Ventures vie for NZ Innovation Awards next week

Ventures vie for NZ Innovation Awards next week

Three ventures that started out as ideas in programmes run by the Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship are finalists in the NZ Innovation Awards 2016.
Wine Grenade, Thought Wired and Koordinates are in the running for the awards, which celebrate game-changing innovation across the country. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at the SkyCity Convention Centre next Thursday, 20 October.

Wine Grenade, a tool to help winemakers make great reds through micro oxygenation, is a finalist for three categories: Innovation in Design and Engineering, Start-Up Innovator of the Year and Export Innovator of the Year. The company was created by Master of Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship students, and went on to win the Velocity $100k Challenge in 2014.

Thought-controlled communication software Thought Wired is a finalist in two categories: Innovation in Health and Science and Excellence in Social Innovation. Thought Wired was created by Dmitry Sleitskiy and came runner-up in the Velocity $100k Challenge in 2011.

Koordinates, a cloud-based data platform that provides digital map data for geologists, architects, engineers and researchers, is a finalist in the Emerging New Zealand Innovator category. Previously called One Track Mind, the venture was an entrant in the Velocity $100k Challenge in 2005.

New Zealand Innovation Council CEO Louise Webster says this year’s finalists are representative of 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 was a rise in entrants focused on making the world a better place.

Webster says: “We saw 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.”

• See all the finalists for the NZ Innovation Awards 2016

• Awards event details

• Read more about Wine Grenade

• Read more about Thought Wired

• Read more about Koordinates

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