George Freeman, MP, joined a roundtable discussion with science and technology companies at The Oxford Trust’s Wood Centre for Innovation on Friday 7th February.
George Freeman, MP is Deputy Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee in the House of Commons; Chair, All Party Science in Parliament Committee; Chair, All Party Group, Science & Technology in Agriculture; and has been appointed by the Government as a UK Trade Envoy, with a focus on south-east Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and The Philippines. Under the previous Government, George was Minister of State for Science, Technology, Innovation, 2021-23; Minister of State for the Future of Transport, 2019-20; and Minister for Life Science, Digital Health & AgriTech, 2013-16.
George Freeman was visiting the Oxfordshire region to discuss and meet with innovation-focused companies and institutions, at the invitation of the University of Oxford. During his 36-hour visit to the region, he met with the University’s VC, Prof. Irene Tracey, and with Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Innovation, Prof. Chas Bountra. Prior to the roundtable hosted at the Wood Centre for Innovation, George Freeman met with a group of people from across the region’s innovation landscape, hosted by University of Oxford, including Advanced Oxford’s MD, Sarah Haywood, Advanced Oxford board member Jens Tholstrup and our members, Sebastian Johnson from ARC Group (Harwell Campus and ARC Oxford) and CEO of Mission Street Artem Korolev. Other attendees included the Culham campus, Oxford University Innovation and Oxford City Council.
Moving to the Wood Centre, George Freeman discussed access to capital, transport infrastructure, attracting and retaining skills and connectivity across the region’s science and technology landscape with a group of companies, including Lumai, DJS Antibodies, Helio Display Materials, Tokamak Energy, Brill Power, Perspectum, Bioarchitech, Evotec and Oxford Innovation Finance. George ended the day with a visit to Tokamak Energy at their Milton Park premises.
Reflecting on his visit, George Freeman said “I enjoyed my 24 hour immersion in the Oxford Innovation ecosystem. I was hugely impressed at what you’ve already achieved in the last few years.”
We look forward to welcoming him again as he builds his understanding of Oxfordshire’s science and technology landscape in his role as Trade Envoy, but also as he contributes his expertise into thinking about how the region can develop as a destination of choice for science-based companies and for commercialisation of science.
