Annual Review
UniServices plays a unique and important role in bringing ideas to life in Aotearoa New Zealand. Since 1988, we have acted as the kaihono – those who link people to people and people to projects – bridging academia with business, government and communities.
The 2021 Annual Review highlights UniServices' activities over the year in:
- Advancing research
- Commercialising and protecting ideas
- Investing and partnering, and
- Delivering positive community impact.
A message from the board chair
For Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland and UniServices, 2021 was a year when we continued to navigate our way through difficult times but also managed to address new initiatives.
The Covid-19 pandemic has presented business challenges and impacted the ways we work and connect, but the company and its staff have met these challenges with considerable success and ended up having another very successful year.
As we move beyond the pandemic, I believe the legacy of 2021 will be the new sense of ambition for the company and the strategic plans that follow this. These plans set our course for a more sustainable, equitable and prosperous future.
James Metson
UniServices Board Chair, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
A message from the CEO
The second year of the Covid-19 pandemic was certainly challenging at times. However, it was different from 2020 in a few important ways.
One, we were used to being adaptable. Meetings moved online where necessary and business-almost- as-usual continued. Two, we knew how to support each other. People made efforts to build relationships virtually and help each other. Three, we had more tools in our kete, including vaccines, which the Immunisation Advisory Centre helped roll out across New Zealand and much of the Pacific.
Like vaccination, our new UniServices strategy, Te Puna Rangahau, is both ambitious and protective. This year’s annual review covers our first steps in building the future it envisions.
Andy Shenk
UniServices CEO