New Zealand universities and research institutions are a ‘hot-bed’ of entrepreneurial talent.  Innovative sci-tech ideas are coming through so fast that a student-led investment committee programme is expanding nationally to cope with demand.

New University of Auckland research has examined whether Kiwi families are meeting national food and nutrition guidelines when feeding their babies.

Teachers in West Auckland will have easier access to specialist training to help struggling readers once Colwill School’s Reading Recovery Subcentre opens today.

A cell-sorting startup with considerable significance for the trillion-dollar global livestock market has been bought by a global corporate that already has significant existing operations in New Zealand.

Co-founded in 2011 by University of Auckland Professor Cather Simpson and seed investment firm Pacific Channel, with the support of the University’s commercialisation company UniServices, Engender Technologies has developed a unique cell sorting technology with the potential to replace flow cytometry in a number of applications.

World-leading health research and cutting edge medical innovations from the University of Auckland were showcased at a special medical technology and health commercialisation conference co-hosted by UniServices in HEDA this month.

UniServices has followed Mercedes Benz’s investment into Soul Machines with its own commitment of US$2m to a US$15m+ funding round announced recently by the company.  UniServices, which owns 15% of the company, made the investment through its $20m University of Auckland Inventors Fund.  Soul Machines was spun out of the University of Auckland in July 2016 with a Series A investment round by some of the

Young Kiwi business leaders such as Veronica Stephenson of Humble Bee and Spindle Fibre Films

Artificial intelligence trailblazer Associate Professor Mark Sagar is among six New Zealanders who will receive 2018 Kea World Class New Zealand (WCNZ) Awards at a Gala Dinner in Auckland on 21st June.

Rain Therapeutics Inc., a privately-held, clinical stage biotechnology company focused on biomarker-driven, small molecule therapeutics for patients with cancer, today announced the closing of a tranched Series A financing of US$18.4 million (NZ$ 26.7million).

An innovative University of Auckland trial using text messages has proven a success in getting people to manage their diabetes better.

Growing Up in New Zealand has warmly welcomed today’s announcement from the Minister for Social Development, the Honourable Carmel Sepuloni, that will restore funding of more than $1.9 million to

Following the University of Auckland’s recent review of its research and commercialisation functions, UniServices Limited has strengthened its support for developing IP and start-up companies and relaunched the technology development function as UniServices Commercialisation.

A world-leading ‘life-like’ surgical training programme, created by researchers at the University of Auckland, has been so successful it will be expanded across all district health boards (DHBs) this year.

The University of Auckland is further championing student innovation and entrepreneurship through the initiation of a brand new incubator – VentureLab.  This unprecedented initiative, delivered by the University’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is designed to support students and staff who have

Government-backed Medical Research Commercialisation Fund makes first New Zealand investment in pharmaceutical company spun-out of the University of Auckland.

The Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF) today announces an investment of NZD$8 million in Series A funding for Kea Therapeutics Ltd., an early stage pharmaceutical company which is developing a new drug for the relief of severe pain.

The University of Auckland partners with the NBR for their RADAR publication, which identifies future wealth creators set to make a significant contribution to NZ’s economic success.  See who made the list.

A culturally-adapted parenting programme for Māori families has increased parents’ confidence, reduced conflict between partners and improved children’s behaviour.

These results followed participation by the families in a four-hour programme. The Ministry of Health funded study was conducted by the University of Auckland and the Ngāti Hine Health Trust in Te Tai Tokerau, one of the largest Māori health providers in the country.

Momentum, a new Return On Science student-led investment committee which is the first of its kind in New Zealand, has been approved as an official commercialisation partner investment committee by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

Winners of the fifth annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards, designed to celebrate commercialisation success within New Zealand’s universities and Crown Research Institutes, have been announced.

"We are very proud to have won two awards at the recent Kiwinet Awards, to win Deal of the Year and Research and Business Partnership award, demonstrates that our innovative, client led approach to commercialisation and research deliver great results that are recognised within the community." Will Charles, GM Technology Development.
 

Hopes to fight untreatable strains of gonorrhoea have risen after it emerged that a new vaccine against meningitis unexpectedly reduced the risk of people getting the sexually transmitted infection.

UniServices has signed a multi-million-dollar deal that will allow a significant increase in the number and quality of world class “disruptive” companies spun out of the university’s research and development.

It is part of an agreement that will see Auckland and the Group of Eight (Go8*) Australian universities together receive investment of “at least” NZ$215 million over 10 years to find and develop companies involved in “disruptive innovation” in areas such as digital medicine, new medical therapies and quantum computing.

The University of Auckland’s new Innovation Institute China (UAIIC) will provide unprecedented access to an extensive range of networks, research and funding opportunities in China.

The University of Auckland’s knowledge transfer company, UniServices, has established the institute in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. It is due to formally open in the first quarter of 2017 and will focus on collaboration.

The Innovation Institute will allow the University of Auckland, UniServices and its partners to:

UniServices and the University of Auckland are partnering with an American drug development company to launch a biotech start-up that will research novel cancer vaccines.

The new start-up, SapVax was formed by scientists from the University of Auckland and BioMotiv, an accelerator company in Cleveland, Ohio, that is part of a $300 million initiative for advancing medicine called The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development.

SapVax will develop a suite of first-in-class cancer vaccines based on a novel peptide platform technology.