2024 Entrepreneurship Forum Round-Up

On 6 September 2024 Reuben welcomed over 80 graduate students to its second Entrepreneurship Forum.

Entrepreneurs from around Oxford and beyond, several of whom had set up a company whilst a student at the University, spoke to the audience about setting up spinouts (with University IP) and start-ups (no University IP). They also shared the advice they would give based on their own experience.

Professor Lord Tarassenko welcomes the audience to Reuben College

Reuben President, Professor Lord (Lionel) Tarassenko welcomed everyone to the first Forum to be hosted within the College (last year the event took place in Oxford’s Town Hall), giving an overview of Reuben College and the aims of this annual conference.

Later in the day, the Keynote Speech was delivered by Ed Bussey, CEO of Oxford Science Enterprises, who highlighted the lessons he learnt as a serial entrepreneur who has launched, scaled and successfully exited three venture-backed businesses. Other speakers included Mairi Gibbs, CEO from Oxford University Innovation (OUI), and Sanne de Jongh, Partner at Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), who both presented information on how OUI and OSE can support students with entrepreneurial ideas.

Ed Bussey, CEO of OSE, gives his keynote speech

The end of the day saw five pre-selected teams compete in a pitching competition. The judging panel included two members of Reuben’s Advisory Board, Vishal Gulati, and Baroness (Nicola) Blackwood, who chaired it. The winner of the competition was Desigla; an automated platform that leverages cutting-edge technology to transform ideas into market-ready projects; the runner-up was Ultranova, a start-up dedicated to advancing maternity healthcare by automating ultrasound scanning technology.

Desigla receives the winning prize, given by Chair of the Panel, Baroness Blackwood

One student from Kellogg College who attended, said:

The hard-earned, deep wisdom the speakers shared, and the extraordinary calibre and demonstrated innovation of the competition entrants, were outstanding.  What a fantastic event, so much learning, so well organised, so very impressive!

Thank you to OSE and OUI for their sponsorship of this event.