Oxford Brookes Enterprise Centre
May 14, 2025
With a key focus on health and life sciences as well as the digital technologies sector – just some of the areas in which Oxfordshire has been identified as a truly world-class presence – the Oxford Brookes Enterprise Centre provides premises for spinout and early-stage companies with laboratory space co-working space offices, meeting rooms and multi-purpose enterprise space.
Based at the University’s Headington campus, the project set out to support the creation of at least 17 start-up companies and 74 jobs, advancing the growth of small and medium businesses by providing them with an inspiring relaxed and friendly co-working space.
The aim of this was – in turn – to facilitate the cultivation of ideas, develop meaningful relationships with Brookes academics investors and other key stakeholders and support local business growth.
In addition, there is the option for companies located in the Enterprise Centre to tap into the Brookes talent pool of students and graduates to provide additional support to their businesses and enable our students to develop their employability skills.
The Centre, which opened in 2022 – with a total cost of £2.1m – was supported by the government’s Local Growth Fund, a stream of investment which aims to allow LEPs to use their local knowledge to promote growth in their individual regions, with £837,000 of funding secured through the fund by OxLEP.
The Enterprise Centre has been well on track to meet – or exceed – all of its targets at pace. As of the end of March 2024, the centre has supported 12 new business start-ups, with 57 new employees added.
Sun Bear Biofuture joined the Enterprise Centre in September 2022. They are working on a synthetic alternative to palm oil with sustainability and low carbon at the heart of their mission. The team had their first funding raise in 2023 and have secured a number of Innovate UK grants as well as pursuing a range of different opportunities presented through being based at the heart of a university campus.