CRIs and business brought together by sustainable paint

“The project could have languished on the to do list as ‘that nice idea those Kiwis have’. But the competition got everyone thinking outside the box from the start.”

Carnaby says the Resene/IRL tie-up is a classic example of how CRIs could work with companies and the way government could fund those relationships. “It brought together this need the company had from the market and didn’t know how to solve, with a science team that had stellar science but didn’t have the slightest idea there was an issue in paint technology to which it could apply its science.

“If the government were to entrust CRIs with their own operational funding on the grounds that funding was linked to industry engagement, we could get rid of a whole lot of bureaucracy and at the same time have a much more creative and economy driven situation.”

Directly linking the science solution to an identified need removes a lot of blind alleys both the CRIs and business are forced to go down when going it alone, he says. “If you can solve a particular problem your route to market is then relatively simple.”

All the finalists had ideas directly based upon particular problems in their industries. If solved, each could have a significant economic impact for the company and the country, says Carnaby.

Powered wheelchair control manufacturer Dynamic Controls wants to improve the health of its customers by finding a way to use sensor technology to prevent some of the serious health effects of extended wheelchair living. Pacific Edge Biotechnology wants to revolutionise the cancer detection market with a cheaper, more accurate, less invasive diagnostic test, while Fisher & Paykel Appliances is keen to develop more environmentally sustainable dishwashers and washing machines, given increasing pressure on global fresh water reserves. There are many ways of tackling Fisher & Paykel’s problem, says Christian Gianni, the company’s engineering vice-president, but the problem is having the manpower and breadth of skills to do it. “New Zealand’s simply too small not to coordinate the needs of our business community better with the capabilities of our science providers.”

Rob Heebink, research and development executive at Kiwi electric fencing icon and business security firm Gallagher Group, also thought IRL’s approach was a much-needed change in the relationship between science and business. “Too often we have seen research institutes developing solutions that were looking for problems to solve.”

But more than that, the competition also gave Gallagher the opportunity and the impetus to tackle one of its ‘too hard basket’ problems, he says. Jonathan Cox, research manager at pet food manufacturer Mars Petcare New Zealand and Alex Tung, mechanical department manager from baggage-handling technology firm Glidepath echoed this sentiment. “The competition helped highlight the opportunities for applying an innovative approach and the intellectual capability available through New Zealand’s CRIs,” says Cox.

All the finalists also said they would be pursuing their newly defined research and development goals, hopefully with IRL’s involvement.

Anything that puts science, and research and development-type activities in the limelight in New Zealand is good, says Gianni. “We’ve got to be very clever to go up against the rest of the world.”