biztech

New accelerator hub aimed at early-stage science and tech startups will open at The Wood Centre in Headington

 2 mins | By Gill Oliver
 |  | Jan 20th 2020

A new accelerator hub aimed at early-stage science and technology startups will open at The Wood Centre for Innovation.

The Eagle Lab, part of a UK-wide network of 25 business incubators run by Barclays’ Ventures, will launch in March in partnership with The Oxford Trust.

The Lab will provide space for up to 40 entrepreneurs, with 28 permanent and 12 hot desks and be overseen by managers offering technical expertise and mentoring.

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Eagle Lab occupants will also be able to tap into the Headington-based Wood Centre’s own facilities which include meeting and video conference rooms, a 100-seat theatre, restaurant and 15 acres of woodland.

Companies already based in The Wood Centre for Innovation, which include AI diagnostics business Ultromics, will also be given free access to The Eagle Lab.

Barclays says the new Lab will aim to support spinout scientists, university grads and entrepreneurs and ‘help the UK define areas of real competitive advantage on the global stage through its emphasis on industries of the future’.

Barclays Eagle Labs director Jon Hope described Oxford as ‘an ideal location’. He said: “The science and technology sector is of increasing importance to us in our daily lives and the opening of our lab in Oxford will help continue to develop this capability.”

Steve Burgess, chief executive of The Oxford Trust, said: “We are really pleased to partner with Barclays to launch an Eagle Lab at the Wood Centre for Innovation.

“This area of the city, widely known as ‘The Hill’, has a fast-growing life science, medtech, digital health and data sciences community.”

About the Author

Gill Oliver

Gill Oliver is a professionally trained journalist who’s written for The New Statesman, The Bureau for Investigative Journalism, The Daily Mail’s business section This is Money, The Press Association, The Huffington Post plus a host of national magazines, news agencies and trade and industry journals. She’s also spent nine years reporting on the Oxfordshire business and tech scene for The Oxford Times and The Oxford Mail.

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