Margaret Henry

Liver disease is the fastest rising cause of death in the UK, and by the time that symptoms appear the damage is usually too severe for treatment to have any impact.

Science Minister David Willetts recently visited Oxford to launch a major report recommending actions are taken to accelerate the growth of Oxfordshire’s high-tech business cluster.

T he team at Mirada Medical is starting the New Year with ambitious plans for expansion. The Oxford-based developer of innovative software products that help doctors use medical images to diagnose and treat cancer is aiming to build on strong performance which saw the firm grow significantly in the UK and establish an office in the United States.

Steadily rising energy costs are fuelling technological advances which are prompting home owners and businesses to seriously consider alternative ways of generating their power needs.

Climate change has become a centre stage issue as people increasingly accept its inevitability and businesses and governments recognise the necessity of adopting sound solutions to limit potentially devastating impacts on agriculture, housing, infrastructure and healthcare.

The novel technology that forms the basis of Oxtex’s self-inflating tissue expander devices was created when two plastic surgeons in Oxford sought help from scientists to solve a problem.

Imagine trying to measure and quality check objects you cannot see at high speed during a manufacturing process.This is the challenge faced by manufacturers of semiconductor chips used in smart phones and other electronic gadgets as they become ever smaller and more sophisticated to meet consumer demand for compact design combined with higher functionality and lower power.

Years before anyone had heard of an iPhone, Neil Bailey and Stewart Thompson, academics in the Life Sciences department at Oxford Brookes University, realised mobile devices could be superb data collection tools.

Innovation is the lifeblood of Oxfordshire. Birthplace of the British motor car industry and scores of spin-outs from its world-class research establishments and major industrial firms, the county’s track record of generating innovative companies is among the best in the world.