Apple CEO Tim Cook opens the Oxford Foundry

The facility was launched this week by Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, Inc. Mr Cook described his invitation to the opening of the multi-million pound hub as a "privilege". Offering the students in attendance advice on how to best use the facility, Mr Cook said: 'Your focus group is yourself - you should make products that you want to use. You can bet if you love it, many other people out there will love it too.' On team building, he added: 'Find people that are different than you, where the common thread is that they want to change the world.' The venue aims to build a community of innovation across the University, inspiring and supporting Oxford's 23,000 students to develop their entrepreneurial skills or create and scale commercial ventures. The Oxford Foundry will embrace students across all academic disciplines from engineering, medicine, history, philosophy and more. It will be a place for students from different backgrounds to experiment, learn from one another, and generate ideas and initiatives that address business and societal issues: whether their ambition is to launch their own start-up or to develop an entrepreneurial mind-set to drive innovation from within an organisation. Students will be encouraged to play a major role in designing and leading activities.