Nelson, New Zealand - 22 October 2014
NELSON, NZ., October 22, 2014 – Sanford Limited is taking on a KiwiNet Business Challenge to uncover novel proposals for high-speed automated technologies that will help it process its current daily rate of 1.5 million mussels. Today, researchers at New Zealand’s public research organisations will be pitching ideas to improve mussel processing in Nelson at the Aquaculture NZ Research Workshop in a bid to win $5,000 of prototype development funding and the opportunity to work with Sanford to develop their solution for commercial application.
Sanford’s Aquaculture Manager Ted Culley says, “Processing as many molluscs as we do presents all sorts of challenges. This a great opportunity for us and others in the aquaculture industry to uncover some novel ideas with commercial potential. While we’re looking for a winning idea, we’re keen to investigate all good ideas, so we may end up with more research projects.”
Dr Bram Smith, General Manager of KiwiNet says, “The Business Challenges are a great way to uncover business problems and match them with creative and hi-tech research solutions that will help them improve business productivity. They’re also a great way to build links between researchers from Universities and Crown Research Institutes and industry. We’re always keen to hear from local companies and industry groups who want to tap into the scientific expertise in New Zealand’s research organisations. This is the first of several aquaculture business challenges.”
The Kiwi Innovation Network (KiwiNet) is a consortium of 13 Universities, Crown Research Institutes and Crown Entities dedicated to taking a collaborative approach to research commercialisation.
Culley says that while Sanford already have strong relationships with many research agencies the KiwiNet Business Challenge is a great way build a stronger report with researchers and to focus attention on key business areas.
The Sanford KiwiNet Business Challenge will showcase ten proposals from research organisations including AUT University, Cawthron Institute, University of Otago, Callaghan Innovation and Victoria University. The pitches will cover five key business challenges for mussel processing identified by Sanford including:
The Aquaculture NZ Research Workshop and the Sanford KiwiNet Business Challenge will be followed by the national Aquaculture NZ conference on 23 -24 October.