Oxford Oracle

Bespoke innovation services from the Oracle

Business Efficiency

A Citizen Science Toolkit for the Re‑introduction of Beavers to Wales

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Challenge:

The Wildlife Trusts in Wales sought to re-introduce beavers some 500 years after their regional extinction. To maximise the chances of successful re-introduction, they identified an urgent need to create a monitoring programme that could rely on citizen scientists from across the country to willingly undertake meaningful reporting. To achieve this, they needed a partner with experience and expertise in
(1) science and scientific best practice (including zoology and ecology);
(2) design and implementation of monitoring programmes to be run at scale by volunteer, lay participants; and
(3) creation of engaging, tractable and appealing digital assets (including interactive web resources, apps, dynamic offline documents, databases, and videos); and
(4) the ability to closely replicate these materials in both English and Welsh.

Oxford Oracle was selected to achieve the required outcomes.

The Oracle’s Solution:

The Oracle assembled fellows who were experts in zoology, the public understanding of science, and biologists who were fluently bilingual in Welsh and English. Working with the Welsh Wildlife Trusts and Cofnod (the North Wales Environmental Records Centre), a reliable and simple process for recording beaver sightings via either smartphone apps or a simple web form was agreed. Electronic documents including “Spot a Beaver”, “Wildlife Facilitated by Beavers” and “Report a Beaver Sighting” were produced via iterative consultation with key stakeholders and, finally, explanatory videos were created to promote easy adoption of the biological guides and reporting advice.

Consequential Impact:

The citizen science toolkit has been successfully deployed and the monitoring programme is an ongoing success. The client reports that the programme instituted with the Oracle is considered innovative and has enjoyed success beyond expectation. The procedures are to be adapted for replication within initiatives driven by other wildlife trusts.

Professional Development in Innovation for Multinational Corporation with a Previous Focus on Tobacco Products (2019-2020)

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Challenge:

A multinational corporation with considerable resources sought to diversify away from its traditional focus upon selling cigarettes and other tobacco-based products into selling non-combustible nicotine-based solutions and other consumer products. As a key element of this initiative, Oxford Oracle was asked to provide its Marketing and Human Resources teams in both the UK and the US with professional development in innovation.

The Oracle’s Solution:

The Oracle commenced this project by undertaking an interview-based scoping exercise with key stakeholders within the organisation to understand their current familiarity with innovation processes, intellectual property, R&D, and legal and practical routes for protecting proprietary materials.  Subsequently, detailed four-day workshops were held face-to-face in both the UK and the US.  The following key topics were covered and investigated in detail:

Innovation CaptureInnovation RoadmappingInnovation Champions
Intellectual Property RightsFreedom to Operate ExercisesMarket Assessments
Open InnovationCross-LicensingPortfolio Management

Action plans for immediate and ongoing execution were created by participants during the workshop and, over the ensuing 12 months, these innovation professionals enjoyed routine access to designated mentors within the Oracle.

Consequential Impact:

Recipients of the professional development and mentorship rated these as excellent (4.8/5) and, perhaps unsurprisingly, reported that the most critical sessions were those in which they created timebound action plans to implement their newly acquired skills and knowledge.  Both mid-term and longer term surveys indicate that the information embedded during the Oracle’s sessions has led to positive changes in organisational processes, to recruitment attitudes and outcomes, to innovation management, to R&D priorities and, indeed, to the products which are now at market.

On-Call Support for the IP Unit of a Not-for-Profit Inter-Governmental Development Organisation (2020–2021)

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Challenge:

The intellectual property (IP) unit of an inter-governmental organisation in the agriculture sector sought to improve its internal processes and augment its staff base to cope with the expanding requirement to assess new and novel technologies whilst rationalising an extremely large IP portfolio.

The Oracle’s Solution:

Four fellows from a cross-section of relevant scientific disciplines were assigned as named contacts for key staff within the client’s IP unit. This enabled the formation of a buddy system which meant that buddies from each organisation met physically or virtually at least three times a week over a ten-month period. The four key fellows worked with other colleagues within the Oracle to design innovation assessment frameworks and establish tractable systems for innovation capture, maintaining and rationalising IP portfolios, and selling and assigning IP rights. Mentorship was provided to both buddies within the IP Unit as well as to other client colleagues on demand. A recruitment exercise was conducted by the Oracle and three new staff members were subsequently appointed by the client.

Consequential Impact:

The mentorship provided by Oxford Oracle allowed the IP Unit to quickly develop knowledge and experience which facilitated improved organisational efficiencies. For example, the number of pipeline innovations evaluated each month more than doubled over the period of intensive support. The bespoke frameworks and systems produced by the Oracle were acclaimed by the client organisation and remain in place and in active deployment to the present day. The new colleagues who were recruited provided critical disciplinary expertise which was previously lacking and are working with their teammates to produce excellent synergistic effects.

Innovation Support Partnership in the Western Balkans for Development Bank (2017–2020)

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Challenge:

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development determined to finance projects which would promote entrepreneurship in several Balkan nations and encourage them further towards open market-oriented economies. Part of this initiative included finance for the development of science parks to be tightly articulated with existing multipartite bases of research. These science parks needed to be initiated with optimal processes and ideal initial tenants such that the parks would be maximally successful and enjoy indefinite longevity.

The Oracle’s Solution:

The Oracle deployed a team of fellows who had extensive previous experience in the design, monitoring and management of science parks. This experience covered geographies in Europe, the Middle East, South America and Australasia.

Extensive frameworks of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and priority activities for incubators and technology parks were presented to the Bank and its end beneficiaries for comment, iterative development, and ultimate agreement.

These KPIs and activities were then deployed in the establishment of three science park precincts. Estate partners were appointed and park administrators and champions were recruited. Keystone tenants were identified and incentive schemes were enacted to attract optimal networks of occupants within the parks’ communities. Six months of mentorship was provided to new SME tenants within each park.

Consequential Impact:

The science parks are running successfully and serve as a critical innovation nexus for the universities and research centres which they serve. They are central components of burgeoning, interconnected innovation ecosystems.

Instructional Negotiation Workshops for an Independent (UK) National Research Institute (2018)

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Challenge:

A leading UK national research institute which focusses on the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) sought to actively exploit its nascent innovation portfolio for the first time in its history. It acknowledged that its staff had limited experience of negotiating positive commercial outcomes (in general) and in concluding favour licence agreements (in particular).

The Oracle’s Solution:

The institute identified Oxford Oracle as its preferred partner to provide its staff with instruction and exercises based on real-life scenarios. The Oracle’s specialist AHSS fellows designed extensive materials to demonstrate the opportunities and challenges that are available (and sometimes unique to) the sub-disciplines of Economics, Social Wellbeing, and Education. Via a series of three two-day workshops which leveraged scenarios-planning frameworks, we provided practical insights into the opportunities and challenges associated with commercial negotiations in the AHSS.

Consequential Impact:

Immediate feedback from the client was that the workshops were engaging and fun and, just as importantly, their outcomes were actionable. Feedback after nine months was that the template documents provided by the Oracle as well as the pivot points identified in the bespoke scenarios had been deployed and had resulted in the conclusion of favourable deals. The client has gone on to enlist our counsel in subsequent projects.