By Maggie Hartford More than 150 scientists and business people helped the Oxford Trust to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its Festival of Science and Innovation.

The Innovation Lecture was given by biotech entrepreneur Sir Chris Evans, who spoke about the challenges for biotechnology enterprise in the 21st century.

Gillian Pearson, director of education at the trust, traced the history of the Festival of Science from its debut in 1992 in the Old Fire Station. In its ten years there have been events at 48 venues in Oxfordshire, attended by more than 75,000 visitors.

Strong support from local businesses had included 26 organisations sponsoring events. This year's major sponsors were Bookham Technology and Oxford Asymmetry, of Milton Park, near Abingdon, and law firm Manches, which has an office in Oxford.

The evening closed with a science show in the format of Ready, Steady, Cook in which Mike Dennis and Bridget Holligan, from The Oxford Trust, competed against each other to produce science demos from shopping bags of everyday kitchen items.

During the evening guests could experiment with science and maths exhibits sponsored by Maths Year 2000 and Oxford Trust co-founder Lady Wood signed copies of her new book Magnetic Ventures, which tells the story of Oxford Instruments and The Oxford Trust.