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2015 KiwiNet Awards finalists turning clever science into commercial value
Finalists for the third annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards, designed to celebrate commercialisation success within New Zealand’s universities and Crown Research Institutes, have been announced. Meet them here...
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Scion joins KiwiNet
Crown Research Institute Scion has become a shareholding partner of the Kiwi Innovation Network (KiwiNet).
Scion specialises in research, science and technology development for the forestry industry and the manufacturing industries that use forest derived and other biomaterials to produce high value products read more...
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Calling all businesses
Mathematics-in-Industry NZ (MINZ) events offer a collaborative approach to industry problem solving, where mathematical scientists tackle real life problems shared by companies.
This week-long intensive period of collaborative brain-storming is a great way of solving problems arising in industry and the environment. Get involved...
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PwC supports KiwiNet mission
KiwiNet, New Zealand’s national network of Universities, Crown Research Institutes and Crown Entities dedicated to taking a collaborative approach to research commercialisation, has announced PwC as a Major Partner. Read more...
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Pitching Value Workshop - 24th June Wellington
This workshop is for all researchers who need to be able to ‘sell’ the value of their research to industry and funders. Daniel will work with you to develop your key messages and formulate them into a compelling pitch to sell your message to any audience. Register here...
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New BiMonthly Events Newsletter
KiwiNet has introduced a new bi-monthly newsletter which profiles both KiwiNet and partner event updates, register here if you would like to be included in the mailing list for this initiative.
Or if you would like to view a broader range of innovation events in New Zealand, please go to our Innovation Calendar.
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Salmon Business Challenge
KiwiNet in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries organised a business challenge focusing on challenges from the NZ salmon industry. The challenges came from NZ King Salmon, High Country Salmon, Mt Cook Salmon and Akaroa Salmon.
MPI and KiwiNet provided two $5K prototype funds to support the two best ideas presented at the Salmon technical day held in Christchurch on 30 April. The Salmon farmers were very supportive of the business challenge idea and had originally proposed 14 potential challenges, of which 5 were chosen. They also committed to ongoing support with prototype development, and continue to be eager to hear from anyone who think they have an potential solution to these challenges. Read more...
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KiwiNet welcomes GNS Science as a shareholding partner
GNS Science look to increase research commercialisation with support from KiwiNet. GNS Science has become the fifteenth partner of the Kiwi Innovation Network (KiwiNet), a consortium of Universities, Crown Research Institutes and Crown Entities dedicated to taking a collaborative approach to research commercialisation. Read more...
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Startup Weekend Science & Research - 3/4/5th July
Bringing together the power of Startup Weekend and the insights of the research community in a 54-hour marathon of energy, collaboration, perspiration and fun.
Join an intense sprint to take the best ideas from researchers and the best teams from the business, design and engineering communities and combine inspiration and innovation.
Startup Weekend is the environment to run faster, think harder and bake more into your idea with the support of experienced mentors and atried and true format built to create results. No talk, all action.
Startup Weekend Science and Research is open to all research-based ideas.
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Sensors event a hit
Over 80 smart-technology developers from NZ Universities, CRIs and businesses, plus a science R&D mission from the UK attended a workshop on the way smart sensors are used in urban environments. The workshop was organised by the British High Commission, Callaghan Innovation and KiwiNet in a successful collaboration. “We’re keen to connect key people in each area to come up with some new research ideas they can develop through collaboration and take to market” says BHC science and innovation officer Steve Thompson. The Sensors in the Built Environment workshop was held at Te Papa, Wellington on 6 March. Read more...
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Commercial success for Ligar Polymers
Businessman Sir James Wallace is investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a Waikato tech company, he believes has massive potential for New Zealand. The company, called Ligar, has developed a molecular process that extracts the bad stuff from things like contaminated water and smoke-tainted wine. Read more...
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Meet the People: Commercialisation Professional Nigel Slaughter
How did you get into this area of work and where did you begin your career? I started off as an analyst in a sales promotion agency as I wanted to get into marketing. I quickly realised that working out the nuances of beer promotions wasn’t what I meant by marketing. I then spent 8 years working with a company that helped UK and US manufacturers diversify and/or move into overseas markets. This involved travelling to interview current and future competitors, buyers, agents and distributors in each country and then coming up with a market analysis and market entry plan for each country. I found working with small companies and new technologies the most interesting and moved to a consultancy that specialised in new, high tech markets. This involved commercialisation and business planning for a very wide range of organisations, also working with the European Commission on building their understanding how innovation systems work (or don’t work). 6 years later (and 5 years ago) I moved to WaikatoLink. Now I’ve moved to Ligar and I’m finally focusing on just one thing!
Tell us about some exciting projects you have been involved with.
- Imprinted Polymers (of course) - a technology with so many high-value applications in so many different market sectors.
- Time of Flight – the Chronoptics team at the University of Waikato are world leaders in 3D vision systems and are working with some of the leading companies in the field. It’s very exciting times for them.
- Light aircraft – it’s not commercialisation but a long time ago I worked with a company that makes small passenger planes. They had gone from selling 250 a year to 1 and didn’t know why. It turned out that their competitors, including a couple of new entrants, were innovating and producing better planes at a lower cost. This work kicked off the development of a successful rescue plan and really highlighted the need to keep on top of understanding what customers want.
I love research commercialisation because…. my careers advisor at school recommended begging as the best fit for my skills and qualifications.
What one thing could be done to improve commercialisation in New Zealand? I’d suggest the biggest challenge in commercialisation is the combination of limited funding and a high failure rate. To deal with this we need to get better at picking winners early. The development of specialist staff with skills in qualitative, international market research would help with picking potential winners. We need people who call up or meet lots of people involved in the market, ask the right questions (around often complex technologies or ideas) and use the answers to steer technology development. It’s a process that not only helps to hone the value proposition, but also (if there’s value to be had) usually leads to the identification of enthusiastic partners. Clearly there are already people (including at Kiwinet) who can do this well, but not enough. It takes a lot of training.
What is your favourite quote? Well, my favourite is "If at first you don’t succeed, don’t try skydiving” but for a quote that backs up the need for more market research there’s no better option than Confucius and “The cautious seldom err”.
What technology would you love to have been involved with over the past 10 years? The Selfie Stick.
What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow? Do you mean an African or a European swallow?
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KiwiNet is proudly supported by
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