KiwiNet News 1 May 2015

PwC supports KiwiNets mission to create commercial success stories from innovative research

Hamilton, New Zealand - 1 May 2015

The Kiwi Innovation Network (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.

Dr Bram Smith, General Manager of KiwiNet sees the collaboration as an excellent match: “We’re excited to work with PwC, an organisation that shares our passion for harnessing scientific knowledge to drive business innovation. PwC’s business expertise and connections will be invaluable in accelerating research discoveries to business success and economic growth for New Zealand”.

Jonathan Freeman, Chairman of PwC New Zealand, says, “We are delighted to now be a Major Partner of KiwiNet, and look forward to working together to create value for New Zealand. We are excited about the opportunity to couple our commercial expertise with the cutting edge research capability that KiwiNet is known for, and find solutions for today’s most important problems”.

KiwiNet helps public research organisations turn great research discoveries and innovations into commercial success by providing them access to the tools, connections, investment and support they need. The pinnacle of KiwiNet activities is the annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards designed to put the spotlight on the people and research organisations changing the commercialisation landscape in New Zealand.

Major Partner PwC joins KiwiNet Strategic Partner, BNZ and Major Partner MinterEllisonRuddWatts .

KiwiNet partner organisations include WaikatoLink, Plant & Food Research, Otago Innovation Ltd, Lincoln University, AUT Enterprises, AgResearch, University of Canterbury, Callaghan Innovation, Viclink, Landcare Research, Cawthron Institute, ESR, NIWA, Scion and GNS Science. Principal support is also provided by the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE).

KiwiNet’s fifteen partner organisations encompass around 70% of New Zealand’s science capability with over 7000 research staff and a collective research spend of almost $1 billion.

For further information please contact:

Sandra Lukey
Shine Group (PR for KiwiNet)
Cell: +64 21 2262 858
Email: sandra@shinegroup.co.nz