Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
License needed for work use Register

Video | Business Headlines | Internet | Science | Scientific Ethics | Technology | Search

 

Big Research Project Sparks New Products, Jobs

An Auckland electronics company, Talon Technology, has received more than $900,000 from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, through its Technology New Zealand scheme, to fund further research and development into vehicle navigation technology.

This is one of the biggest amounts of funding ever awarded by Technology New Zealand, and the research programme has already created seven more new jobs for the company’s 35 strong Research and Development department.

The resulting technology is expected to provide the basis for a range of new products for Talon within a multimillion dollar, high growth market.

Several years ago, Talon made a significant investment in developing inhouse capability to manufacture GPS products at chipset level. Originally designed for marine markets, that technology became the basis for Talon’s explosive growth into land based navigation products.

A focus on innovation has, in less than 10 years, turned a four-person business into a multi-million dollar export machine employing more than 150 people.

Each year the company ploughs back its profit into R&D, a move that Peter Maire, Talon Technology CEO, says has been crucial in Talon’s growth

“The industry and its technology is changing so rapidly that everyone has to think of new ways of doing things. We’ve built our business on good partnerships, like linking navigation software into PDA hardware and joining with mapping giants Rand McNally. We knew we needed to be totally R&D focussed to keep our impetus going and stay ahead of the changes in GPS technology.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

”What we have today will be out of date in three years. This complex research programme is important to us because all our technologies, such as GPS, handheld and marine navigation, come together in the product range we are now looking at,” says Peter Maire

Although Talon started out originally as a marine electronics company, it has moved increasingly into land-based navigation, regarded as a huge growth area for the company.

Talon made its entrance into land-based navigation with a multi-million dollar export order to US Rand McNally, designed to have motorists driving smarter and finding destinations easier. Business with Rand McNally also led to new opportunities with major PDA manufacturers Palm and Compaq.

Talon will start patenting products, from software, hardware to intellectual property, as the research programme progresses.

-ends-


© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Business Headlines | Sci-Tech Headlines

 
FMA: MAS To Pay $2.1M Penalty For Making False Representations

Following proceedings brought by the FMA, MAS has been ordered to pay a $2.1M penalty for making false and/or misleading representations to some customers. MAS admitted failing to correctly apply multi-policy discounts and no claims bonus discounts to some customers, failing to correctly apply inflation adjustments on some customer policies, and miscalculating benefit payments.More

IAG: Call On New Government To Prioritise Flood Resilience

The economic toll of our summer of storms continues to mount, with insurance payouts now topping $1B, second only to the Christchurch earthquakes. AMI, State, & NZI have released the latest Wild Weather Tracker, which reveals 51,000 claims for the North Island floods & Cyclone Gabrielle, of which 99% (motor), 97% (contents), and 93% (home) of claims have now been settled. More

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.