Oxfordshire-based companies who have yet to engage with OxLEP are being encouraged to attend this year’s event, where a range of ‘business hubs’ will aim to help companies find the support they need at a critical time.
The Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) are encouraging the county’s business community to sign-up to its 2022 annual event, as it sets out its key priorities for the coming year and highlights the range of support available to companies.
The event – which will take place on 1 November at the Curzon at Westgate Oxford – is all-set to bring together dozens of Oxfordshire business leaders, with OxLEP ready to highlight some of key projects and programmes it has recently-delivered, supporting the county’s businesses to remain resilient and recover following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The event will see business leaders, OxLEP chief executive Nigel Tipple and chair Jeremy Long reflect on the organisation’s ongoing impact, including how the staggering £1billion of investment secured to-date by OxLEP – alongside multiple partner organisations – is continuing to be felt positively around the county.
Currently, an overall funding pot of around £1.2million is available to qualifying businesses via several grant schemes and OxLEP is hoping to attract businesses – particularly those yet to engage with the organisation – along to the Oxford event, to both find out if they can benefit from the financial support, or via other support programmes.
At the event, OxLEP will be asking businesses to speak to its business support team, with several ‘hubs’ in-place offering guidance and encouraging visitors to share their ambitions for the future.
In addition, the OxLEP Skills team – following a successful 2022 event that engaged more businesses than ever before – will be launching the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards for 2023.
The ceremony for next year’s awards, which will celebrate apprentice and business excellence alike, will be held next May, with nominations for the 2023 awards due to close in February.
OxLEP will also be looking back on a year that has also seen the completion and delivery of numerous funded projects.
Significant funding secured by OxLEP has subsequently-seen the delivery of a variety of projects and programmes during the past year, including the University of Oxford’s Energy Systems Accelerator, known as Mini TESA – a multi-disciplinary co-working hub that focuses on the transition to low carbon energy solutions – whilst OxLEP’s business support team has rolled-out grants to Oxfordshire companies, including via the Business Investment Fund, a £2million grant scheme which saw dozens of businesses able to respond with greater agility to challenges posed by the pandemic.
Both projects were funded by the government’s Getting Building Fund, launched with the aim of kick-starting the UK's economic recovery from the onset of the pandemic.
In total, OxLEP now oversees a £3.3bn growth programme for the county.
The 1 November event is also set to focus on supporting a drive towards a zero-carbon future, after OxLEP hosted an official COP26 event last autumn and joined forces with the University of Oxford, Harwell Campus and the Culham Science Centre-based UKAEA to host the inaugural ‘OX to ZERO’ conference this September.
OxLEP’s annual event will take place from 8am to 12noon on Tuesday 1 November at Oxford’s Curzon Cinema.
