The next case study from our Oxfordshire Innovation Engine 2023 is here. In this study, we have been looking at Oxford Nanopore Technologies.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford Nanopore) is now firmly established as one of Oxford’s major innovation growth and impact stories. The Oxford Innovation Engine Update listed the business as one of the five, billion pound, or ‘unicorn’, tech businesses to be spun out of Oxford University. This was underlined in October 2021 when the business floated on the London Stock Exchange, valued at £3.3bn.
The company’s DNA sequencing technology is now being used by researchers in more than 120 countries, supported by a worldwide team of more than 1000 staff. In the UK, Oxford remains its global HQ with offices and a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at the nearby Harwell Campus. Internationally, the business operates out of 13 offices spread around the globe.
Its technology represents a massive disruption to the scientific equipment market. Rather than charge hundreds of thousands of pounds for conventional optically-based devices, Oxford Nanopore customers buy consumables called ‘flow cells’ that are inserted into a sequencing device, the smallest of which costs as little as a few thousand pounds, and is often provided free of charge as part of a starter pack.
Read the full Nanopore Case study here
