Until the early 1990s, the Oxfordshire seam lay untapped. Cambridge had a 20-year head start on commercialising research, as its futuristic science park was home to a wealth of technology companies and St John's College had opened its Innovation Centre in 1987.

The American can-do' entrepreneurial spirit meant that across the water, they were even further ahead.

Risk-positive, not risk averse, the USA injected significant amounts of venture capital and established start-up facilities that were often linked to, or embedded in, the very universities that provided the ground-breaking ideas.

Where did it all start in Oxford? In the mid-1990s, the city enjoyed an enviable reputation for bioscience research.

Leading the way was Oxford University, complemented by the Medical Research Council and AEA Technology among others. The research and teaching hospitals in Oxford had also gained prominence in world rankings.

The focus became commercial exploitation of this world-class research. Oxford University began to spin out companies through its technology transfer organisation, Isis Innovation, now one of the premier tech transfer offices in the country.

Apart from straight spin-outs, there were former university scientists forming companies to pursue their ideas and industrial spin-outs or spin-offs by staff who were casualties of the downsizings, mergers and closures of an ever-changing industry.

The biotech bellwether was undoubtedly British Biotechnology. Strong expectations of its promised breakthrough drugs fuelled not only BritBio's share price and market position, but also the whole ethos that biotech was the holy grail to wonder drugs and treatments.

Venture capitalists could not wait to join the rush to this new Klondike. But when the leader of the flock very publicly stumbled and fell, it heralded a new and much tougher era.

It emerged that few biotechs were making any meaningful progress and an even smaller percentage were making significant income.

The sluice gates on the venture capital (VC) lake slammed shut, the torrent diminished to a trickle.

Most companies survived, but found that high valuations based on optimistic forecasts and large amounts of venture capital on high-risk projects were things of the past - the VCs were not risking getting burnt again.

By then, the exponential growth of biotech in the county had produced a force to be reckoned with, now expanded from three to 140 companies, ready and able to weather this harsher climate.

Sustainability is now the bioscience mantra. Perhaps strangely, the often difficult UK venture capital market plays a significant role.

The Government has invested heavily in biotechnology, but the serious money comes from private sources, ensuring survival of the fittest.

The difficulty faced both in raising capital and selling or licensing a new treatment means that speculative, risky projects are now unwelcome.

VCs want developed entities close to market and with low risk to allow exit in three to five years. Gambling is not on the agenda.

Those companies which need five to seven years from idea to lead compound face an equity gap' of two years and £1-2m.

Locally based investment networks, such as the Oxford Investment Opportunity Network, Oxford Early Investments and the Thames Valley Investment Network, have the contacts and the know-how to help with funding issues, particularly business angel finance.

Incubators and innovation centres play a key role and the numbers of such facilities have grown over recent years. Start-ups are mainly created by scientists who are often experts in their discipline but have no experience of business.

Without business expertise, brilliant ideas can too readily founder on the rocks of commercialisation.

The Oxford Science Park now has a small incubator. Milton Park houses start-ups alongside larger companies and provides mentoring and business skills through its partnership with Oxford Brookes Business School. Oxford University has recently opened the Centre for Innovation and Enterprise at Begbroke. Oxford Innovation centres throughout the county are home to a number of fledgling biotechs.

The Diagnox laboratories at Cherwell Innovation Centre offer diagnostics and biotech firms communal facilities, such as tissue culture, refrigerated storage, clean-up and scientific instruments.

These facilities are vital, but expensive to provide and maintain for small companies trying to commercialise ideas.

These centres are also a powerful cluster in their own right. Companies rub shoulders with each other daily, exchanging ideas, experience, know-how and equipment.

The sector is as volatile as the cells it studies, forming, splitting, re-forming and changing, but a number of these cells have mutated and grown to maturity.

Oxford-based PowderJect altered course from needle-free injection to vaccine manufacture and was then acquired by Chiron. The original PowderJect technology was spun out as PowderMed, to then be purchased by Pfizer.

Avidex, based at Milton Park, has recently been acquired by Medigene of Germany.

Meanwhile, the formation and growth of start-ups continues, with many keen to exploit their ideas and new technologies. The Oxford cluster has great strengths in human healthcare, drug development and diagnostics, with eco-bio a growing area.

Contact: www.nigelwildassociates.co.uk