2013 KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards

Callaghan Innovation: Ovine Automation Consortium.

The Ovine Automation Consortium, known as OAL, embodies research partners and industry in a unique collaboration. At its inception the open forum discussion, with members of 9 different meat companies, 2 research partners, 2 research organisation advisors with support from MIRINZ Inc, jointly owned by the MIA and Beef + Lamb, all contributing to a common goal, was a new approach for an industry that had recently begun to see the value of research collaboration.

The research partners are Callaghan Innovation and Milmeq Limited with input from both AgResearch and the University of Auckland. Its success is testament to excellent leadership with focus, vision and the ability to keep a very diverse group on track.

Professors John Boys and Grant Covic: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Auckland University, nominated by UniServices.

This team has been undertaking commercialisation for over 25 years and they have a passion for seeing their work used in the real world. It is a passion they instill in all of their students. As a result of their work the Power Electronics Lab in Auckland is regarded as one of the leading centres of its kind in the world.

John and Grant are the inventors on more than 60 US, European, and Japanese Patents in several Patent families. These patents have been licensed to 6 companies in a variety of different fields, including materials handling, electric vehicles, lighting and security. Their technology has had global impact.

The pinnacle of John and Grant’s work came in 2010 when based on work that John and Grant did in the lab in response to the global car industry, UniServices formed Halo Induction Power Technologies together with the global engineering firm, Ove Arup and the TransTasman Commercialisation Fund. John and Grant under contract with the company continued to develop the technology and as a result in October 2011 Qualcomm purchased the assets of Halo for an undisclosed but multimillion $ deal.

Callaghan Innovation - Advanced Sonar Technology: Partnering with Industry for Export Impact.

The Advanced Sonar Technologies team (which includes Eugene Stytsenko, David Greager, Neil Scott and Marco Meijer) at Callaghan Innovation is a multi-disciplinary team which was set up to develop long-range sonar technologies during a research engagement with ENL (Electronic Navigation Limited).

The team has been collaborating with ENL for well over 10 years leading to commercial success for ENL’s WASSP sonar product which is now exported to 39 countries. In 2010 ENL entered into a five year co-funding agreement with Callaghan Innovation to work together on the development of the next generation of sonar technologies.

The agreement— which involves in-kind and direct co-funding from both parties — will deliver a new generation of products incorporating innovations in the area of hardware design, transducers and signal processing techniques developed by both ENL and Callaghan Innovation teams.

Otago Innovation — TOXINZ Database Success.

Developed over the past 50 years, the National Poisons Centre’s database, TOXINZ, has been widely used by New Zealand clinicians. Now it is gaining the respect of the international medical profession as well. The TOXINZ database, developed at the University of Otago, today contains more than 190,000 documents with comprehensive and up-to-date information on poisonous chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plants and animals.

It is fully referenced, providing treatment pathways, brand names and combination products, removing the need for clinicians to identify individual ingredients and chemicals. It is also easily navigated and contains images to help with the identification of hazardous plants and animals. TOXINZ’s content is maintained 24 hours a day, seven days a week by poisons information staff, with updates made in real time as new information becomes available.

TOXINZ is a world-class, gold standard database with commercial potential. Benefit to New Zealand and worldwide has been demonstrated through subscriptions to TOXINZ currently being sold to Poison Centres, Hospitals, state governments and Health boards. Otago Innovation has leveraged this niche specialised information and to create significant international returns.

Auckland University of Technology — Growing the New Zealand surf clam industry with the Cloudy Bay Group.

Since 2011, the Cloudy Bay Group and AUT (through Assoc. Prof Lindsey White) have developed a strong collaborative relationship to deliver significant growth for the Group, as well as New Zealand’s seafood industry and fisheries sector.

AUT has built and continues to build expertise and is gaining a national reputation in aquaculture and fisheries research, innovation and development. The output also includes skilled students, who have gained practical experience, and collaboration between different faculties at AUT. Cloudy Bay group benefits by having access to experts to develop new products and processes to allow it to grow its business and compete successfully in international markets.

A mature NZ surf clam industry has been estimated at NZ$300-400 million in export earnings. This collaboration’s strategy seeks to contribute to this projected growth, as well as New Zealand aquaculture industry’s growth plan which aims to increase seafood export to $1b per annum by 2025, through market-led product innovation and exports.