Back in 1996, when the first issue of In Business landed on the desks of Oxfordshire's innovators, the county's economy was balanced on a knife edge between recession and recovery.

Then economists spoke nervously about a skills shortage, how the future lay with smaller, leaner firms spawning innovative ideas and employing increasingly well-qualified people, rather than the heavier industries of the past.

Now we see how those heavier industries have themselves adapted to lighter, cleaner manufacturing; and how skills in computer and life-science industries have, to a greater degree than some feared, kept pace with demand.

The most striking example of brawn changing to brain was of course the transformation of much of the Cowley car factory, once the workplace for 30,000, into a high-tech business park.

In 1996 about 3,000 employees still worked at what remained of the factory, making the Rover 400 and 600, but there was no disguising their despondency despite talk of a new model in the pipeline.

That new model turned out to be the Rover 75, but hardly had its production line been installed before it was sold off to Phoenix and transferred to Longbridge, Birmingham.

Then it was the Cowley line that rose, Phoenix-like, from the ashes and the Longbridge plant that sank without trace.

Now under the BMW banner, 4,700 people work at the Cowley factory, up from 2,500 in 2001 when the Munich car maker was gearing up to produce the Mini there.

The subsequent success story of that little car is the stuff of legend, with more than 200,000 built last year alone, far surpassing BMW's most optimistic predictions.

Entrepreneurs But since those heady days of change, the county's economic story has been one of steady growth in which entrepreneurs not least millionaire dons exploiting high-tech ideas developed at Oxford's universities felt they could plan ahead with confidence. Unemployment remains one of the lowest in the land. According to county council figures the population of Oxfordshire in 1996 was 588,800, rising to 607,300 in 2001, and 619,800 in 2004 the latest figure available. The number of VAT registered businesses was 19,875 in 1996; 22,580 in 2001, and 23,740 in 2004.

In 1996, 130,100 people lived in Oxford. In 2001 the figure had risen to 135,500 and by 2004 it had reached 145,100. Wages in Oxfordshire increased relative to those for Great Britain as a whole. In 2002 the average Oxfordshire full-time employee was earning £392.90 a week gross, compared to £392.70 nationally. By 2005 Oxfordshire wages had risen to £448.10, overtaking the national figure of £433.10.

But the county still lagged behind the average wage for the South East as a whole of £467 (2005).

The perceived skills shortage back in 1996 was being tackled vigorously by the Heart of England Training and Enterprise Council, which had been launched with much fanfare back in 1990 by Michael Heseltine, then MP for Henley and president of the Board of Trade in John Major's Tory government.

Now the TEC is defunct and training in Oxfordshire is overseen jointly by the local Learning and Skills Council and the Small Business Service.

The man largely responsible for turning university research into money over the years has been Tim Cook, of Isis Innovation.

Ten years ago he was boss of Oxford Semiconductor which was an early winner of the Oxfordshire Business of the Year Award a competition sponsored by The Oxford Times.

At that time Oxford University had already spawned such successes as Oxford Instruments and Oxford Glycosciences, but the business of harnessing dons for commercial purposes was not yet a science.

In 1996 Mr Cook had 30 Champagne corks, each one representing a company launched as a result of academic research spinning out a commercial idea.

Now he has 49 such corks. Names that have floated successfully as a result of technology transfer from the world of academe to that of commerce include PowderJect and Oxford Asymmetry.

Also helping to turn notions into gold is Oxford Innovation, part of the Oxford Trust. Five years ago it ran eight innovation centres, now it runs 12.

The county remains the main centre in Britain for the Formula 1 motor racing industry, as we said in the first issue, although some of the major players have changed. Gone are Arrows of Leafield, replaced by Super Aguri; and the Reynard team. But Williams remains at Grove and Renault remains at Enstone. Honda is in Brackley and, in 2008, Prodrive, presently in Banbury, will become the new boy on the F1 block. And Brookes University's course for would-be F1 engineers remains one of the most over-subscribed in the place.

As for Oxford United, its rollercoaster financial saga led to its stadium standing forlorn and unfinished for much of the period between 1996 and 2001. Then it was bought by Firoz Kassam who not only completed three sides of the stadium but also developed the Ozone leisure complex on land next door.

The first issue of In Business carried the headline: United hopes its training will put it in a different league'. Now American businessman and former Oxford youth team player Nick Merry has bought United but, sadly, the only different league the club is set to enter is the Conference.

The story of employment in Oxfordshire remains one of smaller and leaner companies spawning bright futuristic ideas and employing increasingly well-qualified people rather than the larger, heavier industries of the past. That way the added-value Oxfordshire skills will produce will contribute to Britain's aim of competing with the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, and China exactly what Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said he wanted British companies to do, during his recent visit to a conference held at the home of Oxfordshire multi-millionaire Richard Branson.