Understanding one of the most dynamic innovation economies in the UK
The Oxford region is home to over 6,000 high-tech, knowledge-intensive companies who are at the forefront of UK and global research in areas such as regenerative medicine, robotics, autonomous vehicles and digital health, space and quantum computers. These companies employ over 52,000 people – that’s 14.3% of the total employed. The region is also home to four high-tech unicorn companies and it has the largest university venturing fund in the world.
The Oxford region is one of the UK’s strongest economies and a place where innovation is thriving. It contributes around £29 billion a year to national output and has the potential to boost the UK economy by up to £180 billion by 2030 through the transformative technologies developed here.
Advanced Oxford has researched the key facts and figures that define our innovation economy today.
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At a Glance
6,055 knowledge-intensive businesses in the Oxford region
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Innovative Place
Unique area for the development of ideas
Top university in the UK for research
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Knowledge People
Large, highly skilled workforce including innovators, scientists and entrepreneurs
52,000 employed in the knowledge-intensive sector
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Innovative Enterprise
Cluster of science and tech businesses alongside the next generation of disruptors
6,055 knowledge-intensive businesses
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Knowledge Flow
Connected for the ease of collaboration and the transfer of ideas
48.6 miles from Heathrow airport
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At a Glance
6,055 knowledge-intensive businesses in the Oxford region
14.3%
employed by knowledge-intensive business sector
3.8%
annual growth rate of knowledge-intensive sector
£10.2 billion
turnover per annum for knowledge-intensive sector
£29 billion
per annum contribution to national output
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Innovative Place
Unique area for the development of ideas
Top university in the UK for research
50
nobel prizes awarded
Top 10
dynamic cities in Europe
13
big science & research facilities
12
business & science parks
35
Innovation spaces & 13 planned or under development
168
spin-outs from the University of Oxford since 1987
Largest
University-focussed venturing fund in the world
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Knowledge People
Large, highly skilled workforce including innovators, scientists and entrepreneurs
52,000 employed in the knowledge-intensive sector
51.7%
of workforce has a degree level and above
14.3%
employed by KI sector
3.9%
annual growth rate of employees in the KI sector
£32.70
GVA per hour worked
£51,200
GVA per filled job
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Innovative Enterprise
Cluster of science and tech businesses alongside the next generation of disruptors
6,055 knowledge-intensive businesses
4
knowledge-intensive companies valued over $1bn
42
start-ups per 10,000 people
5
globally-recognised sectors
21%
of UK’s higher education patents
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Knowledge Flow
Connected for the ease of collaboration and the transfer of ideas
48.6 miles from Heathrow airport
50
minutes to London by train
<Ihr
to the heart of the Midlands and under 2 hours to the Northern Powerhouse
95%
super-fast broadband availability
20+
science and tech business networks
24
science and tech meet-up groups per month
The data above was researched by SQW for Advanced Oxford in 2018 to generate evidence on the scale of the knowledge-intensive activity within the Oxford region. The research was based on the most recent official datasets produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and big data sources from Belmana with supplementary information from Dynamic Cities Index (Savills, 2018) and Oxfordshire Transformative Technologies Alliance: Science & Innovation Audit (2017).