The organisers of Oxfordshire’s entrepreneurship showcase Venture-fest, held at the Kassam Stadium on Tuesday, must have been filled with despondency when they learned that Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne had chosen the very same day for his Budget.

But such is the extraordinary adaptability of private enterprise — particularly at a ‘marriage market’ like Venturefest, where innovators pitch ideas to investors in the hope of obtaining finance — that the problem was turned to advantage.

Even as the chancellor was telling the nation that it must tighten its belt, Venturefest exhibitors were already touting ideas designed to save customers’ money. The chairman of the Venturefest board Dave Waller, in his introduction to the event, announced a new competition: How to Save the Country a Million.

Making money by helping others save it may seem a paradox, but here are just a few of the ideas submitted: a self-adhesive cover that fits on the remote control standby button to encourage staff to switch off computers and other electronic equipment at the wall — so saving energy costs; manufacturing black bin bags locally instead of in China; and special handles on doors, etc, in hospitals to reduce infection and also cut curtain cleaning. And talking of hospitals, even though Mr Osborne said in his Budget that health (along with overseas aid) would be excluded from the 25 per cent cuts being inflicted on all other Government departments, many of the innovations on display were to do with money saving in hospitals.

Foremost among these innovators was Jim Gabriel, chief executive of RealTime Health, who has come up with software designed to do the “blindingly obvious” (his words); namely to help administrative and clinical hospital staff to work in closer tandem to shorten patients’ stay in hospital. Now that could save serious money.

Mr Gabriel said: “A large hospital trust such as the John Radcliffe could save £9m in its first year by using our product.”

He set up RealTime Health, based at Innovation House in Mill Street, Oxford, in 2008 after an American friend told him that a similar scheme has operated in the US for 20 years.

Now, having already secured contracts with two major hospital trusts — at Cambridge and at Scarborough — RealTime aims to raise £350,000 to help it roll out its programme faster.

Mr Gabriel said: “The market conditions for RealTime Health are perfect today. The high growth potential for RealTime Health makes the company a perfect investment vehicle for the short to mid-term investor.”

He added: “A few potential investors have approached us at Venturefest to ask for our business plan, which is encouraging.”

The RealTime IT system is designed to ensure patients are seen more quickly, and so cut infection risks from hospital superbugs such as MRSI and C Difficile.

The system costs, typically, about £250,000 plus supporting clinical process, with a five-fold minimum return on the initial outlay in year one, according to the company’s handout.

“We are delighted to have signed up Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust,” said Mr Gabriel. “They have not only bought the system but become business partners for its further development.”

Cambridge? I hear you ask. Why not Oxford? In fact RealTime’s involvement with the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust dates back to 2006, two years before the company was even incorporated. In 2006 the firm’s chief medical officer Dr Jess Boyer carried out an intensive study at the John Radcliffe on Length of Stay and identified possible savings of £4m-£9m a year. Talks ended, however, after chief executive Andrew McLaughlin left suddenly in March 2010.

But is RealTime not a hard pill for a hospital chief executive to swallow? After all, it involves paying now in order to save money later?

Mr Gabriel said: “If everyone thought like that I might as well go home. Most well-run hospitals see the benefits. Too often patients stay in hospital too long because, say, somewhere along the line a clinical sign-off has not been recorded or other balls have been dropped.”

RealTime employs seven people and last year turned over £400,000. This year it is hoping to turn over £1.3m.

But not all exhibitors at the show were in the business of saving money.

Some were pure innovators with good, solid, things you could touch to take to market.

Among these were Oxford Brookes University undergraduate Jonathan Biddulph and his tutor at the School of Technology Shpend Gerguri, who developed a bamboo bicycle.

Mr Gerguri said: “Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world and it is therefore quick and environmentally easy to produce, compared to metals. It is also as light as aluminium “ Another advantage, he said, was that in tests bamboo showed remarkable “damping” qualities, which meant that vibration and “shake” was less intense than with metal bikes.

The bamboo bicycle, built of a substance that absorbs carbon dioxide when growing and is both biodegradable and recyclable, is being developed at Brookes with the Stress and Materials Analysis Research and Training Group (SMART) together with the Joining Technology Research Centre (JTRC).

Mr Biddulph said; “I love cycling and I am keen on green technology, so this seemed an ideal thing with which to get involved.”

Mr Gerguri said Brookes was now seeking commercial partners to bring the unique new bikes into production, perhaps at a cost of about £750 each.

Students from Brookes’ famous Motorsport Design team helped produce the prototype bicycle, which has joints made from a unique bamboo fibre, keeping metal parts to a minimum and ensuring good crash or damage tolerance.

Mr Gerguri said: “There is a significant local and global market potential for “green bikes” for both commuter and leisure markets.”

All in all, choosing the same day as the Budget seems not to have harmed Venturefest 2010.

At least they did not choose the next day, which would have clashed with England’s match with Slovenia. Now that might have caused trouble.