Background
The Oxford BioEscalator was funded by the government (City Deal) and the University of Oxford investment. The BioEscalator's goals are to house and nurture small and growing bioscience companies and to enable more innovations to move successfully from the lab to the clinic. Our vision is for all companies that come to the BioEscalator to become sustainable businesses and positively impact healthcare. Our vision and goals are at the heart of how we run the BioEscalator and inform our policies. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask a team member.
Gateway and exit criteria
The BioEscalator will only admit companies to proprietary labs that fulfil the following Gateway Criteria:
- The company's work is based on early-stage, innovative, high-quality science that has the potential to make a significant positive impact on healthcare in its broadest sense.
- There is an overlap between the company's work and the University's research.
- The company has the potential for high growth.
These criteria form part of the selection process. Moreover, they are central to the BioEscalator's vision and the University's status as a charity. Therefore, we insist that all tenants continue to meet these criteria when based in the BioEscalator.
A company taking proprietary space is expected to stay in the BioEscalator for up to 3 years. A company may be asked to leave the BioEscalator if the tenant:
- requires too much space;
- has been in the BioEscalator for three years or more;
- has failed to meet the agreed milestones; or
- is in breach of contract; or
- is taking a direction that no longer fits with the gateway criteria.
If a company stays beyond three years, it will likely be charged a premium rent.
Timescale and milestones
When a company is accepted to the BioEscalator by the Management Board, this is for 12 months in the first instance, with a further lease contingent on meeting agreed milestones in line with the company's business plan. Examples could be: successful proof of concept, patents filed, funding raised, successful clinical trials, promising market research, robust business plan, and customers signed up. These will depend on the type and stage of the business.
If a further lease is sought after 12 months, the company will provide a short report for the Board outlining progress against the agreed milestones as stated in the application form. The Board will decide every 12 months whether it is appropriate for the company to stay in the BioEscalator for another year.
Your labs and offices
We hope you will agree that the BioEscalator is a beautiful building; it has been designed with collaboration and community in mind. All the labs and offices have glass windows into the corridors, which deliberately give science a high profile within the building. Please do not obscure the glass with, for example, blinds, notices or frosting; if you are concerned about privacy, please keep lab books and laptops closed and lock them away at night. Our meeting rooms do have blinds to allow you to share confidential presentations. There are also blinds on the outside windows.
If you need to make any changes to your space, please discuss them with the Business Manager and Lab Manager in the first instance and make your request to the Business Manager in writing for approval of work. A licence agreement will be put in place. You will be responsible for all costs to make approved changes and to reverse the changes when you leave.
BioEscalator community
Small companies thrive when they are part of a buzzing, entrepreneurial community. As such, we encourage all members of the BioEscalator to contribute to that community by participating in BioEscalator events, using the Hub space to meet people from other companies as well as your own, and actively seeking out collaboration.
University community
Small companies also flourish next to world-class research. We encourage companies to get to know our neighbours on the Old Road Campus and in the departments elsewhere in Oxford. If you need advice on accessing equipment or expertise from the University, please ask the Business Manager to help you make contact. This is one of the significant advantages of being on campus.
Do also use the cafés available to you and actively meet and collaborate with the University scientists; we ask that you always wear your card with your BioEscalator lanyard so that they know that you don't work for the University. This protects University members from inadvertently disclosing any third-party information to individuals external to the organisation.
You can sign up to receive a weekly digest of all seminars, talks and workshops across the Medical Sciences Division. The digest is sent out via email every Friday, listing the events for the following week. To receive the digest, please email msd_events-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk (Subject: Subscribe); note that some events may be for University members only. Please get in touch with the event organiser if you have any doubts about whether you can attend.
IT
Access to the internet (wired and wireless) is supplied as part of your tenancy/licence. Our IT Support will assist with network issues and can provide help and advice on an hourly consultancy basis on a wide variety of IT requirements. If you need storage in the data room, please talk to IT Support. Please provide us with adequate notice if you require IT assistance for visitors or meetings.
Car parking
A limited number of annual parking permits have been allocated to the BioEscalator for use in the Innovation Building car park. An annual permit does not guarantee you a space but gives you the right to park if one is available. If you are interested in purchasing a permit, please speak to the Business Manager.
We have five dedicated visitor parking spaces, which can be booked through reception (bioescalator.reception@medsci.ox.ac.uk) for your visitors (see BioEscalator Operational Spaces Policy).
Health and Safety
You are required by the terms in the lease to take full responsibility for the health and safety of your company and proprietary space and to adhere to the University's policies in the shared labs and common spaces (see BioEscalator H&S Policies). If there is anything you are unsure about or your work will change significantly, please discuss the implications with the BioEscalator Lab Manager as soon as possible. The tenant must provide the BioEscalator Lab Manager with a signed statement detailing the tenant's health and safety policy and related arrangements within eight weeks of the start of the lease.
Tenants must have a procedure for recording and reporting accidents, incidents and near misses. Reported cases must be shared with the BioEscalator Lab Manager promptly.
Licences
You will need to obtain a licence from the relevant authorities for certain activities, including genetic modification (GM), human tissue work (HTA) and trade effluent (hazardous chemical disposal). Please discuss this further with the BioEscalator Lab Manager.
Laboratory Waste Disposal
Please discuss this in detail with the BioEscalator Lab Manager. We have a system in place to ensure that waste is disposed of correctly.
Core Lab Facilities
Our Lab Manager looks after the core lab facilities. All tenants have access to the Services Lab for pure water, autoclaving, drying and glass washing following induction and training.
If you need access to the other core labs (tissue culture, chemistry, cold room, freezer room, innovation labs) and you are not an Innovation Lab licence holder, there is a charge per month per lab-based scientist in your company (you need to sign up for all of your lab-based staff, capped at six). Included in this will be some space in the -80°C freezers and vapour phase freezer if you need it.
We will endeavour to keep the equipment in good order, but there will be times when it is unavailable, and we do not guarantee to replace the equipment when it stops working. The freezers have a monitoring system, but with multiple users, we cannot guarantee the safety of your samples. You will be expected to be included on the contact list for out-of-hours freezer alarms and to come in to move your samples if there is an emergency.
If you use the shared laboratories, please adhere to the lab rules. If there is a problem with another user's use of the facility, please talk to the BioEscalator Lab Manager in the first instance, who will assess the situation and work with everyone to come up with a solution.
Innovation Labs
Lab benches are available to rent in our two Innovation labs. You can rent these on a daily, weekly or monthly basis for visitors, temporary extra lab space, etc. A price list is available on request.
BioEscalator Reception
The BioEscalator reception (bioescalator.reception@medsci.ox.ac.uk) will generally be open Monday to Friday, 08:45 am to 4:30 pm, to take phone calls, admit visitors and receive University and external post. Deliveries will be accepted only at the Distribution Centre between 08:00-16:00 Monday to Friday (working days only). For further details, please refer to the BioEscalator Deliveries Policy.
The outgoing (internal and external) post will be delivered and collected from reception at 9:30 am each working day. Incoming mail will be placed in tenant pigeonholes adjacent to the reception desk. There is no additional charge for these services.
Building Access Control
All external and internal doors in the BioEscalator are fitted with Salto electronic locks. When you receive your entry card, it will be programmed with the right combination of access for your company. Access to Core Lab facilities is only granted after laboratory induction, and relevant training will be provided on equipment upon request.
You can access the BioEscalator 24/7, but you must sign the Out-of-Hours log book held at the reception outside of core hours, 5:30 am to 9:00 pm, Monday to Friday, and on weekends and Bank Holidays. Outside these core hours, you will need to use your entry card to access the Innovation Building's external doors.
Shared Facilities
The Hub: there is a tea/coffee point and breakout area available for tenants to use for informal meetings, socialising, and community events. Occasionally there may be private events in this space, but you may still go through to use the coffee/tea point. You may hire this space for your own events; all the furniture is mobile and can be moved away if you wish to use an open space. When no events are running, feel free to move the mobile whiteboards around to facilitate your work and collaboration.
Meeting pods: The Framery meeting pods on the first and ground floors are bookable, chargeable resources.
Meeting booths: The booth seating in the Hub and on the first floor is available on a first-come, first-served basis for ad hoc meetings. They should not be used as permanent desk areas for individual staff members.
Kitchens: There is a main kitchen on the ground floor and a tea/coffee point on the first floor for tenants.
Please be mindful of the community by keeping the kitchen areas clean and clear after use, recycling your waste where possible, and regularly removing unwanted items from the fridge.
Meeting rooms: Three meeting rooms are available to rent by the hour, and preference is given to tenants. A price list is available from reception. The meeting rooms can open to double or triple size and be arranged in a boardroom or theatre style to suit your needs. A conference phone is available in the meeting rooms – please ask at reception. You are responsible for organising catering for your own meetings and events; however, you may ask reception for advice.
Hot desks: Desks are available to rent by the day, week or month. Please give us as much notice as possible if you would like to book one, for example, for a visitor. A price list is available on request.
All shared spaces and equipment can be booked via Calpendo. Details of how to register for and use Calpendo are provided at induction and can be provided by reception (https://oxford-bioescalator.calpendo.com/).
There are showers in the basement for you to use on a first-come, first-served basis. - There is a sign on the door to be used when finished so it can be cleaned and ready for the following user.
It is secure, covered cycle storage to the south (back) of the Innovation Building for you to use on a first-come, first-served basis.
Professional conduct
The BioEscalator is a business environment, and as such, tenants are requested to conduct themselves professionally in terms of behaviour and attire.
Smoking
The Innovation Building is a non-smoking building, and the Old Road Campus is a non-smoking site. This includes all forms of cigarettes and cigarette replacements. However, if you have to smoke, there is a designated area on Old Road Campus and details are given at the induction.