2009 Winners
Research and Development
Professor James (Jim) Johnston, Professor of Chemistry, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington
Professor Jim Johnston is internationally recognised for his research and development of new innovative materials and chemical process technology platforms.
He successfully bridges the gap between university research and industry needs, by providing enthusiastic leadership together with the proactive instigation and pursuit of industry-focused programmes. He uses innovative thinking and modern nanoscience and technology to develop new high value products from New Zealand natural raw materials and environmentally beneficial eco-chemical process technologies.
His current research focuses on nano-composite materials including the innovative use of gold and silver nanoparticles as novel colourants for high quality NZ wool in high value markets, and novel nano-structured calcium silicate materials for a platform of industry and consumer applications. These world firsts have been protected by patents and are commanding intense interest from New Zealand and international companies, who are working with him to secure exclusive access to these new knowledge-based products and technologies and their commercialisation.
He also proposed the idea and leads the development of an innovative continuous wet air oxidation technology to process problematic organic waste streams into useful feedstock products. This is being progressed to commercialisation internationally.
Jim has BSc, MSc and PhD degrees. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of NZ and was awarded the Society’s Thomson Medal for “Outstanding Contributions in the Application of Science and Technology”, the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry “Industrial Chemistry Prize” (2007) and was Wellingtonian of the Year (Science and Technology) in 2008.
He has supervised the research programmes of 49 BSc (Hons), 24 MSc, and 22 PhD graduate students, published 112 research papers, is the inventor of 12 patents and has made over 80 presentations at international conferences. He is a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary International.
Information and Communication Technology
Patrick Costigan, Founder, MotorWeb Services
Patrick Costigan is the founder of MotorWeb, a web based e-government system for
the motor industry.
In starting up MotorWeb, Patrick became a pioneer in the e-govt space. At a time when the Internet was in its infancy, he sought to gain electronic access to government registries to generate comprehensive legal reports on vehicles and facilitate changes of ownership and other legal compliance transactions. The
MotorWeb system has since grown to include online documentation and is expanding to take on overseas opportunities.
The innovation behind MotorWeb also lay in its choice of market. Patrick recognised the potential of facilitating motor industry transactions with various government departments to improve consumer protection and reduce legal compliance costs (business-to-government).
This was unlike every other web enterprise that seemed to be pursuing the sale of retail products to the public (business-to-consumer). MotorWeb was also a true e-business with all aspects of the company conducted electronically, for example account setup, product delivery, invoicing and collection.
MotorWeb has been recognised for its innovation and success through awards such as the Computerworld e-Business of the Year award in 2003, highly commended in the Westpac High-Tech Awards 2004, and placed within the Deloittes Fast 50 in both 2005 and 2006. Patrick was recently featured in the IBM Business Insights campaign on innovation.
For over 10 years Patrick has also been the Chairman of The Inventors Trust, which helps inventors and entrepreneurs to protect, develop and commercialise their ideas.
Over the last 14 years Patrick has spent a huge amount of time sharing his experience with inventors on idea and business development, entrepreneurship, patent and IP protection.
Patrick has been granted 12 patents in the area of communications and information services and is very proud to be called an Inventor. He has also assisted the Foundation for Science, Research, and Technology (FRST) on ICT funding strategy, and research grant awards.
Patrick holds a BSc. in Electronics Engineering and a minor degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Calgary, and a Network Engineering qualification from the University of Toronto. Patrick was one of a handful of people to start-up Clear Communications.
Agriculture and Environment
Professor Richard Warrick, Director and Board Chair, CLIMsystems Ltd
Professor Richard Warrick is the director and Board Chair for CLIMsystems Ltd, a company which designs, develops and markets advanced, user-friendly software systems for assessing impacts and adaptation to climate variability and change.
With over 30 years professional interest in issues related to climate and sea-level change, variability and extremes, Professor Warrick has spear-headed innovative developments in integrated assessment modeling as a way of integrating and synthesising models and data on climate change, and its impacts for purposes of decision making.
These developments have culminated in the SimCLIM software system.
The SimCLIM system is marketed by CLIMsystems Ltd which Professor Warrick established with two colleagues in April 2003.
SimCLIM software is the premier product of CLIMsystems and it has been customised and sold in diverse markets around the world. The software is the only one of its type in the world and has been widely recognised as time saving, rigorous, defensible and effective for a wide range of end-users.
The system is being run by some of the largest and most influential environment engineering and consulting firms, to country governments who must conduct climate assessments as part of their international
obligations. The system is so well respected that its global sea level rise scenario tool is being used by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change in its most recent report on global sea level rise.
Professor Warrick also has extensive experience working with international and regional organisations. He has been a Convening Lead Author and Lead Author in all four of the Intergovernmental Panels on
Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports, in 1990, 1995, 2001 and 2007.
Professor Warrick’s interests in the field have also extended internationally to capacity building and training, in which he led the team that developed the first training package for climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
In 2007 Professor Warrick was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with other key members of the IPCC.
Design and Engineering
Rod Walker, Executive Director and Head of Research and Development, Simcro Animal Health Delivery Systems
Rod Walker is Executive Director and Head of Research and Development at Simcro, a design manufacturing company based in Hamilton that specialises in providing customised animal drug delivery systems to the pharmaceutical industry.
In 2006, Novartis Animal Health in Switzerland challenged Simcro and several of their global competitors to supply a revolutionary new sheep drenching system to launch with their revolutionary new sheep drench. Simcro were selected as their partner, leading to the development of the Optiline™ drench gun.
Rod challenged the design of the traditional pistol-grip style drench gun, which has not changed from its basic form since being introduced over 30 years ago and which is used on every sheep farm today that uses an oral drench.
The inherent design flaw of the pistol-grip style drench gun is that the drench nozzle points away from the operator, requiring the operator to rotate their hand through 180 degrees to administer the drench into the sheep’s mouth. The resulting incompatible biomechanics creates significant operator fatigue and discomfort, and with sustained use, injury to the wrist, forearm and back.
The Optiline drench gun is a radical departure from the traditional; it overcomes these problems by having the drench nozzle protruding from the base of the operator’s hand, allowing for a natural presentation of the drench gun with precise control, thus greatly minimizing stress to the operator and animal.
Optiline has also been designed to be used by an emerging user group; women, and ethnic groups with smaller hands or less strength than the traditional sheep farmer.
The patented self-lock dose adjustment and dose guard also ensure that even inexperienced operators can use the Optiline Drencher without fear of injuring the sheep.
A professional engineer by education, Rod Walker has over 20 years experience in engineering design, product commissioning, project management and commercialisation of new products in the animal health, pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors.
Rod joined Simcro in July 2002 as Research and Development Manager and with three Auckland businessmen, purchased the company in August 2007.
Rod holds a degree of Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Auckland.
Science and Health
Dr Brian Ward is the founder and CEO of Mesynthes Limited, a New Zealand-based medical device company developing and manufacturing speciality devices for wound healing and tissue reconstruction.
Mesynthes was founded in late 2007 based on a growing market opportunity for medical devices for use in soft tissue reconstruction. The company attracted angel investment from Movac, Sparkbox, and the New Zealand Venture investment fund and has subsequently received grants from Technology New Zealand and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.
Mesynthes has developed technologies to convert a by-product of the New Zealand sheep industry into a high-value medical product. Termed ‘Endoform’, this novel platform technology utilises an extracellular matrix, a protein framework, which is implanted within damaged tissues to provide immediate support and structure thereby encouraging tissue repair. Cells quickly migrate into the matrix and synthesize new tissue and over time the product is completely degraded.
The innovation within Endoform lies in its ability to specifically fill an unmet need for large, strong and biologically complex tissue regeneration devices. Because of their enhanced biological and physical properties, Mesynthes devices are more suitable than current technologies for implantation procedures such as hernia repair and for the large surface area wounds.
An additional distinguishing feature of the Mesynthes product is that the raw materials are sourced from lambs. Competing products are typically manufactured from tissues of human, cattle or pig origin, thus limiting the broad acceptance of these medical devices on the basis of religious and cultural grounds.
Dr Ward is a trained veterinarian who has held clinical and senior corporate roles in life sciences and health care companies over the last 20 years. He has also overseen the economic investments team for the Foundation for Research Science and Technology (New Zealand), was the founding CEO of NZBio and has served on a number of government and industry advisory groups.
Dr Ward graduated from Massey University with a Bachelors degree in Veterinary Science and a Masters degree in Business Administration with distinction and is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (UK).