Our history
Every great story starts with a great idea and the story of The Oxford Trust is no exception. It was founded in 1985 by entrepreneurs the late Sir Martin Wood and Lady Audrey Wood to ‘encourage the pursuit of science and enterprise‘ in our region. And, as you will read, the work of the Trust has helped to build and shape the successful innovation ecosystem we see in Oxfordshire today, as well as developing and delivering ground-breaking programmes of science engagement for schools and the general public through Science Oxford.
Martin and Audrey had their 90th birthdays in 2017 and we celebrated all that they have achieved. Explore our timeline here to learn more the work of the Trust, the impact we’ve had across Oxfordshire and beyond and the amazing legacy of the late Sir Martin Wood and Lady Audrey Wood.
The Oxford Trust Timeline
1985
1985
Martin and Audrey Wood set up The Oxford Trust to encourage the pursuit of science and enterprise. Over the last 30 plus years, the Trust has supported hundreds of science and tech start-up businesses and science education in over 300 schools right across Oxfordshire!
1986
1986
The Trust buys an old builders yard in Osney Mead and sets up the Science and Technology Enterprises Project (or STEP). One of the original occupants of the STEP centre was John Boyle, who started Oxford Instruments. He is now the Chair of The Oxford Trust.
1987
1987
The Trust launches the Schools-Industry Grant Scheme (SIG) to help school students develop innovative design and technology projects in partnership with local firms. This is the start of the Trust working with local businesses to encourage young people in STEM.
1987
1987
The Trust launches Oxford Innovation Ltd to manage its non-charitable activities: running office space for science and tech businesses; consultancy for entrepreneurs; and management consultancy for innovation centres and science parks. It has now been running for over 30 years.
1990
1990
The Trust opens its first science centre in Oxford called Curioxity, for school children and their families. The Trust went on to develop the Science Oxford Centre at Stansfeld Park, Oxford.
1992
1992
With the support of the Trust, the first day-long Oxford Festival of Science and Technology takes place. In 2015, the independent charity Oxfordshire Science Festival took over the organisation of the Festival, and in 2018, it was re-branded as a science and ideas festival called IF Oxford, expanding to embrace arts, humanities and social sciences as well as STEM.
1993
1993
Vision for Oxfordshire is launched by The Trust and Oxfordshire County Council: a partnership between industry, the universities, business parks and local authorities to establish Oxfordshire as a centre of excellence for science and tech. Now over 40,000 people are employed in knowledge-intensive businesses in Oxfordshire in science centres like Milton Park.
1994
1994
The Trust sets up the innovative Oxford Investment Opportunity Network or OION – known as ‘Onion’ to bring investors and entrepreneurs together to support start-ups. OION kick-started investment in the region and is still operational today.
1995
1995
The Trust sets up the Oxford Centre for Innovation – or OCFI – on Mill Street in Oxford. It is opened by Prince Charles the following year and is one of the first science and tech innovation centres in the UK.
1997
1997
Bridget Holligan (right) starts as Educational Officer for the Trust. She is now Director of Education and Engagement and the Trust’s longest-serving member of staff.
1998
1998
This year sees the launch of the first Oxfordshire Family Science Programme, co-ordinated by the Trust. This was the start of the Trust’s engagement programmes for adults and children, now delivered by Science Oxford.
1998
1998
With the support of The Oxford Trust – the first Venturefest Oxford is launched to bring together entrepreneurs and investors. It now attracts over 1000 attendees annually and next year will be its 20th anniversary!
2005
2005
This is the first year of the Enterprise Awards to celebrate innovation and entrepreneurship in the Oxford region. The awards are supported by the Trust and this year’s winners included Professor Sir Michael Brady, Oxbotica (see left), ZapGo and Travis Wentworth of Langu.
2005
2005
The Trust sets up Science Oxford to deliver their science education and engagement programmes. They now reach over 300 schools, 30,000 pupils and over 45,000 people in total every year!
2005
2005
The Trust sets up ScienceOxford Live to deliver public science events. We now organise over 200 science events a year that reach over 20,000 people.
2006
2006
The Oxford Trust hosts the regional heats for the first Famelab UK competition. It’s an opportunity to find the most engaging science performers in the region and send them to do battle on the national stage. This year entrants were cheered on by over 300 people.
2010
2010
Science Oxford starts running the Big Science Event – a primary school’s competition to encourage creative science. Over 8000 now participate in these events every year.
2011
2011
The Trust opens a new incubator space for science and tech businesses on New Road, Oxford, called the Oxford Centre for Innovation or OCFI. It now supports over 40 start-up businesses every year and 260 entrepreneurs.
2013
2013
The Trust and University of Oxford support the publication of the Oxfordshire Innovation Engine: Realising our Growth Potential report. This influential report was updated in 2016 and relaunched by George Freeman MP.
2015
2015
The Trust supports the start of the basement maker space at OCFI. The space was kitted out with high-tech laser cutters and 3D printers, and professional technicians were available to help with prototyping. It attracted nearly 4000 inventors, makers and crafters every year. Now the space is the Barclays Eagles Lab, supporting many start-ups and innovators, and The Den, a community space at the OCFI.
2015
2015
The Oxford Trust celebrates its 30th birthday and the impact it has had on science and innovation in Oxfordshire. A special anniversary edition of their newsletter, Scintilla, is published to recognise the work of the Trust.
2015
2015
The Thinking, Doing, Talking Science project was set up with Oxford Brookes University to test our approach to primary science learning. The aim of the programme is to make science lessons in schools more practical, creative and challenging. Funded by the Education Endowment Fund, it involved over 200 schools.
2016
2016
The Trust opens The POD at OCFI, a co-working space in central Oxford to support start-up science and tech businesses. It was also used as a science and tech meet-up space.
2016
2016
The Trust acquires Stansfeld Park in Headington, Oxford, to develop the Wood Centre for Innovation and the Science Oxford Education Centre.
2017
2017
This year sees the relaunch of STEM Horizons, our careers information website for school students. It aimed to give an insight into careers and opportunities available in STEM industries in your local area.
2017
2017
The Trust launches their STEM World of Work programme – giving local science and tech businesses the opportunity to inspire young people about STEM careers and help with work experience and research placements. The programme is now called our STEM Careers Programme
2019
2019
The Trust opens the new Wood Centre for Innovation and the adjoining Science Oxford Centre in Headington. The innovation centre is named after our patrons, Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood (photographed).
2019
2019
First official school visit to our new Science Oxford Centre – the UK’s first hands-on indoor-outdoor science education centre.
2020
2020
In partnership with the Trust, Barclays open an Eagle Lab at the Wood Centre for Innovation: a flagship lab for science and technology start-ups and spinouts.
2021
2021
High Sheriff of Oxfordshire opens our new R&D laboratories at the Wood Centre for Innovation in Headington.
2021
2021
The Water Lab at the Science Oxford Centre opens.
2022
2022
The Trust launches new brand for the Trust itself and its two innovation centres.
2022
2022
The first LiveLab is hosted in the Science Oxford Centre, originally funded by the Evolution Education Trust.
2022
2022
The History of the Oxford Trust by Georgina Ferry is published.
2023
2023
The first Super Science Sunday is held at the Science Oxford Centre as part of the IF Oxford Science & Ideas Festival.
Partnership of sixty-five plus years
Martin and Audrey Wood met while they were students at Cambridge and were married in 1955. Martin was an engineer whose early passion had been mining. He had spent time as a Bevin boy in the Welsh coalmines and (briefly) became a management trainee in the British Coal Industry of the mid-1950s. Martin was fascinated by industry and his experience with the Coal Board made him question how the industrial experience could be improved.
Shortly after their marriage Audrey and Martin moved to Oxford where Martin began work as Senior Research Officer in the Clarendon Laboratory at the University. He was involved in designing and building some of the world’s first superconducting magnets, which were sought-after for use in a variety of scientific equipment.
The University’s first spin-out company
Realising the commercial potential of superconducting magnets, Martin and Audrey founded Oxford Instruments in 1959. The University’s first spin-out company was established in the Woods’ garden shed on Northmoor Road. Martin had the experience and expertise in science, engineering and innovation, and Audrey in finance, law, administration and marketing. Together, a dynamic combination of skills. It is a combination that made Oxford Instruments a huge commercial success.
Superconducting magnets became in high demand globally for MRI scanners and, in 1983, the company floated on the stock market to enable them to fund operational expansion to meet that demand.
The sale of Oxford Instruments provided Martin and Audrey with a different kind of opportunity – an opportunity to give something back – to invest their passion and resources in to supporting the interests that were important to them. They transformed from business entrepreneurs to prodigious philanthropists.
Setting up the Trust
Their experience of creating and growing a spin-out company from scratch enabled Martin and Audrey to appreciate the challenges that faced fledgling companies trying to get started and find suitable premises in Oxford. In 1986, they bought a builders’ yard in Osney Mead and opened the Science and Technology Enterprise Project – or STEP centre – for tech start-ups. It was the first innovation centre in the region and a catalyst for Oxfordshire’s flourishing ecosystem of innovation incubators and science parks we see today. We now run the Wood Centre for Innovation and the Oxford Centre for Innovation, which provide flexible office, labs and technical workspace for 40 science and tech start-ups. We also create and support projects that put science and enterprise at the heart our region, such as Science Oxford, Venturefest Oxford, Advanced Oxford, IF Oxford, the science & ideas festival, and much, much more.
Inspiring the next generation
Audrey had been a school governor and observed that too few students were opting to study science subjects and maths, put off by uninspired teaching and a lack of resources. She wanted young people to get switched on to science and to encourage them to consider careers in STEM. As a result, the Trust created an extensive schools programme which is still run today by our amazing Science Oxford schools team and includes the Science Oxford Centre, the UK’s first indoor-outdoor education centre for primary children and set in 15 acres of woodland, to facilitate and encourage outdoor learning. Annually, our education programme reaches over 20,000 pupils in primary and secondary schools and supports 600 teachers through CPD training. Science Oxford also runs a vibrant programme of events, including clubs and family days to inspire people of all ages about science and the world around them.
You can see all the Trust has achieved over the past thirty-five plus years in the timeline above. In 2019 we opened the Science Oxford Centre and the adjoining Wood Centre for Innovation (named after our patrons) in Headington, Oxford. This ambitious and exciting development enables us to engage more young people in science, inspire more teachers; and add capacity to Oxford’s dynamic innovation ecosystem. What a legacy!
You can watch this short film to see the impact Martin and Audrey have had through the organisations they have founded and funded. Sir Martin’s inspirational legacy will live on through The Oxford Trust.