High flying companies named finalists in Innovation Awards

High flying Kiwi companies named finalists in the NZ Innovation Awards

September 6, 2016

New Zealand’s most innovative and fastest growing companies including some major industry leaders have been announced today as finalists in the prestigious New Zealand Innovation Awards.

Robotics Plus, Diaryflo, Linewize, Fuel50, Caldera Health, CricHQ and Sidekicker are all finalists in various categories of the awards. The winners will be announced at an awards evening at Sky City in Auckland on October 20.

Among the 21 awards are the most inspiring individual, the Supreme New Zealand Innovator and the People’s Choice awards. The finalists represent game changing innovation from every corner of the country, with new ventures, products and services from a broad range of industries and business disciplines.

New Zealand Innovation Council chief executive Louise Webster says they demonstrate that Kiwi innovation is thriving, with a 35 percent per cent increase in entries this year that are of world class standard. Included in the finalists are an exciting range of entries such as motion activated wheel chairs, cancer diagnostic tools, sustainable meat substitutes and educational projects that help disadvantaged kids.

“I can see a significant shift in Kiwi innovation that is focused on high growth, export markets that demonstrate world leading approaches to innovation with many businesses going global from day one. One of the biggest changes this year is a rise in entrants focused on making the world a better place which is so heartening.

“We see a new wave of innovative businesses focused on solving social issues. These organisations are still profit making entities, but are driven by a purpose to help solve the world’s problems and have a global impact,” Webster says.

Bayer New Zealand managing director Derek Bartlett says the quality of entrants is impressive.

“The aim has always been to recognise great Kiwi talent and the commercialisation of innovative New Zealand products and services, and the awards certainly achieve that.”

The 2016 New Zealand Innovation Awards finalists are:

The 2016 New Zealand Innovation Awards finalists are: INNOVATION IN AGRIBUSINESS & ENVIRONMENT - Sponsored by KPMG
• Encounter Solutions - Celium
• Farmshed Lab - Flashmate
• Fieldmaster - Hovertractor to Mow Mangrove Seedlings
• Liquidstrip - LIQUIDSTRIP
• OnSide Ltd
• Robotics Plus Limited - Robotic Apple Packer
• Spring Sheep Milk Co. - Spring Sheep Milk Co.
• Zespri - SunGold Kiwifruit

INNOVATION IN DESIGN & ENGINEERING - Sponsored by James & Wells
• ARANZ Geo Limited- Leapfrog Modelling software
• AuCom Electronics Ltd - EMX4 Soft Starter
• AUT/NZA - New Zealand SKA Alliance Big Data Challenges
• DairyFlo - Soft plastic milking liners
• Howick Limited - Automated Steel Framing Machines
• Ogo Technology Ltd - Personal Mobility Device
• Robotics Plus - Robotic Apple Packer
• Wine Grenade

INNOVATION IN EDUCATION, TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT - Sponsored by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand
• Crimson Consulting
• Educa Limited
• High Performance Sport New Zealand - Goldmine
• Linewize Ltd
• Manaiakalani Education Trust - The Manaiakalani Programme
• Open Polytechnic - iQualify
• The Mind Lab by Unitec - Postgraduate Programme
• Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School - Ruku Ao
• Virtual Medical Coaching Ltd - Virtual Reality Simulation

INNOVATION IN FINANCIAL & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES - Sponsored by Paymark
• ASB - Clever Kash
• Figured Ltd
• Fuel50 - CareerPathing
• Pushpay Holdings Limited
• Quotient
• Ranqx Limited
• Simplicity NZ Ltd - Simplicity KiwiSaver
• The Snowball Effect
• Vault IQ NZ Ltd - Vault IQ Global

INNOVATION IN HEALTH & SCIENCE - Sponsored by Chorus
• ARANZ Medical Limited - Silhouette & FastSCAN
• Caldera Health - Urine Prostate Cancer Diagnostic test
• Fonterra - GA for paediatric nutrition
• Forest Herbs Research Ltd - Kolorex Horopito - Natural Antifungal
• Ogo Technology Ltd - Personal Mobility Device
• Sush Mobile - NZ Blood Service Donor App
• Synthase Biotech Ltd
• Thought-Wired - Thought-Wired nous™
• Volpara Health Technologies Limited

INNOVATION IN FOOD & BEVERAGE - Sponsored by Plant & Food Research Limited
• Countdown - The Foodbank Project
• Fonterra - GA for paediatric nutrition
• Heilala Vanilla - anything but Plain!
• Ligar - Ligar in F & B
• Spring Sheep Milk Co.
• Sunfed Ltd - Sunfed Meats
• WineFriend
• Zespri - SunGold Kiwifruit

INNOVATION IN TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS - Sponsored by Jade Software Corporation
• ARANZ Medical Limited - Silhouette & FastSCAN
• Auror
• AUT/NZA - New Zealand SKA Alliance Big Data Challenges
• Bluelab Corporation Ltd
• CricHQ
• Linewize Ltd
• NZ Bus - Fleet future-proofing
• OnSide Ltd
• Pushpay Holdings Limited
• Volpara Health Technologies Limited

INNOVATION IN MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS - Sponsored by Datamine
• Banqer
• Bluelab Corporation Ltd
• Haka Tours
• Heilala Vanilla - Co-branding and Collaborations
• MBIE Result 9 Better for Business - R9 Accelerator
• Patternsnap
• Pop-up Globe
• Zespri - SunGold Kiwifruit

INNOVATION IN MEDIA, MOBILE & ENTERTAINMENT - Sponsored by MediaWorks
• 90 Seconds
• ASB - Clever Kash
• Flossie.com Ltd
• Patternsnap
• Pop-up Globe
• Spark Ventures
• Springfree Trampoline - tgoma
• Te Ipukarea - Te Aka Dictionary & Te Reo Maori app & Tamata Toiere e-repository of waiata and haka

INNOVATION IN SUSTAINABILITY & CLEAN-TECH - Sponsored by Yealands Family Wines
• Flick Electric Co.
• FoundationFootprint - Sustainability Reporting
• Ligar - Ligar in the Environment
• Method Recycling - Station
• NANOARC - Transparent Energy Interface
• Regen NZ Ltd - Water & Effluent Irrigation Scheduling Service
• Scion - Bioadhesives
• Stormwater360 - LittaTrap™

INNOVATION EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH - Sponsored by Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
• AUT/NZA - New Zealand SKA Alliance Big Data Challenges
• Avertana - Extracting Value from Industrial Waste
• GEO AR Games - Sharks in the Park
• NZ Bus - Fleet future-proofing
• Robotics Plus - Robotic Apple Packer
• Sunfed Ltd - Sunfed Meats

START-UP INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR - Sponsored by Veda
• Dexibit - Mission in musedata
• InsuredHQ Limited
• Ligar - Ligar in the Environment
• Ligar - Ligar in F & B
• Manukee - UMF Manuka Honey Drinks
• OnSide Ltd
• Postr Media Limited - Postr Lock Screen
• Sabre Tactical Limited - MAKO Tactical K-9 Harness
• Wine Grenade

EMERGING NEW ZEALAND INNOVATOR - Sponsored by Regus
• Auror
• CricHQ
• Koordinates
• Linewize Ltd
• Method Recycling - Station
• Quotient
• Sidekicker
• The Snowball Effect

SUSTAINED INNOVATION EXCELLENCE - Sponsored by Sovereign
• ARANZ Geo Limited - Leapfrog Modelling software
• ARANZ Medical Limited - Silhouette & FastSCAN
• Spark Ventures
• Zespri - SunGold Kiwifruit

EXPORT INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR - Sponsored by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE)
• 90 Seconds
• ARANZ Medical Limited - Silhouette & FastSCAN
• Fonterra - GA for paediatric nutrition
• Linewize Ltd
• Volpara Health Technologies Limited
• Wine Grenade
• Zespri - SunGold Kiwifruit

EXCELLENCE IN SOCIAL INNOVATION - Sponsored by Yellow
• Banqer
• Countdown - The Foodbank Project
• High Performance Sport New Zealand - Goldmine
• KiwiHarvest
• Manaiakalani Education Trust - The Manaiakalani Programme
• The Mind Lab by Unitec - Postgraduate Programme
• Thought-Wired - Thought-Wired nous™

INNOVATION IN MAORI DEVELOPMENT - Sponsored by Poutama Trust
• Kidscoin Ltd
• Manaiakalani Education Trust - The Manaiakalani Programme
• Ngati Rangi Trust - Ruapehu Whanau Transformation Plan
• Squiggle Ltd - Young Engineers
• Te Ipukarea - Te Aka Dictionary & Te Reo Maori app & Tamata Toiere e-repository of waiata and haka
• Te Whare Hukahuka- Enabling Maori Leaders

MOST INSPIRING INDIVIDUAL - Sponsored by 3M
• Jamie Beaton - Crimson Consulting
• Jenene Crossan - Flossie.com
• Lillian Grace - Figure.NZ
• Russell Burt - Manaiakalani Education Trust

YOUNG NEW ZEALAND INNOVATOR - Sponsored by MOTAT
• Alejandro Davila - Conical (VR Studio) / Colab
• Alistair Scarfe - Robotics Plus
• Jamie Beaton - Crimson Consulting
• Katherine Holt - Massey University
• Kerman Kohli - The App Shop
• Ross McCarthy - Airwave Ltd

BAYER SUPREME NEW ZEALAND INNOVATOR - Sponsored by Bayer New Zealand
• Will be announced on October 20 at the NZ Innovation Awards event

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD - Sponsored by Idealog
• All finalists - public voting open from the September 12 to September 30.

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