.8m
16
£1.6m
14
£1.4m
12
£1.2m £780k
10
£1m
8
£800k
6
£600k
4
£400k
2
£200k
0
Y1 (2019)
Y2 (2020)
Year since company was founded
36 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
£-
Investment raised (GBP)
some students, it’s often their first
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
UPSKILLING THEIR FUTURE EMPLOYEES: O X F O ' S C O R P O R AT E PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H E Y
2017: The Oxford Foundry establishes a partnership with EY to run AI Impact
2017-19: 400 students are upskilled and form new teams and ventures. Roundtable papers are published on how to use AI to combat fake news, bias in recruitment, and climate change
Weekend
2020: Oxford Physics postgraduate Anna Jungblath wins AI impact weekend in 2018, winning a trip to Silicon Valley, and wins best undergraduate idea in the 2018 All-Innovate competition. Anna and her team also win Best Technical Solution in AI Impact Weekend: AI and Climate Change 2020
2018: OXFO member Amy Kao is employed by EY, using her entrepreneurial and leadership skills
‘The Oxford Foundry had provided me with a
‘Entrepreneurship centres like the Oxford Foundry
launchpad to explore and develop skillsets beyond
are crucially important to bring people from different
the particular competencies and domain knowledge
parts of universities together. Equally, exposing
that my formal education had been myopically focused
students to a variety of areas and allowing them to
on. The specific experiences and growth that I gained
develop a range of skills during their studies will
through participating in the innovation programs and
always pay off. For many job opportunities, people
development workshops were pivotal to my success in
are hired for their potential, rather than the exact
securing a global position in a high-profile international
knowledge required for the job. Entrepreneurship
firm. Going forward, it is evident that institutions
centres like the Oxford Foundry allow students like
which equip their students, and alumni, not only with
me to broaden our minds beyond what we learn in
academic capabilities but also with entrepreneurial
our degree programs. I have had the opportunity to
resilience and a disruptive mindset, will likely emerge
learn about business strategy, how to attract start-up
as a crucial member within an industry ecosystem.
funding, and how to present to a range of audiences.
Developing an entrepreneurship platform is one way of
While some of these skills have already come in handy
staying ahead.'
during my PhD, I am confident that my involvement
DR. AMY KAO, PHD IN NEUROBIOLOGY AND E X P E R I M E N TA L T H E R A P E U T I C S , W O L F S O N C O L L E G E 2 0 1 8 , C O N S U LTA N T, S T R AT E G Y A N D TRANSACTIONS, EY GLOBAL
37 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
with the Oxford Foundry will ultimately set me apart from other applicants once I apply for jobs.' A N N A J U N G B L AT H , P H D I N C O N D E N S E D M AT T E R P H Y S I C S
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
I N V E S T I N G I N TA L E N T A N D I N N O V AT I O N : O X F O ' S PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H S A N TA N D E R U N I V E R S I T I E S
Santander Universities support All-Innovate 2018, OXFO’s University-wide ideas competition. In its first year 21 Oxford colleges took part and 100 ideas are
Santander Universities
entered including winner DeCancer.Ai (now Oxford
commit to support
Cancer Analytics, co-founded by Andreas Halner
early-stage venture creation
(pictured). Funding also supports 24 workshops upskilling students in Emotional Intelligence, resilience and idea development
Equity-free grants of
Santander support OXFO’s Distinguished
Five £5k equity-free
£10k are awarded
grants are awarded to
to two ventures on
selected ventures on
the OXFO COVID-19
Speaker Series - Masterclasses from leading experts to 350 students on: Unlocking creativity, negotiation, networking and communication
the OXFO accelerator
Rapid Solutions Builder
Entrepreneurial Leadership Curriculum – Student Volunteer Placements – over 70 students opted in to offer expertise to support the four solutions from the Rapid Solutions Builder across the two-month programme
masterclasses and 1:1 training delivered with leadership experts throughout the two-month Rapid Solutions Builder programme focused on mental health and leadership skills to support founders as they navigate uncertain, complex and pressurised circumstances
‘Entrepreneurship coupled with strong ethical principles is a fantastic way of ideas becoming reality in the form of products. Entrepreneurship centres such as the Oxford Foundry provide the experience, protection and networks required for entrepreneurship to be successfully pursued by those with a passion for innovation and social impact. In a time where so many people are uncertain about their economic futures, it is essential that the door to entrepreneurship remains open and that people know how to walk through the ‘entrepreneurial door’. The existence of more entrepreneurship centres in the UK could make the necessary difference to promote societal and economic flourishing both now and in decades to come.’ A N D R E A S H A L N E R , C O - F O U N D E R , O X F O R D C A N C E R A N A LY T I C S (OXCAN)
38 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
I N V E S T I N G I N TA L E N T A N D I N N O V AT I O N : O X F O ' S PA R T N E R S H I P W I T H R I P P L E U B R I
Students from
438 students are
all four Divisions,
upskilled in coding with Ripple UBRI
including Humanities
using Python, machine
2019: OXFO partners
are upskilled. More
learning (beginner
women take part in
through to expert), and
the Python workshops
coding for blockchain
42 students meet future employers at the OXFO blockchain networking night
than men
PUTTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP ON THE CURRICULUM: E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P A N D I N N O V AT I O N F O R P H Y S I C I S T S C O U R S E
2020: 30 graduate students take part in the Oxford Foundry’s on-curriculum course ‘Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Physicists’, including Elisabeth Duijnstee from University College, University of Oxford
100% of participants recommend the course and its role in giving them new skills and opening up new career possibilities
‘Courses like entrepreneurship at the university are of great
The course was run by a combination of university academics, industry
importance to teach students how
experts and startup coaches including: Professor Pegram Harrison, Jon
they can transition from academics
Moorhouse and Yo Percale, with guest talks from Oxford Physics alumni
into alternative career paths, such as entrepreneurship and
entrepreneurs Lewis Z Liu of Eigen Technologies, Achillefs Kapanidis, Co-founder of Oxford Nanoimaging, Sasha Haco, Co-founder of Unitary,
innovation. It is a great opportunity for students to learn from successful entrepreneurs and startup coaches how the processes of commercialising innovations work, and to be provided with a detailed look into how scalable businesses are formed.' ELISABETH DUIJNSTEE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY
39 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
Sophie Hackford, Co-founder of 1715 Labs, Irwin Zaid, Co-founder of Seethrough Scientific and Matt Wilson, Co-founder of Omnipresent
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
C R E AT I N G J O B S : L E W I S Z L I U , F O U N D E R , E I G E N T E C H N O L O G I E S
2014: Lewis Z Liu completes his PhD in Atomic and Laser Physics
2020: Eigen raise
2014: Lewis Z
$60m and employ
Liu founds Eigen
148 people across
Technologies
London and New York
‘As a tech startup founder I believe anything that
need to found a business. The UK has huge advantages
encourages and supports entrepreneurship is a good
for running an international and export-focused business
thing. The world needs more innovation to solve the
like Eigen. The combination of the UK’s access to all
challenges we face and entrepreneurship has a big
global markets, its strengths in business and easy access
contribution to make. Britain’s universities are one of the
to European tech talent has contributed greatly to
country’s great strengths, combining academic excellence
Eigen’s success.’
with a global outlook. They are a great place for anyone looking for both an idea and the diverse networks you
LEWIS Z LIU, FOUNDER, EIGEN TECHNOLOGIES
Number of Employees Investment raised (GBP)
160
£32.4m
140
£25m
100
£20m
80 £15m
£10m
60
£10m
40 20 0
£3.5m
£5m
£250k Y1 (2014)
Y3 (2016)
Y5 (2018)
Year since company was founded
40 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
Investment raised (GBP)
£30m
120 Number of Employees
£35m
Y7 (2020)
£-
*based on Companies House data
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
1 0 . A S E L F - S U S TA I N I N G C O M M U N I T Y
University-based accelerators and startup support programmes are innately self-sustaining, with a renewable cycle of support built in. They provide a crucial space for entrepreneurs to try out a venture idea, to learn from risk and experimentation and move forward. In such an environment, with its connected startup community, entrepreneurs have the chance to hear and learn from other experienced practitioners and inspirational leaders, and to work alongside real-life ventures, or develop ventures of their own. Established leaders stay connected, and regularly ‘give back’ by donating their time, expertise and advice to the next generation of ventures, becoming advisors and mentors, as well as investors. They also contribute directly to venture growth - from providing access to finance and guidance on culture and HR, to market strategy and vision: all areas that are crucial for startup survival, as noted in Innovate UK’s Scaling Up report, 2017. This valuable level of connectivity is again unique to a university ecosystem. Through these experiences, entrepreneurs can acquire the crucial skills that recent reports19 have identified as currently lacking in graduates entering the workforce. Universities are evergreen communities of opportunity where jobs are both created and filled. They are home to the teachers, the trainers, the experts, the networks, the resources, and importantly, a diverse community. 1 1 . B R I D G I N G I N D U S T R Y, A C A D E M I A , A N D TA L E N T
As inherently global institutions, with impact and reach beyond geographical borders, universities act as global hubs for investment, opportunity, and partnerships - and connect corporations with startups. Presently they have global partnerships at many different levels including research partnerships and programme partnerships. These serve as valuable collaborations to exchange knowledge, access talent, and enable organisational leadership on innovation. These partnerships also serve to bring together cutting-edge startups with potential corporate clients formally in a multidisciplinary approach to combat world-scale problems such as climate change. The more thriving the ecosystem, the more attractive it is for big businesses to invest into the region through jobs and infrastructure, bringing forward innovation and economic opportunity locally, while creating environments for startups to flourish. Examples include Merck building a £1 billion research centre in London, and Microsoft’s office in Cambridge.
World Economic Forum, Closing the Skills Gap Project; Deloitte, The Skills Gap and the Future of Work in Manufacturing, 2018; Accenture, Closing the Skills Gap and the Future Workforce, 2018 19
41 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
“Universities are evergreen communities of opportunity where jobs are both created and filled”
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
SUPPORTING CITIES OUTSIDE LONDON: D R K Y L E G R A N T, F O U N D E R , O X W A S H
2018: Kyle completes his DPhil in Synthetic Biology at the University of Oxford
During the final year of his doctorate, Kyle
Oxwash joins the
founds sustainable
L.E.V8 accelerator
laundry and cleaning company, Oxwash
Oxwash raises £1.4 million in seed funding from Since February 2018, over 2800 cubic tonnes of CO2 has been saved through using OXWASH systems and services
Kyle is voted in Forbes 30 under 30 for Social Entrepreneurs 2019
investors including Oxford Foundry Advisor Biz Stone, Co-founder, Twitter, creates nine jobs, serves 90 clients including corporate and institutional customers, and has established partnerships with Deliveroo, JustEat, UberEats, NHS England, AirSorted, Staybeyond and Hostmaker
2020: Oxwash supports Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine trials,
2020: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Oxwash supports Oxfordshire NHS hospitals and GP practices with their overwhelming laundry needs and raises funds to offer 5,000 free washes to NHS
laundering PPE
workers and vulnerable individuals
“Entrepreneurship hubs in academic institutions are critical to provide the catalyst for creative minds to meet and develop disruptive business models that will change the face of society and the planet.” D R K Y L E G R A N T, F O U N D E R , O X W A S H
42 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
2020: Oxwash launches in their second city: Cambridge
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
12. EXPERIENTIAL TEACHING EXPERTISE
Universities provide experiential learning opportunities: students learn by a combination of ‘doing’ and critical reflection. This goes beyond asking the usual questions about ‘what went well?’ and ‘what could have gone better?’ to exploring the root causes of problems, building on mistakes, and pivoting rather than starting again. At the Oxford Foundry we have developed a learning model that guarantees all participants a journey through five critical stages; 1. Peer-to-peer learning - sharing knowledge with peers across all disciplines 2. The Zone of Proximal Development - Vygotsky’s theory that people learn best from those one or two steps ahead, either through startups supporting one another, or alumni supporting new ventures 3. Facilitators and practitioners - providing practical and technical theory, experience and context including business plans, financial modelling, and guides on networking or pursuing careers in specific areas e.g. venture capital 4. Experts: both academic and industry-based – focused on specific problems and the challenges faced by individuals and/or their companies 5. Inspirational figures: world leaders who provide inspiration and motivation, and invoke aspiration. This is critical to drive action and develop resilience and perseverance. However, talking about success on a large scale can make it hard for early-stage ventures to relate, or to extract tangible micro-steps. As our case studies demonstrate, providing interactive learning opportunities at different stages provides well-rounded perspectives and allows founders to build personal confidence and the capability to challenge, aspire, pursue, and grow. There is also great opportunity for universities to create more formal partnerships with the private sector - especially for institutions that have limited capacity to build bespoke entrepreneurial and technology-based training programmes. Partnerships with companies offering this capability including Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, as well as other edtech platforms, are vital. For example Google Grow offers free digital skills training and short courses which complement the long-term relationships and thriving networks universities provide. Run in partnership, both the private sector and higher education can ensure our current and future workforce have the core entrepreneurial and tech skills needed to thrive in today’s work environments. 1 3 . A B I L I T Y T O A L L E V I AT E S T R A I N GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
ON
JOB
CENTRES
AND
As millions become unemployed, inevitably many will turn to job centres for support. Job centres themselves, however, are oversubscribed and are often not focused on the skills or opportunities needed for those who come from white-collar jobs. Universities have the capability to alleviate pressure on local government resources, including job centres, and provide reskilling opportunities, training and experiences in technology and entrepreneurship. They can not only help to reskill, but also to create new jobs through the 43 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
ventures being accelerated. 1 4 . L E V E L L I N G U P : C R E AT I N G N AT I O N A L E C O N O M I C A N D S O C I A L PA R I T Y
The UK is the most regionally unequal major high-income economy amongst the advanced OECD countries, and whilst the London and the South East region is recognised as the richest region of Europe, six of the ten poorest regions also lie within the UK20. Currently more than a fifth of UK students, and half of Oxbridge students move to London to pursue job opportunities after graduating21. And most student-founded startups also choose to base themselves in London. But following lockdown from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is far greater awareness of the benefits and productivity of remote working, meaning that jobs can be created in regions outside London, and that talent is more evenly invested in, supported, and spread across the country. By creating thriving entrepreneurship centres within all tertiary education establishments, it will be possible to attune frameworks to reflect regional demographics and national socio-economic priorities. In addition to serving students and alumni, universities can build partnerships with their wider communities, such as local businesses. They can then feed into active civic engagement to boost local economic growth, alleviate pressure on government and the economy; and support the levelling up agenda.
UK2070 Commission, Make No Little Plans, February 2020 The Guardian, Reversing the brain drain: why coronavirus could stop graduates moving to London, May 2020 20 21
44 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| WHY UNIVERSITIES AND WHY NOW?
I N T E R N AT I O N A L S T U D E N T S F O U N D I N G V E N T U R E S : R A Z VA N C R E A N G A , C O - F O U N D E R , H A C K A J O B
British-Romanian
2014: Razvan and
Razvan Creanga,
Mark co-found
and Co-founder
Hackajob, the go-to
Mark Chaffey, meet
technical recruiter
at King’s College London
2014: Hackajob are one of the first ventures to be incubated at King's College London
‘The last few months have showed us once again how important cross-disciplinary collaboration
Hackajob scale rapidly -
Hackajob have
is, especially when faced with seemingly
over 20,000 introductions
raised £7 million
insurmountable challenges such as a pandemic or
in investment and employ 60 people
pressing worldwide problems that humanity must solve. And one of the best environments for quality
have been made: 2019: Razvan Creanga is named in Forbes 30 under 30
brainstorming, problem solving and innovation is represented by university entrepreneurship centres which support current students or alumni with all the resources they need to build and deploy innovation at global scale. Moreover, a wealth of benefits are created in the process such as more direct jobs, valuable research or upskilled talent who can contribute to economic prosperity.’ R A Z VA N C R E A N G A , C O - F O U N D E R , HACKAJOB
Number of Employees Investment raised (GBP)
Number of Employees
70
£8m £7m
60
£6m
50
£5m
40
£4m
30
£3m
20
£2m
10
£1m
0
Y1 (2014)
Y2 (2015)
Y3 (2016)
Y4 (2017)
Y5 (2018)
Year since company was founded
45 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
Y6 (2019)
Y7 (2020)
£-
Investment raised (GBP)
80
| HOW COULD WE DO IT?
How could we do it?
This proposal requires an open and transparent conversation and action between universities, the government and the private sector. It suggests a fivestage, cost-effective framework, to include: •
Building and scaling low research-and-development-focused entrepreneurship centres and accelerator programmes at universities to accelerate early-stage, high-potential ventures, throughout the UK
•
Providing experiential skills training, and learning in technology and its applications, built on foundations of industry and academic expertise and tailored to growth sectors and regional needs; for example, reskilling a newly unemployed white-collar graduate and wider communities regionally on coding or data science or in core human skills around empathy and critical thinking
•
Upskilling in the transferable skills of entrepreneurship, resilience, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, teamwork and collaboration, strategic thinking, time management, and networking - utilising alumni networks
•
Delivering leadership skills and training: building emotional intelligence, empathy, purpose, confidence, and communication skills
•
Creating guaranteed startup work experience opportunities for local communities, utilising university alumni communities.
Alongside the core focus of supporting their communities to develop knowledge and skills, universities can and should formally draw community awareness to the external societal and labour market conditions. This would enhance not only student/alumni human capital (knowledge and skills), but also social capital (societal networking and understanding) and help students and alumni to prepare themselves to be more flexible and adaptable to the local and international working environment. OXFO has developed a proven framework for putting this into action, which can be scaled nationally and attuned to regional, social, cultural, economic and political climates based on need and interest.
46 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| K E Y R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S
Key recommendations
I recommend the institutionalisation, creation, and where relevant, greater investment and scale, of entrepreneurship startup centres at universities nationwide, with a core and concentrated focus on entrepreneurship, technology, venture creation, and growth. Actions include: 1. Provide investment for universities to build and develop these centres and deliver on these frameworks, noting the necessity to attune socially, politically and economically to the region or locality. The return on investment would be realised in a multitude of ways, including through tax contribution (employee tax and corporation tax) from the accelerated ventures and the increased number of people on payroll 2. Set key performance indicators (KPIs) and impact targets - short, medium and long-term. Targets should include but would not be limited to:
- Job creation
- Unemployment reduction and mass upskilling
- Innovation, and technology leadership nationally and internationally
- Improvement of livelihoods, efficiency, and overall social impact
- Economic contribution/impact
- Cultural capital (e.g. cross-sector partnerships)
- Social capital (e.g. connections between founders and mentors/ investors)
3. Build on existing frameworks and roll these out nationally as a centralised government franchise 4. Focus on venture creation, growth, and entrepreneurial and tech-based skills and training 5. Accelerate university alumni-led ventures, as well as regional startups; create jobs and contribute to economic growth and recovery 6. Encourage universities to become epicentres for millions of their alumni who would/will lose their jobs due to COVID-19 and can be redirected into entrepreneurship 7. Use the multi-disciplinary convening power of universities to create ecosystems of opportunity and impact, focusing on non-research-intensive
47 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| K E Y R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S
ventures 8. Leverage best practice from commercial accelerators in the development of university-led accelerators, but with the added value and benefit of having access to talent and academic, industry, and government expertise, all within one unified environment. Adopt a clear focus on building responsible businesses - commercial businesses that have a strong social purpose and embed strong ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) policies from the outset, that are measured and tracked as the business grows 9. Make entrepreneurship accessible and remove barriers to venture growth. Note that the five main reasons for failure in scaleups are listed as challenges around lack of access to adequate finance, building leadership capability, navigating infrastructure, sourcing talent, and reaching markets effectively (Innovate UK, Scaling up: the investor perspective, 2017) 10. Reskill blue and white-collar jobs 11. Upskill students and recent graduates as well as emphasising alternative career pathways - acknowledging that many traditional jobs will no longer exist, or at least not in the numbers that they have previously (banking, legal etc.) 12. Develop partnerships with private sector organisations and government to create a new generation of entrepreneurs, and set up entrepreneurship schemes through industry partnerships 13. Attune efforts on a regional basis, depending on the area of expertise e.g. startup hubs/accelerators would be sensitive to location/regional background (blue-collar vs white-collar) 14. Adopt two-tier models (talent and sector-based, and venture and teambased). Making this happen nationwide, and at scale, will require government, private sector and university collaboration, including government funding and private sector investment into universities for infrastructural development (online and offline), human resources, and operational support. It will also call for matchfunding capabilities on a sector-specific innovation basis. Overall, however, it will be highly cost-effective due to its reliance on communities and networks. While there will be core costs, such as HR, marketing and communications, and digital learning development, the actual programmes will be delivered pro bono or at low cost. It is important to note that these centres will also have the positive effect of driving demand for tertiary education, and increasing opportunities and income through international and domestic student recruitment, and helping universities evolve their business models and income streams. It is estimated that there will be a 47% decrease in international student enrolment in the next academic year due to COVID-19, costing the university sector ÂŁ1.5 billion in tuition fees and grant income. Approximately ÂŁ612 million of the ÂŁ2.6 billion
48 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| K E Y R E C O M M E N D AT I O N S
loss will come from a drop in domestic student enrolment, which is estimated to fall by 16%, with a further £350 million from a fall in European Union student recruitment, which is also estimated to fall by 47% (Times Higher Education, April 2020). The higher education sector continues to suffer financially as a result of the crisis and the international study landscape is becoming increasingly competitive. However, these recommendations will provide increased appeal for prospective students who will be attracted to universities as an investment in lifelong career opportunities and supportive pathways, and the networks, platforms and profile raising beyond a conventional degree. There is huge potential to attract the one million extra 18 year olds predicted to make up the UK population over the decade (WonkHE, 2019). This is no rose-tinted vision of the future - university-led venture accelerator programmes provide examples of real-life struggles, and generate multiple case studies of real founders, with mentors, advisors and experts, as well as thought-leadership theory and strategy on what works and what does not. In a university setting such as the Oxford Foundry, budding entrepreneurs receive the professional advice and candid feedback which will help them to challenge their beliefs about their venture, and to decide quickly whether it is likely to work or not, thereby reducing the risk of wasting valuable time, effort and money on pursuing an idea that is not viable or strong enough to succeed. They are surrounded by the right mentors, the right knowledge, and an honest community to advise on the struggles of entrepreneurship. It is a safe haven where an entrepreneur can lower risk, and learn lessons that will help them to move forward and evolve.
49 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| ABOUT ANA BAKSHI
About Ana Bakshi
Ana Bakshi is the inaugural Executive Director of the Oxford Foundry (OXFO) entrepreneurship centre at the University of Oxford, which opened in October 2017. Having grown up in a family of entrepreneurs, Ana has been motivated in her journey as an entrepreneurial leader and change-maker by seeing first-hand how innovation is a driving force for economic growth. Ana has been instrumental in creating positive, systemic transformation within complex institutions, and in building successful innovation centres and cultural advances within centuries-old educational establishments. Ana’s work has already created, and will continue to create, jobs, inclusive wealth, impact and innovation for the UK and internationally. She has successfully brought together multidisciplinary global networks and communities to exchange knowledge, collaborate, and create inclusive economic and social impact. With her work at the Foundry being featured over 60+ times in mainstream press including the FT, Sunday Times, Guardian and BBC. At Oxford, Ana has created a strategic vision for the Foundry, building it into a self-sustaining ecosystem of responsible, low R&D related ventures, which has its own centre of gravity and is driven by clear demand from students and alumni. Ana has demonstrated that these ecosystems and their ventures can be the prosperity engines of the future, uniquely placed to shape the future of innovation and technology, to create new jobs, contribute to regional, national and international economies, and drive positive social change. She has recruited and built an effective team that manages a large portfolio of initiatives across many disciplines, delivering crucial entrepreneurial skills and opportunities for students and alumni across the University of Oxford, as well as external communities. In her previous role at King’s College London, Ana co-founded King’s Entrepreneurship Institute, driving the strategy and creating the framework to bring it to life as an independent centre. Ana is passionate about investing in technical and creative talent, generating new opportunities for all through entrepreneurship, and creating frameworks for impact venture delivery that can be adopted and scaled in universities both nationally and globally. In nearly ten years of working in higher education, Ana has enabled over many thousands of people to upskill in today’s critical workforce ‘gaps’ such as technology, creative thinking and problem solving. She believes in the power of universities as purpose-focused organisations, whose diverse, multi-sector communities, when connected to strong networks from the public and private sectors, enable them to foster and support a new generation of commercial businesses that have ethics and responsibility built in right from the start.
50 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| ABOUT ANA BAKSHI
Ana is committed to growing the number of startups and scaleups in the UK, recognising that they have the power to attract strong international investment and contribute significantly to national and international economic growth. To date, she has launched institutional accelerator programmes which have supported 100+ ventures, working in areas such as energy efficiency, diagnostics, Healthtech, data and cyber security. In under 3 years, ventures from the OXFO L.E.V8 accelerator have created 104 jobs, raised £27 million across 28 companies, and improved livelihoods in multiple locations across the globe. Under Ana’s leadership, in response to the pandemic, she repurposed 100% of the team's time to launch a COVID-19 Rapid Solutions Builder initiative to find and scale innovative solutions to challenges exacerbated by the crisis, raised a pandemic response fund of £145,000 to support ventures tackling COVID-19, built cross-sector partnerships bringing together 200+ volunteers across technology and entrepreneurship, and convened an international taskforce of more than 60 leaders across the public, private and third sectors. While at King’s College London, Ana founded the University’s first incubator, scaling it into the King’s20 accelerator programme. Ventures supported have raised over £17m and created 400 jobs. The impact achieved through these centres is reflective of the unique 5:5 learning model that Ana has developed, which comprises a five-step learning methodology and five-part delivery of entrepreneurial skills and training, including leading on the development of digital learning platforms. Ana has launched major programmes including institution-wide idea generation opportunities and cross-sector challenges in collaboration with leading multinational corporations - including how we can harness technology responsibly and ethically to address fake news and mitigate climate change. Critically, all of these influence a culture of innovation and accountability. Committed to embedding entrepreneurship in the curriculum and in everyday practice, Ana has enabled the delivery of thousands of hours of practical learning, and she has set up startup programmes to provide young people with valuable commercial experiences and alternative career pathways. Recognising that problems and challenges are best tackled collectively, not in silos, Ana has created advisory boards and brought together world-leading entrepreneurs and leaders from the public and private sectors, and has convened strategic thought leadership roundtables to motivate discussion and action. Ana has also created impactful funding partnerships with FTSE 100 companies, funds and high growth businesses. Ana is intent on democratising entrepreneurship. She played a key role in establishing Oxford’s first scholarship for black students from disadvantaged backgrounds. She created and launched the University’s first women-focused startup programme, L.E.V8 Women, providing a platform for more women and underrepresented groups to pursue leadership roles and build ventures that directly benefit the economy and society. She has also championed partnerships with youth-focused NGOs to provide their communities with opportunities to upskill in entrepreneurship and secure grant funding for their
51 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| ABOUT ANA BAKSHI
business ideas. Ana is a member of Fast Company’s globally-elected Impact Council, and a trustee of Ascend Charity, which provides key skills to hard-toreach and marginalised groups. She is a former elected councillor focusing on empowering and representing her local community in matters of housing, transportation and overall livelihoods. Ana has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in International Development. This isn’t an outdated ivory tower’: how Oxford university leapfrogged its rivals’, Guardian, 5 September 2020 Campus start-ups cram for recovery, The Sunday Times, 16 August 2020 University startup ecosystems could help speed up our recovery from the pandemic, Sifted, 14 July 2020 Twitter: @B_Anandana LinkedIn: Ana Bakshi
52 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| APPENDIX
Appendix
34 MONTHS OF OXFO:
The Oxford Foundry is an Entrepreneurship Centre at the University of Oxford, established by Saïd Business School in October 2017. The Foundry was set up with a founding donation from Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn and opened by Apple CEO Tim Cook. The centre supports all 24,000 students at Oxford, 350,000 alumni, and the wider community, to gain entrepreneurship and technology skills and opportunities, and to build and grow successful ventures. The Foundry is committed to building a new generation of ventures and leaders. 1 . V E N T U R E C R E AT I O N - S U P P O R T I N G T H E E C O N O M Y A N D S O C I A L I M PA C T
Since its launch, the Oxford Foundry has supported 32 ventures across three L.E.V8 accelerator cohorts, generating 104 jobs and raising £27 million across 28 companies. Ventures have been featured in the media including in Fortune, TechCrunch and The Daily Telegraph and won awards including Forbes 30 under 30. See venture press coverage. The LE.V8 accelerator has a net promotor score of 9.1, on a par with commercial accelerators, with an 100% increase in applications each year. The L.E.V8 Women programme has supported 19 women-led ventures. 100% of OXFO portfolio ventures have social missions at their core while being commercial, for-profit entities. In March 2020, the Foundry launched the OXFO COVID-19 Action Plan. As a result, 17 ventures are being scaled, and 100+ innovative solutions have been submitted to support the response to the pandemic and economic recovery. The plan brought together 180 volunteers, 60 leaders, and £120,000+ grant funding, and launched a new pandemic recovery startup programme - the Rapid Solutions Builder. Please see here for portfolio ventures responding to pandemic recovery and the four new Rapid Solutions Builder ventures. 2 . C R E AT I N G E N T R E P R E N E U R I A L M I N D S E T S , C L O S I N G T H E T E C H S K I L L S G A P, A N D S U P P O R T I N G S T U D E N T C A R E E R S
The Foundry has formed many new industry partnerships including with EY, OSI, Ripple, and Santander Universities. We have also 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. 400 students
53 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| APPENDIX
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 over 8000 hours of experiential learning. 1,185 students across all Divisions have taken part in the Foundry's tech speaker series and workshops on coding in Python, blockchain and Machine learning. More women than men participated in the Python workshops, supporting women in tech. 500 have taken part in our entrepreneurial mindsets series and 580 in idea exploration workshops. We've embedded entrepreneurship into the Physics curriculum through a successful seven week 'Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Physicists' course for undergraduates and postgraduates, and we are expanding this to other departments. We've introduced thousands of students to entrepreneurship through our OXFO booster grants and outreach activities. We've facilitated student internships with ventures. For example Physics student Alex Cheema worked at L.E.V8 venture Veratrak, Lantana hired Oxford interns, and Ufonia have taken on four interns following our OXFO Covid-19 Action plan. 3 . D E M O C R AT I S I N G E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P
A successful pilot programme with The Prince’s Trust gave access to Oxford Foundry learning programmes and the All-Innovate ideas competition to individuals from challenged socio-economic backgrounds. The Foundry worked with the University of Oxford to launch its first scholarship for black students from disadvantaged backgrounds with US tech entrepreneur Arlan Hamilton. It is also working towards embedding diversity and inclusion across all its programmes and at all university levels. 4. MEMBERSHIP AND COMMUNITY
Over 13,900 people have interacted with the Foundry since it was launched, including over 2,000 alumni who have re-engaged with the University and 500 investors and external experts. This includes 13% of the Oxford student body from all four divisions and 39 colleges. The current Foundry membership of 3,314 is made up of 145 nationalities, 37% undergraduate, 32% postgraduate/DPhil, 27% masters education level and, 4% other, with a 46.3% female, 51.3% male split. It has a large and engaged online community with 10,000 followers on social media and 300,000 website views to date. 5 . S T R AT E G Y A N D R E P U TAT I O N
The Foundry has built an Advisory Board, Academic Steering Committee and a unique University-wide Student Advisory Board with 38+ student societies. It has been featured in the media 60+ times, including the Financial Times, 54 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
| APPENDIX
BBC, The Sunday Times, USA Today, Forbes, The Guardian, and Business Insider (See press coverage), and has attracted high-profile entrepreneurs, world-leaders and advisors. Building on Ana Bakshi’s research and experience in creating university startup hubs, the Foundry’s work is based on a unique and highly credible five-stage experiential learning and delivery methodology. www.oxfordfoundry.ox.ac.uk/34-months-impact
55 | Universities: Drivers of Prosperity and Economic Recovery
|
UK MAP OF UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES
| REFERENCES
References
IW Capital, The importance of entrepreneurship to the UK economy, April 2019 https://iwcapital.co.uk/the-importance-of-entrepreneurship-to-the-ukeconomy/ LSE, The Scale-up Manifesto, November 2014 http://www.lse.ac.uk/assets/ richmedia/channels/publicLecturesAndEvents/slides/20141118_1800_ scaleupManifesto_sl.pdf OECD, Employment Outlook, 2020 outlook/
http://www.oecd.org/employment/
Office for National Statistics, Labour Market Overview, UK, August 2020 https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/ employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/august2020/ previous/v1 Bank of England, Bank of England sees worst slump in 300 years as coronavirus bites, May 2020 https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-britainboe/bank-of-england-holds-off-on-fresh-stimulus-sees-worst-slump-in-300years-idUKKBN22I3BP?il=0 The Times, Job loss pandemic: white-collar staff face silent cull as firms cut back, July 2020 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/job-loss-pandemic-whitecollar-staff-face-silent-cull-as-firms-cut-back-wnplqfnjj Institute of Student Employers, supported by AGCAS, COVID-19: What is the impact of the crisis on student recruitment and development? May 2020 https://www.agcas.org.uk/Latest/ise-and-agcas-report-what-is-the-impact-ofthe-crisis-on-student-recruitment-and-development YouGov and The Prince’s Trust, Young People in Lockdown, May 2020 https:// www.princes-trust.org.uk/about-the-trust/news-views/young-people-inlockdown AGCAS, ISE report, supported by AGCAS: what is the impact of the crisis on student recruitment and development? May 2020 https://www.agcas.org. uk/Latest/ise-and-agcas-report-what-is-the-impact-of-the-crisis-on-studentrecruitment-and-development Office for National Statistics, Business Demography, UK, 2018 https://www.ons. gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/bulletins/ businessdemography/2018#:~:text=The%20survival%20rates%20show%20 the,42.4%25%20(Figure%202)
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| REFERENCES
Innovate UK, Scaling-up: the investor persepective, https://assets.publishing. service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/656377/17.3215.102_Scaling_up_-_the_investor_perspective-31-10-17FINAL_digital_version.pdf LinkedIn Learning, The Top Skills Companies Need Most in 2020—And How to Learn Them , December 2018 https://learning.linkedin.com/blog/top-skills/ the-skills-companies-need-most-in-2019--and-how-to-learn-them Accenture, New Skills Now, 2017 https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF63/Accenture-New-Skills-Now-Inclusion-in-the-digital.pdf Indeed, Number of AI roles in Britain up 485% since 2014, 2017 https://www. recruitment-international.co.uk/blog/2017/10/number-of-ai-roles-in-britainup-485-percent-since-2014-indeed-reveals McKinsey Global Institute: Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained, December 2017 https:// www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Industries/Public%20and%20 Social%20Sector/Our%20Insights/What%20the%20future%20of%20work%20 will%20mean%20for%20jobs%20skills%20and%20wages/MGI-Jobs-LostJobs-Gained-Executive-summary-December-6-2017.pdf Times Higher Education, Six types of modern student reflect how universities can build for the future, June 2020 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/ hub/pa-consulting/p/six-types-modern-student-reflect-how-universities-canbuild-future Universities UK, Forging Futures, September 2014 https://www.universitiesuk. ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2014/forging-futures.pdf Wall Street Journal, American Factories Demand White Collar Education for Blue Collar Work, December 2019 https://www.wsj.com/articles/americanfactories-demand-white-collar-education-for-blue-collar-work-11575907185 Universities UK, Higher Education in Facts and Figures 2019, October 2019 https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/facts-and-stats/Pages/higher-education-data. aspx ONS, Graduates in the UK labour market: 2017, November 2017 https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/ employmentandemployeetypes/articles/graduatesintheuklabourmarket/2017 University of Oxford, Facts and Figures, 2019 https://www.ox.ac.uk/ about/facts-and-figures#:~:text=There%20are%20over%2024%2C000%20 students,applications%20for%20each%20available%20place
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Universities UK, Universities equip people with the skills to succeed, 2015 https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/facts-and-stats/impact-higher-education/ Pages/universities-equip-people-with-the-skills-to-succeed.aspx University of Oxford Careers Service, 2020 https://www.careers.ox.ac.uk/ UKTN, 85,000 online businesses launched during lockdown in the UK, July 2020 https://www.uktech.news/news/85000-businesses-launch-online-shopsas-lockdown-creates-digital-economy-boom-20200703 UPS Store, Mentoring Month, 2014 https://www.theupsstore.com/about/ pressroom/small-business-mentoring-month-2014 The Wall Street Journal, Universities to Their Alumni Networks: Give Our Grads Jobs, May 2020 https://www.wsj.com/articles/universities-to-their-alumninetworks-give-our-grads-jobs-11590087587 FE news, A business is born every two hours at UK universities, August 2020 https://www.fenews.co.uk/press-releases/53895-a-business-is-born-every-twohours-at-uk-universities Alison Rose, Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, March 2019 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/file/784324/RoseReview_Digital_FINAL.PDF Atomico, The State of European Tech 2018, December 2018 –t https://www. atomico.com/the-2018-state-of-european-tech-report-is-live/ World Economic Forum, The Skills Gap - Closing the Skills Gap Project, date, http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_System_Initiative_Future_Education_ Gender_Work_Closing_Skills_Gap_pagers....pdf BEIS, The impact of business accelerators and incubators in the UK, 2019 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/file/839755/The_impact_of_business_accelerators_ and_incubators_in_the_UK.pdf Wayra, The rise of the uk accelerator and incubator ecosystem, 2014 https:// news.o2.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/O2_WAYRA_Report_121214.pdf Beauhurst, Accelerating the UK, 2018 https://www.beauhurst.com/acceleratingthe-uk-report/ PwC, Workforce of the future, 2018 https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/ people-organisation/workforce-of-the-future/workforce-of-the-future-thecompeting-forces-shaping-2030-pwc.pdf London Business School, Most millennials will only work for purpose-driven firms, March 2018 https://www.london.edu/news/most-millennials-will-only-
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work-for-purpose-driven-firms-1431 McKinsey, Delivering through diversity, January 2018 https://www.mckinsey. com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/delivering-through-diversity Sifted, Today’s students want to become startup founders: Creator fund report, July 2020 https://sifted.eu/articles/student-startup-founders-data/ Accenture, Closing the Skills Gap and the Future Workforce, September 2018 https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/insights/future-workforce/transforminglearning Deloitte, The Skills Gap and the Future of Work in Manufacturing, 2018 https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/4736_2018Deloitte-skills-gap-FoW-manufacturing/DI_2018-Deloitte-skills-gap-FoWmanufacturing-study.pdf The Guardian, Reversing the brain drain: why coronavirus could stop graduates moving to London, May 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2020/may/26/brain-drain-london-graduates-coronavirussouth-east-jobs UK2070 Commission, Make No Little Plans, February 2020 http://uk2070.org. uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/UK2070-FINAL-REPORT.pdf
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SECTION TITLE |
C O N TA C T:
Ana Bakshi Executive Director Oxford Foundry | University of Oxford 3-5 Hythe Bridge street Oxford OX1 2EW info@oxfordfoundry.ox.ac.uk Amy Lothian Head of Marketing and Communications Oxford Foundry | University of Oxford 3-5 Hythe Bridge street Oxford OX1 2EW info@oxfordfoundry.ox.ac.uk W: www.oxfordfoundry.ox.ac.uk Twitter: @Oxfoundry LinkedIn: /in/oxford-foundry