Leading Healthcare Company Provides Support for Oxford Invention Fund

15th March 2012

Oxford University Innovation is pleased to announce that the Oxford Invention Fund has accepted funding support from the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Office of Science and Technology (COSAT). This is the first industry support for the Oxford Invention Fund.

The Oxford Invention Fund is designed to bridge the “innovation gap” by supporting University of Oxford inventors in proof of concept and prototyping work including pre-clinical work in healthcare projects. COSAT’s funding is aimed at improving the research pipeline in early stage healthcare preclinical work, to generate benefits for patients, the healthcare system and the life science industry.

“We are pleased to have this support from COSAT,” said Oxford University Innovation managing director Tom Hockaday. “The Oxford Invention Fund is key to the future success of research commercialisation at Oxford, and is open to both private and corporate support.”

The Oxford Invention Fund was launched in June 2010, and by August 2011 had reached its first close, having received donations totalling £500,000. It is modelled after the highly successful Oxford University Challenge Seed Fund (UCSF) – also managed by Isis – which has awarded £6 million to Oxford University projects, financing 115 and prompting the formation of 33 spin-out companies and the completion of 51 commercial deals.

When the Oxford Invention Fund supports a successful project, a share of the returns will be allocated back into the Fund. In this way contributions to the Fund can be reused to support future new projects from the returns on earlier successful projects.

The next meeting of the Oxford Invention Fund will be held in March. All students, researchers and professors from the University of Oxford are eligible to apply to the fund, through Oxford University Innovation.

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