Oakland Innovation

What Oakland Innovation does

Oakland Innovation is a Cambridge, UK-based innovation consultancy founded in 1989 that helps inspire and accelerate innovation for R&D and business leaders in the consumer, health, medical, and industrial sectors. The firm operates as part of a broader professional services structure (described in available data under the Sagentia brand) within Science Group plc, an international science and technology consultancy and systems organisation. Its offerings span the full R&D lifecycle, from early technical diligence and innovation strategy through to engineering delivery, regulatory submission support, and evidence generation.

The underlying capability is built on multidisciplinary teams combining deep scientific expertise, advanced engineering capability, and regulatory discipline. Service delivery is organised around sector-specific practices covering consumer and industrial innovation, medical devices, regulated products (including chemicals, biocides, and food/beverage/feed), UK defence, and civil and military aviation. The firm emphasises security-cleared delivery for government work and regulator-ready evidence packages for highly regulated markets. Content marketing, a CTO Forum focused on R&D leadership issues (including generative AI), and direct enterprise engagement form the core go-to-market motion.

The business model is custom-quoted professional services consulting, with engagements scoped per programme and priced based on complexity. Revenue is generated through long-cycle, high-touch projects for executive teams of global multinationals, high-growth innovators, and government bodies. Geographic reach extends across the UK, Europe, and North America, supported by offices in Cambridge, London, and Boston. Pricing is not publicly disclosed, and customer concentration by individual client is not broken out, but the firm serves a deliberately diversified set of verticals to manage single-sector exposure.

Name

Oakland Innovation

Legal name

Sagentia

Website

https://oaklandinnovation.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Oakland Innovation is a Cambridge, UK-based innovation consultancy founded in 1989 that helps R&D and business leaders in consumer, health, medical, and industrial sectors define, de-risk, and deliver innovation programmes. It operates within Science Group plc's professional services structure alongside sector-specific practices in medical, regulatory, defence, and aviation consulting.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Innovation Consulting

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) (541715)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDABAAAO

Innovation Leadership & Leading Growth

Education/Corporate Training & Professional Development/Leadership & Management Development

SECONDARYEDABAMAH

Creativity & Innovation Mindset

Education/Corporate Training & Professional Development/Soft Skills Development

Keywords

• Innovation consulting services
• R&D strategy advisory
• Product development consulting
• Technology innovation consultancy
• Regulatory compliance advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Services Consulting: Sagentia provides consulting services across five specialized practices: Innovation, Medical, Regulatory, Defence, and Aviation. The company partners with executive teams to deliver innovation and regulatory compliance services from early technical diligence through to engineering delivery and evidence generation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Oakland Innovation inspires and accelerates innovation for business and R&D leaders in the consumer, health, medical and industrial sectors. The firm provides science-led innovation and regulatory consulting, partnering with executive teams to de-risk critical innovation and compliance decisions from early technical diligence through to engineering delivery and evidence generation.

Product overview

Sagentia is a professional services division of Science Group plc offering innovation and regulatory consultancy through five dedicated practices: Sagentia Innovation (consumer and industrial innovation), Sagentia Medical (MedTech consulting), Sagentia Regulatory (formerly TSG Consulting with Leatherhead Food Research), Sagentia Defence (UK defence innovation), and Sagentia Aviation (civil and military aviation consulting). The company also runs the CTO Forum GenAI initiative focused on generative AI guidance for R&D.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Consumer and Industrial Innovation Consulting Science-led innovation consultancy supporting consumer and industrial organisations where innovation decisions are critical. Works with R&D leaders to define where to compete, which technologies to back, and how to progress product development with confidence.
• Medical Device and MedTech Consulting Specialist science and engineering consultancy supporting MedTech companies across diagnostics, surgical, interventional and other medical devices, from early concept through to product realisation, including full R&D lifecycle support.
• Regulatory and Scientific Consulting Regulatory and scientific consultancy supporting organisations developing and commercialising regulated products across plant protection, biocides, antimicrobials, chemicals, and food, beverage and feed markets, securing and maintaining market access.
• Defence Innovation Consulting Defence innovation consultancy supporting government and industry to address critical capability challenges across the capability lifecycle, from assessing operational need through concept development, technology maturation and prototyping, delivered by security-cleared teams.
• Aviation Technical Consulting Specialist technical and engineering consultancy supporting safety-critical and highly regulated programmes across civil and military aviation, advising government bodies, regulators, equipment manufacturers and airport operators on design, operations and assurance.
• Food Research Consulting Food research consultancy providing scientific expertise for food, beverage and feed markets, supporting regulatory and product development needs as part of the Regulatory practice.

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Science Group plcflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSagentia is the professional services division of Science Group plc, an international science and technology consultancy and systems organisation. This is a wholly-owned subsidiary relationship where Sagentia operates as the consulting arm of the parent company.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Arthur D. Little: Global management consultancy with a long-standing innovation and R&D strategy practice serving industrial, medical and consumer clients. Overlaps with Oakland's R&D-leader focus but at much larger scale.
• PA Consulting: Global innovation and transformation consultancy with a strong regulated-industries and product-development practice. A larger incumbent offering overlapping innovation services to enterprise R&D leaders across multiple sectors.
• Arup: Global engineering, design and innovation consultancy with deep sector reach. Overlaps with Oakland on the engineering-led innovation side, though Arup is materially larger and more diversified.

Regional players

• Baringa Partners: UK-headquartered consultancy combining technology, innovation and sector expertise for energy, financial services and other regulated industries. Comparable as a UK-rooted advisory selling into R&D and innovation leadership.

Direct peers

• Cambridge Consultants: Deep-tech product development and innovation consultancy also rooted in the Cambridge cluster. Directly comparable in that it sells science- and engineering-led innovation services to global enterprise R&D leaders.
• Sagentia: Also a Cambridge-based innovation and regulatory consultancy serving consumer, health, medical, industrial and defence sectors. Closest direct peer to Oakland Innovation given overlapping vertical mix, Cambridge location, and R&D-led GTM.
• Battelle: Large independent R&D organisation that applies science and engineering to solve innovation problems for government and industry. Comparable as a multidisciplinary applied-science and innovation partner for regulated sectors.
• IDEO: Design- and innovation-led consultancy that helps consumer, health and industrial clients define where to compete and how to bring new products to market — directly comparable to Oakland's mission of inspiring and accelerating innovation.
• Frog Design: Global innovation and design consultancy with a strong industrial and consumer product heritage. Comparable in helping R&D leaders turn emerging technology into market-ready offerings.

Emerging players

• Lextant: US-based innovation research and human-centred design consultancy that helps R&D teams prioritise and de-risk product decisions. A smaller, more specialised emerging player operating in the same innovation-decision-support category.

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/oakland-innovation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Oakland Innovation