2023 Awards Finalists

Like most outstanding innovations, Lucy’s came from a heartfelt desire to alleviate a loved one’s distress.

In 2016, Lucy’s godmother underwent a breast cancer procedure. This significant event deeply impacted her journey as an Industrial Designer and would later inspire her to pursue entrepreneurship to make a difference in the lives of others.

Witnessing the challenges her godmother faced during her breast cancer journey, Lucy was particularly struck by the emotional and physical discomfort of the post-operative bra her godmother was required to wear for a whole year after her procedure. Her godmother described it as “ugly and uncomfortable” and “making her feel terrible during a time when she needed comfort and support the most”.

This provided the impetus for Bra+ve (Bra Positive), a post-operative bra to alleviate the physical discomfort and emotional distress experienced by women recovering from breast cancer surgery.

Bra+ve is crafted using sustainable, antimicrobial materials using innovative 3D knit technology. The addition of magnetic fasteners enhances independence and makes it easier to use, especially for those with limited hand mobility. The unique cross-over shape allows each cup size to be controlled separately, accommodating uneven breast tissue post-surgery.

Bra+ve shows strong commercial potential through its extensive engagement with the target market and medical professionals. Through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, this project connected with over 140 patients, eight healthcare specialists and four lingerie designers and ensured that the postoperative bra met the specific needs of its users, built up a community around the product and answered a unique market need.

New Zealand has one of the highest breast cancer incidences worldwide, and currently post operative bras are imported from overseas suppliers, which can cause long wait times; the country will benefit from a product designed by a local foundation.

Dr Jérôme Leveneur, Bspkl / GNS Science

New Zealand’s first deep technology hydrogen start-up.

Dr. Olivia Ogilvie is a pioneer in the cultivated meat field, where meat is produced by culturing animal cells in vitro. Olivia is the co-founder and CEO of Opo Bio, New Zealand's first cultivated meat company, which supplies cells from Aotearoa New Zealand, for the cultivated meat industry worldwide. She has played an instrumental role in developing and commercialising their cell line development technology platform that enables large-scale cell culture production.

Opo Bio is based on MBIE funded research led by Dr Laura Domigan at the University of Auckland and codeveloped with Olivia (University of Canterbury) and Dr Vaughan Feisst (University of Auckland).

Olivia was integral in spearheading the spinout process from the University of Auckland in July 2022, successfully raising $1.5 million in a seed round led by Matū Karihi, syndicated with the University of Auckland Inventors' Fund, Booster Innovation Fund, and angel investors.

Under Olivia's leadership, Opo Bio has achieved remarkable success in a short period of time. The company now employs seven staff, has formed partnerships with livestock farms across Aotearoa for ongoing tissue supply, and successfully launched its MVP (minimum viable product) which has generated over $20,000 in sales to date from global customers. It has also opened an R&D facility at the Newmarket Innovation Precinct in Auckland.

Throughout her short career Olivia has worked on the intersection of science and commercialisation, and is passionate about building and supporting the commercialisation ecosystem in Aotearoa. She serves on the Canterbury Momentum Investment Committee, mentors aspiring entrepreneurs, and is involved in technology competitions like XPRIZE. Olivia also continues to excel in academia, currently supervising three PhD students and publishing in top-tier journals like Nature Food.

Olivia clearly demonstrates an entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to advancing the field of cultivated meat, and has successfully shifted from research to leadership in driving Opo Bio's commercial traction.

Dr Sean Feast, Founder and CEO of Precision Chroma, is playing a critical role in commercialising a new method of chromatography that greatly simplifies the manufacture of important biologic pharmaceuticals, making life-saving medicines more accessible.

In 2017, Sean joined the University of Canterbury 3D porous media research team as a master’s student, supervised by the technology inventor Professor Conan Fee. He quickly saw industry potential for their technology. Sean spent his PhD developing it for different applications and showing pathways for scaling the technology to make it commercially viable.

Sean led Precision Chroma’s spinout at the start of 2022, securing seed funding from Bridgewest Ventures and Callaghan Innovation.

Precision Chroma has the potential to disrupt the $8.5B bio-separations industry with its next-generation 3D printed chromatography columns. The technology can reduce processing times by up to two days at commercial scale. This innovation streamlines three essential processes into a single step, eliminating costly consumables and equipment expenses that could provide up to $300 million in savings for the industry.

In just over a year, Sean has built and led an effective team to hit key milestones, successfully navigated the company through pivoting to a new target application, achieved vast scale-up from lab to pilot scale, and developed further valuable IP.  He is also currently leading the company through its first capital raise.

In 2022, Sean was awarded the YES Alumni Innovator of the Year award and was a finalist for the Hi-Tech Young Achiever 2023. Sean is also an active advocate and mentor in the start-up community and is passionate about supporting and inspiring the next generation of breakthrough innovators.

The inventor behind many of Massey University's largest commercial deals, and a 2012 Prime Minister's Science Prize recipient, Distinguished Professor Harjinder Singh has built an extensive track record as a world-renowned food scientist and researcher-entrepreneur.

Across his distinguished career, Harjinder has worked with many of the world's global food giants, including Danone, Fonterra, Pepsico, Goodman Fielder, and Nestlé. His early research on milk proteins directly led to two patented innovations, which Fonterra Co-operative Limited have commercialised. The invention of a patented encapsulation technology for fish oils became the basis for the Riddet Institute's spin-out company, Speirs Nutritionals Limited.

Harjinder was an inventor behind the FERRI-PRO technology, acquired by Nestlé in 2018 to fight global iron deficiency. This remains Massey University's single biggest deal - both in terms of Commercialisation Impact and societal benefits. The first FERRI-PRO product was recently launched in Pakistan where 1-in-2 children are iron deficient.

With an impressive 25 patents to his name, 8 of which have been commercialised, and several new projects in the pipeline, Harjinder also gives much back to the next generation of researcher entrepreneurs. With a growing entrepreneurial culture around commercialisation, he is excited by the life-changing opportunities for the young scientists he gets to train and mentor.

Dr Laura Domigan is a Senior Lecturer, Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland, and Chief Scientific Officer of Opo Bio, New Zealand's first cultivated meat company, which supplies cells from Aotearoa New Zealand, for the cultivated meat industry worldwide.

As a protein biochemist, tissue engineer, and co-founder of Opo Bio, Laura has become a recognised international leader in cultivated meat, while navigating complex and challenging commercialisation opportunities key to New Zealand’s future prosperity. Her ground-breaking work in cultivated meat tackles some of the planet's major social and environmental challenges, such as greenhouse gas emissions, ethical food choices, animal welfare and food security. It is an emerging sector with the potential to transform the global food industry.

Since joining the University of Auckland in 2015, Laura has been awarded more than $5 million in research funding. Most recently her research was fundamental to the commercialisation of Opo Bio in 2022, and her earlier PhD research at the University of Canterbury contributed to a patent which formed the basis of biotechnology startup Hi-Aspect Ltd.

Laura is an active member on boards including the MBIE Science Board, committees, judging panels and research groups, and has been instrumental in elevating the importance of policy and regulation in the future food industry. She champions an evidence-based approach for New Zealand and is a thought leader with Te Puna Whakaaronui, New Zealand’s independent food and fibre sector think tank.

Professor Rod Badcock is the Deputy Director and a founding member of Paihau – Robinson Research Institute at Victoria University of Wellington. He is recognised as a pioneer in the field of applied superconductivity, focusing on accelerating this technology into new applications such as generators, motors, power transformers, medical imaging systems, electric space propulsion and high field magnets.

Rod is currently leading New Zealand’s contribution to an international effort to decarbonise transport. His team is developing cutting-edge work on electrifying aviation and other heavy transport, which has attracted interest from the industry's top global players and promises to put New Zealand at the forefront of an emerging global electric aircraft motor market, estimated to be worth more than $200 billion USD by 2050.

As a champion of New Zealand's innovation system, Rod fosters an entrepreneurial environment at the Robinson Research Institute, urging students to design innovations that address problems in the real world beyond the lab. This has resulted in the spin-out of exciting new companies like OpenStar Technologies and the international success of domestic start-ups like HTS 110. Cleantech development company Fabrum, which recently closed a $23 million funding round, has a very strong collaborative relationship with Robinson Research Institute and has also benefited from Rod’s support and valuable assistance in accessing the international superconducting market.

Rod is pushing the envelope on what's possible with superconductivity, with a focus on applying the technology to transition to a clean, sustainable future.  He has played a key role in establishing the Robinson Research Institute as a world-leader in mission-oriented superconductivity research.

Brendan Vercoe - 2before Performance Nutrition – Plant & Food Research

2before Performance Nutrition – Plant & Food Research.

A passion for nature combined with unwavering perseverance has led Brendan Vercoe to commercialise two science-backed, clinically proven, and IP-protected natural products in the last five years.

Brendan was Commercial Development Manager at Plant & Food Research when he spotted an opportunity to commercialise the hop extract Amarasate™ to support healthy appetite management. He worked alongside Sarah Kennedy, the Founder and CEO of Calocurb, to bridge the gap between science and business and create a new product for commercialisation. With Amaraste as an active ingredient, calocurb™ was launched to market in 2018 and is now an established business growing rapidly across 5+ countries. Amarasate was recently named 2022 NutraIngredients Asia Ingredient of the Year for Weight Management.

Following this, Brendan played a key role in commercialising 2before™ - a blackcurrant powder supplement for optimising sports performance training. Under Brendan's leadership, 2before completed a successful capital raise and was spun-out as an online direct-to-consumer company in 2020 with Brendan taking the reins as CEO. The product also won the NutraIngredients USA Product of the Year for Sports Nutrition in 2020. 2before is currently selling on Amazon and is exploring new formats and undergoing clinical trials to expand its offering further.

Brendan constantly champions the quest for commercial opportunities and has shown admirable perseverance in overcoming obstacles across the commercialisation journey and pivoting, multiple times, when needed. Gaining IP protection for natural products is very difficult, and Brendan has successfully done this with two ventures supporting the health of consumers worldwide.

Kevin Sheehy - MacDiarmid Institute

Effective support for deep tech entrepreneurs, start-ups, and the ecosystem

Kevin is a highly accomplished commercialisation professional whose work has a deep and wide-ranging impact nationally.

In Kevin's core role supporting deep tech and cleantech researchers within the MacDiarmid Institute, he oversees a pipeline producing 2-3 affiliated start-ups per year. Since Kevin joined the Institute, it has spun out nine deep tech innovations. He tangibly contributes to success- at all points along that pipeline – from supporting new PhD students through to guiding founding professors. The MacDiarmid Institute affiliated startups he supports have raised over $13M of investment to date.

His impact also extends to the wider deep tech sector. Kevin has established several valuable forums for entrepreneurs and commercialisation professionals across NZ; he is a mentor to others in the space; and in 2022 he helped organise a New Zealand delegation of 14 companies to attend the 'Cleantech Forum Asia' in Singapore which led directly to at least two international partnerships.

Significantly, Kevin has recently been involved in highlighting the need to enhance support for scale-up of NZ deep tech companies, drawing many stakeholders together into constructive discussions and presenting the findings to the government.

Kevin is a tireless champion for the wider ecosystem, adept at identifying the people and projects with potential, and building relationships between entrepreneurs, TTOs (the transfer offices), investors and others. He plays a key role in MacDiarmid's ongoing success in commercialising world-changing research.

Dr Sean Mackay represents a new generation of commercialisation professional, blending his roles as a scientist, inventor, commercialisation manager, and founder. Starting out as an inventor of several deep-tech opportunities, Sean now works for Massey Ventures in a tailor-made Senior Commercialisation Manager role that unleashes his unique skillsets.

He is responsible for a pipeline of commercial opportunities at Massey University, including many where he acts as a principal investigator, inventor, and/or founder. In under three years, Sean has helped raise around $3M and supported four spinouts (one where he was a founding inventor) and two licenses (one with Sean as a named inventor). These include: Ampersand Technologies, Retrabac Therapeutics, Nanophage Technologies, Captivate Technology and Strawberry Birthmarks.

He is also responsible for facilitating the University’s first Iwi investment, generating a healthy pipeline of commercial opportunities, and supporting the introduction of a flexible benefit-share model for founders and a new Student IP policy.

Sean has actively sought new opportunities to advance his skills, such as participating in KiwiNet’s Emerging Innovator Programme, and moulding his career to suit his strengths, creating the best outcomes for his organisation and team. He is leading the way for a new generation of researcher entrepreneurs and commercialisation professionals.

Avasa – Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland

On its path to market, Avasa placed a large amount of focus on strategic collaboration and early engagement with end-users. By bringing together surgeons, engineers, designers, quality assurance, and commercialisation experts, the team addressed critical user needs from the outset, paving the way for a faster transition from research to real-world application. The Avasa team undertook a thorough IP examination to enhance its IP defensibility and proactively learnt from initial challenges, developing many prototype designs before reaching a viable solution.

Backed by Auckland UniServices, Avasa Ltd was created in 2018, and is now based in the Auckland Bioengineering Institute's incubator space. In 2022 the company raised funds in a seed round led by Bridgewest Ventures and has enlisted a team of engineers and advisors to advance product development for manufacturability. It aims to gain regulatory approval and launch to market in 2025.

Avasa's microvascular coupling device has far-reaching applications for the plastic and reconstructive surgery market. Its IP also extends to many other critical medical operations, opening the possibility for Avasa to transform reconstructive surgery worldwide.

Lumi™ Drug Scan - ESR

Making forensic science accessible to frontline responders.

Lumi™ Drug Scan by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR) is a revolutionary tool for analysing drug samples, transforming how frontline staff respond to illicit drugs.

Approximately 10,000 drug samples are seized each year by NZ Police, yet current options for forensic testing of drug samples are not available to frontline staff. They also come with health and safety risks, are costly, and don’t provide sufficiently fast results.

Lumi combines a handheld near-infrared (NIR) device, a mobile phone application, and cloud-hosted machine learning drug detection models, to allow frontline responders to safely analyse illicit drug samples anywhere and anytime.

ESR and the NZ Police worked together to co-design the technology, ensuring that Lumi is fit-for-purpose and directly meets the needs of users.

Lumi has been deployed nationally by New Zealand Police with 150 devices rolled out, over 1,700 officers trained, and 3,800 samples analysed within its first year of operation. Lumi is also being trialled in Australia supporting law enforcement agencies to also benefit from real-time drug analysis results.

Each time Lumi is used it helps law enforcement agencies to respond swiftly and accurately, getting one step closer to reducing the harm caused by illicit drugs within our communities.