A SKYPE-like system that speedily connects GP patients to hospital specialists and a pocket-sized DNA checker were two of the city-based starts ups crowned at an annual awards night.

Hosting the awards for the 14th year, The Oxford Trust hoped to shine a spotlight enterprises combining science and futuristic technology to make an impact.

Companies like Oxbotica, which develops driverless cars, have taken home titles from previous awards, but this year it was a runner-up in the Breakthrough Technology Award.

Nanopore Technologies won that title this year for its handheld on-demand DNA checker which is already being used across the world for research into cancer, plant science, microbiology and large-scale human genomics.

The Young Entrepreneur award for founders under 40, was won by Alexander Reip, co-founder of Oxford nanoSystems.

His company developed a special thermal coating technology that enhances heat transfer capabilities.

The goal of the new coating, which has proven to increase heat transfer by 524 per cent, is to enable production of better products which will be lower cost financially and to the environment.

High street banking giants Barclays sponsored this year’s Innovation Award alongside a handful of other names who sponsored the rest: Marks & Clerk, Advanced Oxford and product designers Triteq.

Consultant Connect was chosen by the Barclays panel for ‘meeting the needs of, and benefitting wider society’.

The company, headquartered on St Aldates, invented a speedy service for patients to connect with specialist doctors.

The immediate telephone-based call from a GP surgery to an NHS hospital consultant claims to have saved the NHS more than £10million by cutting out hospital visits and referrals.

The Oxford Trust closed this year's ceremony by announcing its Outstanding Achievement Award.

The title was given to Professor Sir John Bell, Oxford University professor of medicine, who has been knighted twice for his research into diseases such as diabetes and holds a ‘Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire’ (GBE).