Much more than simply a challenge to walk around the world, the GCC is scientifically proven to have a positive impact on mental health, energy levels, weight management, blood pressure reduction, sleep patterns, overall health, waist reduction and better nutrition.

Each participating company will put as many teams of seven together as possible (we have four) and each participant wears a pedometer from morning till night and  every step taken is recorded.  Last year we averaged over 10,000 steps a day and we walked the equivalent of the distance to South America – if you really want to walk round the world, then you need to be averaging around 25,000 steps a day.

As teams are made up of work colleagues, the payback to companies is significant with research from the GCC organisers showing improved morale, increased productivity, higher job satisfaction, better team work and reduced absenteeism.

This year we will be joining some 180,000 people worldwide who are also taking part in the GCC and the numbers are growing each year.

But the GCC is about more than individuals, teams and workplaces.  The GCC also supports the Global Children’s Challenge which aims to encourage children to adopt more active lifestyles, as well as the Footprint Initiative which supports the Iganga Babies Home, which is an orphanage in Uganda and the Foundation for Chronic Disease Prevention.

The GCC starts on May 24th 2012 and we’ll let you know how we get on.

CoDev itself has been running for about a decade and it is growing year on year.  We like it because the content is always interesting and stimulating, and it is always a great venue to network with contacts, current clients and new clients.

This year there were presentations on a myriad of topics including, expanding Open Innovation as a key driver of business growth, managing IP in complex deal structures and delivering ROI when building global Open Innovation networks, among others.

Discussions were relaxed, open and frank, and we were flattered to have Oakland Innovation referenced by several speakers during their presentations.

Eileen was there on a business development trip combined with meeting some current clients.

“You can’t help but be caught up in the vibrancy, excitement and optimism of India,” says Eileen, adding: “There was a time when young people were looking for opportunities to leave India to make a life for themselves elsewhere. Now they are intent on staying because they want to be part of the huge opportunities the country has to offer as the economy surges forward at an astonishing rate.

“People are so warm and friendly and can’t do enough to be helpful and I was surprised at how young the population is – perhaps that helps to explain the feeling of optimism.

“They have a hunger for knowledge and are not content to follow, they want to lead.   The young people I met were highly skilled, highly educated and highly motivated.  Everyone has a mobile phone – sometimes two, one for work and one for personal use.

“Of course you can’t avoid the economic extremes of India, there is extreme poverty, but at the same time there is a dynamism and drive forward that isn’t going to be fettered by the past and that seems to balance out some of the extremes,” explains Eileen.

And as for eating curry in forty degree heat, well Eileen did her PhD in Birmingham, which may not match the climate of India, but it does have some of the best curry houses outside India.

This phenomenal piece of engineering has slashed the journey time from Shanghai – the burgeoning business centre and Beijing with its universities and research establishments from over eighteen hours to a little over five hours.

It’s almost as though the universities don’t want to waste a second in transporting highly qualified graduates to the multi-national companies eager to make use of their skills.

At least that’s the view of two of our consultants, Hong Qian and David Nightingale when they returned from a business trip to meet their clients recently.

“Improvements in the infrastructure mean that Shanghai isn’t as crowded as you might expect,” says David who first visited China in 1999, adding: “The city is incredibly westernised, but that’s hardly surprising given the city’s strategic importance as a thriving international port.  Shanghai was always going to have a Western facing element.”

“Many of our clients have established Research and Development centres in China and the area is becoming increasingly important for our clients wanting to access the Asian market. And that makes China a strategically important country for Oakland,” says Hong.

That importance is underpinned by the fact that Oakland now has five of its team members who are fluent Mandarin and Cantonese  speakers.

“The government’s commitment to making the transition from manufacturing to innovation is everywhere.  Not just in the number of graduates pouring out of universities each year or the number of skyscrapers and palpable atmosphere of prosperity, but in the sheer volume of companies who have chosen to locate their Research and Development  – in effect their futures – in the country,” says Hong.

 But the pace of change does come at a price even for someone like Hong who was born in China.

“Six months can be a long time in China and when I went to my home town to visit my family, so much had changed since my last visit, that I actually got lost.”

Deepali Gupta has a PhD in Bioinorganic Chemistry from the International Max Planck Research School in Dortmund, Germany and an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from  Cambridge University. More recently, Deepali worked as a Business Analyst for the Wellcome Trust working in the Technology Transfer department on the DBT-Wellcome initiative on R&D for affordable healthcare in India. Deepali is fluent Hindi and German  

Krishnaa Mahbubani was born and raised in Hong Kong and speaks Cantonese and Hindi . She holds a Masters in Chemical and Process Engineering from the University of Sheffield. Krishnaa is currently writing up her PhD  from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology,  University of Cambridge, her thesis is titled:‘ Vehicles for the Oral Delivery of Live Bacteria’ .

 Rachael Burcher holds an MEng in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University and has worked for the last 14 years in industry, for AstroZeneca, Merck and more recently as Lead Engineer at Wyeth Biotech.

Katarzyna (“Kasia”) is from Poland and has a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Cambridge University where her research area was on modelling and prediction of crystal structures. Kasia obtained an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Silesia University in Poland. After completing her MSc degree Kasia worked for Novartis (London) and GSC (Ware). She also studied HPLC and GC methods at Greenwich University (Chatham).

 Helen Atherton has a PhD from the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge. Between 2008 and 2010 Helen spent two and a half years as a post-doc at the University of Oxford.  Her project was focussed on assessing cardiac metabolism in vivo using MRI.

 Andrew Dadd has a PhD in Chemistry from Nottingham University. Andrew started his career as a research chemist, before moving into the scientific instruments industry.  More recently he has held a product management role at Biochrom Ltd (a manufacturer of UV Visible spectrophotometers), a European sales role at Synoptics Ltd (a manufacturer of gel doc and Western blot imaging equipment) and a customer support role at Bio-Chem Fluidics Ltd (a supplier of fluidics components used in many types of instruments), before joining us.

Commenting Jenny Brown, a Director with Oakland said: “I am delighted to welcome the latest additions to our team and also to congratulate them.  Winning a career offer from Oakland is no easy matter.  We have exacting standards and a clear idea of the type of candidate who will ‘fit’, both with us and crucially with our clients and part of that is the essential blend between nationalities, international languages and technical skills.”

Oakland's latest recruits

We are delighted to announce that Eileen Buttimer, a Principal Consultant at Oakland, has accepted our invitation to become our Director of Operations from January 2012. Eileen has been with us for the last eleven years and has played an increasingly significant role in Oakland as the company has grown both physically – we now have over fifty colleagues, and in terms of client activity, many of Oakland’s clients are sector leaders with global presences.

“Operations have always been an important element in the way our business is structured,” explains Eileen, adding: “As we have expanded our client base along with the number of colleagues and client assignments, Operations have taken on a more central position and I was thrilled to be asked to take on that area of responsibility at Director level.”

Eileen’s new role will encompass quality management, resource planning and allocation, developing new research techniques and enhancing client satisfaction with continually improving efficiencies.

Commenting, Michael Zeitlyn, Oakland’s Managing Director said: “It is a pleasure to welcome Eileen on to Oakland’s Board.  Her drive, commitment and passion for quality has underpinned the great contribution she has made to the company’s success. I know that in her new role as Director of Operations  she will build on this foundation and help us achieve even more in the coming years.”

Alongside her new role, Eileen will continue to have day-to-day contact with clients and will oversee assignments from inception to completion.  In addition, Eileen’s aptitude for business development will still have a significant call on her time.

Eileen holds a BSc and Masters in Biochemistry from University College, Cork, an MBA from Henley Business School and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Birmingham.

The energy within Oakland is almost tangible. It permeates the whole organisation and acts as the fuel to drive the company to be as successful as it can possibly be,” says Clare Bye, Oakland Innovation’s recently appointed HR Manager.

“My role is to make sure that we engage and retain the brightest individuals we can and then nurture their talents to ensure they perform at the highest levels and have some fun along the way.”

But landing a career offer from one of Cambridge’s most innovative companies is no easy matter, as Clare explains:

“We are continually on the look-out for the brightest and the best (preferably PhD level) but being technically excellent is just part of what we are seeking. We also need to see clear evidence of a rounded personality, organisational skills, client facing skills, accuracy and attention to detail. A facility for problem solving, creativity and an analytical approach are also part of the mix.

“We know what we are looking for and we have exacting standards.”

‘Nurturing’ is a term that Clare frequently uses to describe the environment within Oakland. “We are a tremendously caring organisation,” she says, adding: “We want everyone to do well and we will invest in their professional development to tease out and hone their skill sets. For us it’s about input as well as output.

“We provide solid career plans for our fifty or so colleagues and although we work in dedicated teams, we recognise that teams are made up of individuals.”

That is one reason why holding the Investors in People accreditation is so important. It gives Oakland a benchmark against which to test itself against other companies and offers an action plan of how to continue to achieve business excellence.

With over twenty five years in HR, Clare has worked with blue chip names like Marks and Spencer, the RAC and latterly as HR Director for Munters. Clare is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in HR Management.

 
And we are proud to say that not only did we complete the relay run, but no-one dropped the baton and everyone completed their 1.1 mile lap, tuning in some very respectable times.

“Of course, it isn’t just about running round the Science Park on a chilly November day,” says Nigel Bailey who organised Oakland’s entries adding: “This is just one of a number of events we take part in to encourage a healthy lifestyle and team building.

“We have entered the Cambridge Cycle Challenge which pits us against other cities and encourages cycle use; the Global Corporate Challenge where teams use pedometers and over the course of sixteen weeks attempt to walk the equivalent of once round the globe and the pretty gruelling Dragon Race.

“We are always up for a challenge and will have a go at most events especially those that involve working together as teams.”

This year it was the turn of Dr Eileen Buttimer who chose as her topic ‘Technology Intelligence in Brazil, Russia, India and China – Opportunities and Challenges’

“Each of these BRIC countries represents a huge opportunity for partnering and joint venture activities. Each of them is determined to play a leading global role in the development of new markets and the technologies associated with them. Their expanding economies mean that their governments are backing the growth of the R&D and education sectors with massive investment,” says Eileen adding:

“The number of PhD students in Brazil is growing by 12% each year. Russia is ploughing $2.8 billion into its R&D sector. India produces 2.5 million science and engineering graduates each year, while China sees 1.5 million science and engineering graduates each year.

“These BRIC countries are no longer content to play the role of ‘nut and bolt assembly lines’ for the West. They are determined to own and drive change.”

However, as Eileen points out, huge opportunities carry significant challenges, not the least of which is the near impossibility of accessing leading edge thinking in the BRIC countries for many Western organisations.

“Language and cultural barriers are major impediments for companies wanting to access the emerging markets and the technologies associated with them in BRIC countries,” says Eileen.

As part of her presentation, Eileen pointed out that Oakland Innovation is ideally placed to address these issues on behalf of its clients.

“We have over fifty highly qualified, multilingual employees, including scientists and engineers with both technical and commercial expertise.

“Not only are they fluent in languages, but because they are from overseas, they completely empathise with the cultural influences that come into play when interviewing key contacts in order to garner the necessary business intelligence. This market intelligence is crucial for our clients as it gives them an invaluable competitive advantage.

“It isn’t an exaggeration to say that we have gone out of our way to create a company with a global personality, which means that we can, quite literally, talk to the world.”

Amit Nair, relishing his new role as a Consultant

 As a Consultant Analyst, Amit, who joined Oakland Innovation two and a half years ago, has been responsible for delivering in-depth research for Oakland Innovation’s international client base.

  “Amit has been recognised for his dedication and high quality output, and he will now take on responsibility for the management of projects and teams, while continuing to build relationships with clients” explains Jenny Brown, Director.

 Originally from India, Amit speaks fluent Hindi and Marathi. He obtained a Research Fellowship at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai and then completed his PhD in Developmental Neurobiology at Cambridge University.

Amit is relishing the opportunity to expand his career at Oakland Innovation, which specialises in delivering research, understanding and insight to the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods),and industrial sectors, using insights obtained from leading experts and commentators to build on public domain data. 

 “The large variety and types of projects at Oakland has kept me abreast of cutting edge research in a variety of scientific areas. This is what drives my interest and keeps me wanting more,” says Amit.