Professor Mark S Thompson, founder of OxVent

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Mark Thompson is an Associate Professor in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford and a Founding Director of OxVent. OxVent is a social venture with the object of making low cost ventilator technology available in Low Middle Income Countries in Covid19 and beyond. OxVent is nearing agreement on manufacture and distribution in Mexico and Latin America, employs 10 people and is about to launch a crowd funding campaign to raise £200,000.

I'm a biomedical engineer, I've worked in universities and hospitals for nearly 20 years since my PhD and have only now become an entrepreneur. The decision was made for me, thanks to the utterly inspiring group of people who came together from Oxford and KCL during the first Covid19 wave in UK to address the UK Government's Ventilator Challenge.

Saying yes to the opportunity to make a change

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OxVent was at one stage a collaborative effort of nearly 80 people across two universities and a global med tech company. Our low cost rapidly manufacturable ventilator design met UK regulatory requirements and when it became clear the UK did not need emergency rapidly manufacturable ventilators we pivoted to address demand in Low Middle Income Countries.

know what needs to be done
know who can best get it done
know how to motivate them to get it done

seeing a group of people develop and mature together as a new spin out organisation

Adam Grant, Work Life podcast

how social ventures can reshape the interface between universities and business

Incorporation!

Steep learning curve for communications over Teams / Zoom.

University Challenge Seed Fund and research grant funding so far.

It has been challenging to identify appropriate funding sources. We are hugely grateful to Equity Spark for their kind assistance in setting up our forthcoming crowd funding campaign.

environment around Oxford hugely supportive

OUI, Oxford Foundry

timetable fresh air and exercise