Agriculture & Environment

Dr. Johan Verbeek, Senior lecturer, Department of Engineering, School of Science and Engineering, University of Waikato

Dr Verbeek is a senior lecturer at the University of Waikato’s School of Science and Engineering, whose work focuses on utilising sustainable or waste products to develop new materials with a reduced impact on the environment.

More recently Dr Verbeek’s focus has been on developing technology being commercialised by Novatein – a process which uses low value or waste animal protein sources from the meat industry to create biologically-derived plastics or bioplastics and biocomposites. In this project proteins are converted to a plastic material that can be processed with standard plastic processing equipment and can be used in a range of products such as seedling trays or golf tees.

Novatein’s bioresin process technology produces around 1.5kg bioplastic from 1kg of blood meal. Both thermoset and thermoplastic materials can be produced, with specific properties tailored through variations in processing conditions.

Dr Verbeek has a PhD in chemical engineering.

Judges’ comment:

He has taken his research on developing new products from waste animal products through to commercialisation. New Zealand produces a large amount raw animal blood and turning it into goods made from plastic polymers is the basis of a viable industry. A new company, Novatein, has been established at Waikato to commercialise Johan’s patented process, which has also attracted domestic venture capital that is expected to have the new biodegradable product on the market within five years.
Back to top

Design & Engineering

Dr Chris Mardon and Tom Mackenzie, Energy Mad Ltd

Dr Chris Mardon and Tom Mackenzie founded Energy Mad Ltd in 2004. With extensive market research, design and development, they ‘engineered out’ all of the flaws of early compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and developed the EcobulbTM.

Winners of the 2007 Deloitte Fast 50 Award, Energy Mad constantly develops leading technological advancements to meet consumer demand. They have recently launched new technologies including the mini-downlight (halogen replacement), the covered Ecobulb, and are about to launch the 12Volt halogen replacement. In addition, Chris and Tom are currently working on a dimmable version of the Ecobulb.

This combined with the success of bringing project partners on board and using direct mail, saw them achieve their company mission of getting five energy saving Ecobulbs in 50% of the homes in New Zealand. 53% of New Zealand homes now have five or more Ecobulbs. These Ecobulbs will save enough electricity over their lifetime to power all of the homes in Christchurch for one year.

Consequently, Energy Mad now aims to “lessen climate change by saving enough electricity to power Europe”. This will be achieved through their Ecobulb projects globally, and also through new energy saving space and water heating “EcoSmartHome” initiatives.

Judge’s comment:

The judge said he preferred designs that had gone to market, rather than good ideas that had not yet been tested by customers. The winner, Energy Mad, demonstrated that by picking market trends and designing to take market share with features that give them competitive advantage. He understood that they designed the products, but had them made under contract, which enabled competitive pricing. Moving into dimmable halogen lights would solve many problems and move people away from low efficiency incandescent bulbs.
Back to top

ITC

Mike Carden and Mark Hellier, Co-founders, Sonar6

Mike Carden and Mark Hellier founded Sonar6 in 2004 with a vision to revolutionise performance management.

Sonar6 is a graphics-based performance and talent management software tool that is delivered online via Software as a Service (SaaS).

Sonar6 allows a company to create in-depth individual performance reviews easily. The information collected in those reviews is then used to create a helicopter view of an organisation’s people and successfully drive end-to-end talent management. In short, information gleaned in the performance review is used to inform all HR processes from identifying stars to succession planning and beyond.

This user-friendly and unique graphics-based approach to talent management has resulted in three pending patents for Sonar6 applications.

Since commercially launching in February 2006, growth has been rapid for Sonar6. The company has built up an impressive client list comprising 50 great New Zealand-based companies, as well as overseas clients in the US, India, the UK and Australia.

Last March, the company was invited to join Silicon Valley’s prestigious Girvan Institute of Technology. In November Human Resource Executive magazine awarded Sonar6 the Top 10 HR product of the year.

Judge’s comment:

More than 50 client companies in New Zealand, the US, UK, Australia and India demonstrates that Sonar6 has widespread market acceptance. As the world’s only graphics-based employment management system, it is clearly in a strong position to increase its business on a global basis, using the latest internet technology of software as a service. It has a novel graphics approach to such information and enables performance comparisons of individual departments and teams within a company using data from a single source.
Back to top

Manufacturing

David Percy B.E. ( Electrical ) M.I.P.E.N.Z.

David Percy is the founder and Managing Director of Pertronic Industries Ltd, one of New Zealand’s leading electronic manufacturers. After graduating from Canterbury University and working for the NZ Post Office (the forerunner to NZ Telecom) Mr Percy started Pertronic Industries in 1982 as a one person operation originally located in a Skyline workshop on his back lawn. Since then, the company has grown to its present size of 55 people in its Lower Hutt and Auckland sites, 20 people in its Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane offices and five people in its Shanghai office.

The company specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced automatic fire detection equipment for use in high rise office, hospital, hotel and other similar buildings. The company dominates the New Zealand market for this type of equipment and is now focusing on the Australia and China markets.

Mr Percy considers that one reason for his company’s success is that the company has remained highly focussed in specialised business activity. He maintains a high level of investment into research and development, and considers this vital if product and market leadership is to be achieved.

The company’s achievements were recognised last year when it was awarded a Wellington “Generating Gold” Award.

Judge’s comment:

The judge said this was a good example of focused design that has allowed a New Zealand company to expand into Australia and China. David Percy demonstrates one of the key pillars of innovation (identified in Ian Hunter’s new book Imagine) – that of persistence. He started his company 20 years ago on his own and it has since overtaken its multinational competitors with sophisticated software-based fire detection equipment. Mr Percy lives up to his belief that innovation is a relentless focus on keeping the product the best.
Back to top

R&D

Ray Avery, Founder and Chief Executive, Medicine Mondiale

Ray Avery is the founder and chief executive of Medicine Mondiale, an independent development agency focused on creating sustainable solutions to reduce global poverty through the development of products and technologies that have applications in both the developing and developed world markets.

Ray’s innovation comes in the form of a replacement for the traditional “roller clamp” that is used to administer intravenous fluids and medicines to patients. The traditional roller clamp was not intuitive to use and due to its highly sensitive adjustment mechanism, medical staff often have difficulty in maintaining accurate infusion rates.

The Acuset IV flow controller, is a $US 6.00 reusable IV Flow Controller which is intuitive to use even by relatively untrained operators with an accuracy and precision similar to a $2,000 microprocessor syringe pump. The Acuset IV flow controller has the potential to save millions of lives and improve the quality of clinical care in almost every clinical discipline throughout the developing world.

Ray was a founding member of the Auckland University School of Medicine, Department of Clinical Pharmacology and a former Technical Director of Douglas Pharmaceuticals.

Judge’s comment:

The judge said Mr Avery’s invention, the Acuset flow controller, is simple and cheap – and a breakthrough in health equipment that has implications for clinical treatment around the world. It replaces the difficult to use and often inaccurate ‘roller clamp’ for administering intravenous fluids and medicines to gravely ill patients in developing countries. Although it costs less than $10, it delivers the same result as expensive microprocessor syringe pumps that cost thousands of dollars.

Back to top

Science & Health

Olaf Diegel, Director, Creative Industries Research Institute, AUT

This year, Professor Diegel led the development of the Activa Xrystal – the first blood pressure monitor to use transparent LCD technology, which uses a laser cut stainless steel control panel to minimise components.

The HealthWorks software that accompanies it records blood pressure, sugars and weight, allowing tracking of trends and averages over time and calculating cardiovascular disease risk.

He has developed over 40 product innovations in a range of areas including theatre lighting and security. He has a PhD in product development from Massey University and a masters degree in project management from the Sydney University of Technology.

Judge’s comment:

The judge said Professor Diegel’s development of the Activa Xrystal, a blood pressure monitor, has clear benefits and enormous potential. It uses LCD technology to minimise parts and software that tracks blood-sugar levels and body-weight so people can take preventative measures before they become ill. The chances are Xrystal will become even smarter as it expands into more preventative medicine areas such as asthma and forecasting conditions that could lead to cardiovascular disease.

Back to top