New Zealand Research Commercialisation Success Stories
Below are some examples of projects that have been successfully commercialised by Universities and CRIs and have the potential to generate significant economic returns for New Zealand. Not all projects have had KiwiNet involvement.
Putting the green back in greenhouses
Hot Lime Labs’ breakthrough technology is transforming greenhouses with renewable CO2, boosting yields and profits while cutting reliance on fossil fuels.
Cauli-powered ice cream
It's ice cream, but not as you know it - EatKinda's cauliflower ice cream offers a dairy-free alternative that's creamy, delicious and kind to the planet.
The X factor inside waste-free buildings
Structural frame solutions for waste-free buildings could totally transform the way we think about buildings.
Cultivating the culinary delights of New Zealand’s native mushrooms
Spectacular new varieties of mushrooms introduced to restaurant dining experiences.
Avalia Immunotherapies
Avalia Immunotherapies is fighting cancer, hepatitis, and now COVID-19
Invert Robotics
Christchurch-based Invert Robotics expands further into global markets with robotic non-destructive inspection services
Associate Professor Cather Simpson - University of Auckland
From Sensors to Sperm Sorting - Lighting up NZ’s Economy with Lasers
University of Canterbury & Canterbury Scientific Ltd: Biotechnology partnership
Partnering on long term and higher risk research projects to address significant, global diagnostic health problems
Callaghan Innovation & Manuka Health: CycloPower
CycloPower™ dietary supplements manufactured and powered by a partnership between Manuka Health and Callaghan Innovation
Dr Carla Meledandri - University of Otago, The MacDiarmid Institute
Harnessing silver nanoparticles to treat and prevent dental disease
Dr Robert Hill - Bio-Protection Research Centre, Lincoln University
Helping key industries to save millions - boosting plant growth and keeping disease under wraps
StretchSense: Soft Wear by StretchSense
Unleashing fashion on technology: making wearable tech invisible
Scion & Sonae Industria: Woodforce
Working with an International partner to commercialise high performance wood fibre-reinforced plastics
AgResearch - ZeaKal
International spin out supports the commercialization of plant biotechnology in New Zealand
Plant & Food Research Revolutionising Plant Variety Commercialisation
An Evolution from Transactional Plant Sales Based Royalties to Participation in Commercial Success
Plant & Food Research and Zespri’s Response to the Psa Outbreak
One Team - Science and Industry Joining Forces to Save an Industry
The Biopolymer Network Ltd & Barnes Plastics
Zealafoam™ - An Exciting and Sustainable Alternative to Polystyrene
Comvita New Zealand Limited and Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology
Accelerating Innovation Together to Deliver Commercial Success
Dr Stephen J. Sowerby
Facilitating Academic Culture Change with an Applied Science Exemplar of Commercial Innovation
Cawthron Natural Compounds
The Cawthron Institute in Nelson is one of only a few organisations in the world capable of producing purified marine natural toxins.
Biocontrol for Vegetables
Lincoln University intends to develop a commercially viable live spore product to protect high value vegetables against soil-borne pathogens.
WETOX
WETOX is a technology out of the University of Victoria that seeks to provide an economic and environmentally friendly way of disposing of waste sludge products.
HyLink
Callaghan Innovation has developed the HyLink System which can provide a cost effective sustainable energy solution from 100% renewable resources.
Chronoptics
The University of Waikato's Chronoptics Group have developed a suite of technologies that are proven to improve the quality and performance of time-of-flight cameras for 3D imaging.
Hotels for Chelifers
Development of a novel beneficial method for biocontrol of varroa mite in commercial honey hives.
Amaranth Protein
The Biopolymer Network have developed a process to produce an extract that is expected to deliver 3 beauty outcomes; skin whitening, hair strengthening, and skin cell protection.
CEMARS Energy
Landcare Research, through their subsidiary Enviro-Mark Solutions, has developed an integrated carbon and energy management system in response to UK regulation.
Probiotics For Farmed Fish
The University of Canterbury is seeking to commercialise a fish feed additive for salmon farming, which could significantly decrease cost of fish feed and omega-3 additives used in salmon aquaculture.
Titanium Powder Metallurgy
The TiTeNZ collaboration has created a platform for high value manufacturing in NZ, resulting in the commercialisation of several exciting new technologies.
You could sum up Alistair’s work in one sentence: Which is helping the seafood industry become more sustainable and more profitable
Danette Olsen - General Manager Seafood, Plant and Food Research
Alistair Jerrett
Alistair has a vision of a New Zealand seafood industry that has a national and international reputation for ethically harvested and high quality fish.
All those research organisations have a direct commercial focus and link, so they are collaborating with commercial firms who are part of the research and development, and have very clear outcomes they require with respect to the commercial product. Key to collaboration is having clarity of purpose.
KiwiNet offers a unique opportunity to change the dynamic between New Zealand's public research organisations.
David Hughes – General Manager Commercial, Plant & Food Research
Species Selective Rodenticide
Landcare Research has developed a rodenticide that is targeted at rats, while proving relatively harmless to other rodents and mammals.
Filter technology delivers exceptional purity at industrial scale
Researchers have developed a smart polymer (MIPS) that can selectively remove molecules from solutions, opening up a range of industrial applications.
Kifunensine Serendipity
A rare sugar, developed by Glycosyn, is a crucial ingredient in the manufacture therapeutic for the treatment of a rare genetic disorder.
Rapid Point Cloud Viewer
ESR's Rapid Point Cloud Viewer is a user friendly piece of software than can make processing laser scan data a part of anyone's everyday workflow.
SpringFree™ Trampoline
Dr Keith Alexander redesigned how a recreational trampoline works to make it safe for his kids. This Kiwi invention became US product of the year.
KiwiNet, and the Investment Committee in particular, is a great example of New Zealand research institutions collaborating in an open and transparent manner to achieve best outcomes.
Tim Balmer – Director Investments & Commercialisation, Callaghan Innovation Research Ltd
High Performance Schottky Contacts
Researchers from the University of Canterbury are looking to commercialise the next generation of thin film transistors for flat panel displays.
Localised Water Heating
An exciting new platform technology is emerging from the University of Waikato – with the first commercial application being rapid water heating in domestic households.
New Bio Pesticide For Psa-V
Plant & Food Research is developing a new biopesticide to manage the kiwifruit disease Psa, to help with protecting kiwifruit export revenues for New Zealand.
Precision SeaFood Harvesting
Plant & Food Research is working in partnership with industry and government to transform the way New Zealand, and eventually the world, fishes.
C-DAX Pasture Meter
Massey University's New Zealand Centre for Precision Agriculture, in partnership with C-Dax, has filled a gap in the market for a more efficient means of pasture measurement.
Reliable Production Of Juvenile Hapūku
NIWA is seeking to develop a procedure for the reliable and cost-efficient production of hapūku juveniles, as a basis for a profitable hapūku farming industry to develop in New Zealand.
Minimising Bovine Tuberculosis
A collaboration between Landcare Research and TBfree New Zealand has led to a large-scale disease eradication initiative previously thought impossible.
DME Extraction Technology
Callaghan Innovation is looking to demonstrate the commercial suitability of their dimethyl ether (DME) processing technology, with the application of extracting carotenoids from natural products.
Our Partnership with Massey has really been fundamental in our growth. The research and the stage that we’re at in our product development is streets ahead in some instances of what is going on around the rest of the world. That partnership with Massey has given us not only the knowledge, but the confidence to go you there and market our products to the best in the world.
Our Partnership with Massey has really been fundamental in our growth. The research and the stage that we’re at in our product development is streets ahead in some instances of what is going on around the rest of the world. That partnership with Massey has given us not only the knowledge, but the confidence to go you there and market our products to the best in the world.
Jennifer Boggis, Director Heilala Vanilla
Massey University and Heilala Vanilla
United by a passion for the world's most sensual and exotic flavour producing products used by the food industry around the globe.
STRmix™ Resolve more DNA Mixtures
STRmix™ technology allows more complex DNA signatures to be interpreted, providing more reliable, robust and defensible evidence in court.
Collaborating with Plant and Food and Etec has been very successful and something of a meeting of the minds, they have very good science, we have people on the ground and the commercial and market support. Working together as a cohesive team has been really productive
John Read, Managing Director, Etec Crop Solutions
The team at Tait and the team at Wireless Research Centre have worked very closely and very collaboratively and what has resulted has been the degree of confidence and trust where we know that the intellectual properties that are being generated are being put to good use
Fred Samandari, Spatial Engineering Research Centre, University of Canterbury
Wireless Network Partnership
Commercialisation of fundamental wireless research to create global export earnings
Augmented Reality
Mobile tech that blurs the line between reality and possibility attracts buyers
Callaghan Innovation
This research consortium aims to enhance sheep processing productivity and quality through the use of automation.
Land Use Change & Intensification
Aiming to ensure that the productive capacity of New Zealand's agricultural land is sustained or enhanced
Being able to tap into the hard-won knowledge and networks from other KiwiNet members has been enormously valuable.
Dr Nigel Johnson, Director of Research & Innovation at the University of Canterbury
Through KiwiNet ESR was able to access resources, advice and expertise that wasn't previously available to us, and which gave us the confidence to step into new areas.
Hamish Findlay - Forensic Business and Commercial Manager, ESR
Auckland University of Technology
Growing the New Zealand surf clam industry with the Cloudy Bay Group
Magritek
Magritek is a business which grew out of a decade of world-class research at both Victoria and Massey universities to manufacture products based on Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technology.
ZyGEM
ZyGEM™ Corporation Limited is a rapidly growing biotechnology company with innovative enzyme-based products and technologies developed from our exclusive collection of microorganisms from extreme environments.
With the Kiwi Innovation Network we have an exciting opportunity to develop strong relationships with the current and future partners... This new found scale and breadth of expertise across new sectors, regions, and networks makes KiwiNet a significant and distinct player internationally, something as a small entity in a small region distant from major markets we could not have achieved.
Duncan Mackintosh – CEO, WaikatoLink Ltd, the commercialisation office of the University of Waikato
Eco-n™
Eco-n™ is a product that reduces the environmental impacts of dairy farming and increases farm productivity and sustainability.
Dr Anna Henning, Victoria University of Wellington & Boutiq
Embracing a Boutiq opportunity: Leading nanomaterials from the lab to the world
HTS-110 magnetic solutions
HTS-110 is the world's leading company in the development of magnetic solutions utilising high temperature superconducting wire.
General Cable Superconductors
General Cable Superconductors specialises in the production of 2nd generation HTS Roebel cable, blending cutting edge research with an extensive background in cable manufacture.
ArcActive
ArcActive Limited was spun out by Research & Innovation, at the University of Canterbury, to commercialise diverse applications of a unique carbon nanotube-laden substrate developed using a continuous, novel and inexpensive method of depositing carbon nanotubes on conducting substrates.