Inside Oxford with Alison Boulton
Being an entrepreneur is a dream many aspire to, but few realise. It’s alluring – but elusive. As Oxford experiences its annual influx of students, they bring with them a rich seam of new ideas, many keen to develop them for the marketplace.
Speaking during a visit to Oxford last year, US rowers and internet entrepreneurs twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss asked for a show of hands: who was involved in a start-up? Two thirds of students in the room raised their hands. Who intended being involved in a start up shortly? The rest.
The film The Social Network showed how ugly striving for success can turn. Yet there is more aspiration in this city, than any fear of failure can dampen.
The Oxford Entrepreneurship Centre – part of Oxford University’s Said Business School aims to help foster Oxford entrepreneurs – both those in the university and outside.
An open space ‘hub’ shared with the Skoll Centre for Social Enterprise, within the Said Business School – the Oxford Launchpad was opened last year to provide a stimulating environment where entrepreneurs could meet, share ideas, and identify mentoring opportunities.
“The Launchpad is a co-working space open to students across the University and the wider community. The centres bring together like-minded people to share ideas and work together. We aim to support these ideas becoming reality and provide solutions to global challenges,” Dr Maria Nikolou, Senior Programme Manager at the Entrepreneurship Centre said.
Many young Oxford entrepreneurs credit the Launchpad with helping support and advance their business idea. Engineering student Maxim Osipov has teamed up with a young doctor, physicist and designer to develop a wrist sensor which monitors the body’s vital signs such as temperature and heart rate.
This information is transmitted to relatives and carers of elderly people, living independently.
Capitalising on unused patents from the European Space Agency, zoology student Fujia Chen has developed a durable, light and compact travel cot. At the beginning of the new academic year – made even more hectic by Oxford University’s short eight week terms, law student Jean Petreschi and Economics and Management students Anders Krohn and Akeel Malik have developed a mobile app to enable students to easily access the University’s events.
It’s called Ublend, and if successful here in the next few weeks could be rolled out to other UK universities.
“It’s maddening to miss a great event just because you didn’t hear about it – or plan a big event which clashes with another large draw. With our app, rather than look for events yourself, we’ll bring the best ones to you,” Petreschi said.
The Oxford Launchpad has helped all these early stage projects and welcomes anyone with an interest in developing an entrepreneurial idea.
- Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here