Innovations Centre brings to life Kiwi can-do attitude

DATE – 23 May 2013

Fieldays Innovations Centre brings to life Kiwi can-do attitude.

The Fieldays Innovation Centre Competition is the perfect forum for inventors to introduce their primary industry themed, ‘homegrown’ designs to a local and global audience.

By creating an opportunity for inventors to showcase their designs and prototypes, which are then critiqued by key industry leaders, it’s the ideal way for Kiwis to get past the first, crucial step to gaining commercial success in New Zealand and beyond.

With a serious prize pool available for inventors in the following categories; Grassroots, Launch NZ and International (covering local and global, individual and company entrants), they must wow judges to be in with a chance of winning financial and mentoring support. The goal: to establish their invention across local and global territories and gain commercial success.

This year has seen more entries than ever before, with over 70 innovations that reveal ideas, designs and prototypes within multiple primary industry categories – especially agriculture and horticulture.

Tony Smith, Team Leader at Fieldays’ Innovation Centre, who has been involved with judging, says that the competition is becoming more popular as word spreads about the success of past entrants.

“From the beginning the Innovation Centre has been an integral aspect of Fieldays. Globally, New Zealand is seen to be the leader and at the forefront of innovation for the agricultural sector.

“This competition is an opportunity for inventors to be heard by key people on an annual basis. There is so much work that goes into the projects from individuals or companies, we want to be able to capture and harness that talent and drive NZ innovations forward on a local and global scale. We have had much success in this regard.

“Every year, judges look at; originality, uniqueness and what’s new in the function or method presented. Also rated is how it’s better than anything already offered on the market and how it will benefit NZ agriculture – especially if it is a solution to a widespread problem which would create a positive commercial outcome. Final considerations are for technical viability and safety. I’m really looking forward to what discoveries await this year and am already anticipating further success stories,” says Tony.

Also involved, is key sponsor and intellectual property specialists, James & Wells, who are crucial to a large scale ‘reveal’ such as this. Their goal is to ensure the time and hard-earned money inventors have spent researching and developing a clever idea achieves the commercial success it deserves.

“The key to owning your invention is to apply for intellectual property protection before it goes public. Just for Fieldays, we’ve arranged a special exemption to the no disclosure rule, which can be used as a last resort,” says James & Wells partner Ceri Wells.

“If you’ve invented something really clever, Fieldays is the best test market in the world and we’re really proud to have been providing our expertise to help businesses improve farming practices in New Zealand and beyond at the Innovation Centre since 2009,” he says.

To view and talk to inventors, the Innovations Centre is open from 8am, Wednesday 12 June.

New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays will be held 12-15 June 2013 at Mystery Creek Events Centre, 10 minutes south of Hamilton. Fieldays is proudly supported by strategic partners - ANZ and the University of Waikato.

For more information, head to the Fieldays website, www.fieldays.co.nz.

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