Investment & commercialisation
Investing strongly in people, IP and businesses.
 Mouse. |
 Laboratory work. |
 Xstinguish in action |
Investment and commercialisation have long been parts of the company’s approach to future growth and development. Manaaki Whenua was one of the first CRIs to establish a commercial subsidiary, with the formation of Sirtrack Ltd in 1995. During the early years, our focus was primarily on investing strongly in people and infrastructure to create a viable science business. We must continue to invest in this, and also in developing our approach to innovation and commercialisation. Clearly this is consistent with the Government’s Growth and Innovation Framework, and the direction provided by the Government as the shareholder of Manaaki Whenua.
In 2003, we established commercialisation as a separate ‘strand’ of our business. We invest in research ideas that come primarily from within Manaaki Whenua, and develop them to create new businesses or valuable intellectual property that can be sold or licensed to others. During the year the Board approved investment in a significant new project — the development of novel rodenticides for controlling rats and mice, which are serious environmental pests as well as domestic and industrial nuisances. This project is supported with funding from the Government’s Pre-seed Accelerator Fund.
Several environmental technologies were licensed or sold to third parties for commercialisation. For example:
- we worked with Molecular Light Technology (MLT) Ltd to jointly develop a test kit to measure exposure of native species to estrogenic endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The kit will use mosquito fish, a universal pest species. MLT is a UK-based biotechnology company that develops high-sensitivity diagnostic tests using chemi-luminescent technology.
- in collaboration with the Western Australia Department of Agriculture, we developed a bait for ant control. This bait, Xstinguish, is being manufactured and marketed by Bait Technology Ltd, an Auckland-based pest management firm.
We are working with Streat Instruments Ltd (Christchurch), who received a Technology for Business Growth grant from TechNZ, to design and develop an automated soil moisture measurement instrument. This could be used in flood management and watershed studies, forestry and crop management, soil characterisation, irrigation schedules, and contaminant management.
Most of these environmental technologies projects were developed and supported in their early stages through investment of Non-Specific Output Funding (NSOF).
Manaaki Whenua continues to carry out significant numbers of research contracts and consultancy work for central and local government, and private companies. Commercialisation complements our research and consultancy efforts, supports our Mission, produces revenue, and also ensures that proven, effective environmental technologies are in the marketplace.
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