Venturefest Oxford Registration Open

Jane Lambert

Venturefests are described as

"local innovation eco-systems [coming] together through a number of local events around the country, working closely with Innovate UK, the Knowledge Transfer Network and other national partners to strengthen connectivity between these innovators, investors and entrepreneurs" (see What is Venturefest?)

There are now Venturefests throughout the country but the very first took place in Oxford in 1999.

The next Venturefest Oxford will take place at The King's Centre, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 OES on 21 June 2017 and early bird registration is now open There is an interesting programme of speakers including a presentation by Philip Webber of Dehns on Your IP post-Brexit: What effect will leaving the EU have on your IP? in the Vale Room between 15:00 and 15:45. The theme of this year's Venturefest Oxford will be The Challenges of a Business: From Start-Up to Scale-Up which is included by popular request from last year. Discussions on this topic will run from 09:30 - 11:30 in the Vale Room. All the other usual events such as Innovation Showcase and Pitching for Success will be there plus an exhibition with stands from the city's two universities, the local enterprise partnership, the Intellectual Property Office and several patent and trade mark agencies.

I plan to attend Venturefest Oxford and if anyone would like to meet me there please give me a call on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.

Wessex Round Table of Inventors

The Solent from Space

Source Wikipedia

As more patents were granted to South-East England than to any other region in 2014 according to the table on page 7 of the IPO's Facts and Figures for 2013 and 2014 it is not surprising that there are a fair number of inventors' clubs in that region. I am aware of at least five:  Croydon Round Table of Inventors, Kent Inventors Forum, Kingston Round Table of Inventors, Rural Inventors Club and the Wessex Round Table of Inventors.

The last of those clubs is probably the one that is best known to inventors around the country because of its impressive collection of links to inventors' resources and other inventors clubs and national inventors' associations.  The Round Table meets on the second Wednesday of every month between 18:00 and 21:30 in Room HC019 of the Herbert Collins Building at Southampton Solent University. The first two meetings of the new year will take place on 16 Jan and 10 Feb and the first speakers will be  Iain Thomas of Southampton Solent University who will talk about ‘A Hierarchy of Composites’ giving an overview of different kinds of composite materials and Clare Wright and Richard Poate of TÜV SÜD Product Ser, vice who will outline some techniques for environmental testing of products (see the Forthcoming Events page).

Looking around the site, the Round Table seems to have entertained some impressive presentations in the past, they present annual technology innovation awards and the members seem to have generated a substantial portfolio of inventions. Membership is free for students and £30 per year for everyone else (see Joining the WRTI).