University of Oxford: Jenner Institute named Covid Innovation Heroes

Part of the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire’s Covid Heroes programme, the awards presented the Institute with the Outstanding Technical Leadership: Therapeutic Innovation honour. This was in recognition of its incredible work to develop, pilot, organise clinical trials for, scale-up and roll-out – in partnership with AstraZeneca – the COVID-19 vaccine in such a short space of time, saving millions of lives across the world.

Professor Adrian Hill KBE, Director of the Jenner Institute & Lakshmi Mittal & Family Professor of Vaccinology who received the award on the Institute’s behalf, said: ‘The COVID-19 vaccine response provides an excellent illustration of the strong links between academia and industry in the UK, with a vaccine candidate from the Jenner Institute at Oxford moving rapidly to many UK industrial partners in early 2021 and then onto many more manufacturing sites internationally – providing over 2 billion doses for 180 countries.’

The Awards recognise the role that Oxfordshire has played, and continues to play, nationally and internationally in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and celebrate the outstanding innovation contributions towards addressing the challenges brought by the pandemic.

Other award recipients were Oxfordshire-based companies and organisations that have risen to the challenge of the pandemic and carried out extraordinary work that has been recognised the world over.

The Awards were selected by the boards of The Oxford Trust and Venturefest Oxford and presented by the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire Imam Monawar Hussain DL MBE FRSA at Venturefest Oxford, held at Harwell Science & Innovation Campus, yesterday (Thursday).

The Oxford Trust, established by Oxford’s first true entrepreneurs Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood in 1985, has been a part of the local innovation ecosystem for the past 36 and helped establish Venturefest Oxford 18 years ago and The Oxford Trust Awards in 2005.