Published Jun 6, 2019
KiwiNet has announced the finalists for the 2019 KiwiNet Awards and Viclink is well represented among the twelve outstanding nominees, with close links to three finalists. The annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards celebrates impact from science through successful research commercialisation within New Zealand.
Viclink is a member of Kiwi Innovation Network (KiwiNet), a consortium of 17 universities, Crown Research Institutes, an Independent Research Organisation and a Crown Entity established to boost commercial outcomes from publicly funded research by helping to transform scientific discoveries into new products and services.
Former Viclink Managing Director Geoff Todd is a finalist for the MinterEllisonRuddWatts Commercialisation Professional. This award recognises a commercialisation professional from a New Zealand research organisation, who has made an outstanding contribution to the commercialisation of publicly-funded research.
Geoff has had a profound impact on the way that scientific research is commercialised in New Zealand today, from creating the first Angel Network in New Zealand back in 2000, through to instrumental leadership positions in over a dozen deep tech start-ups. Regarded as a genuine enabler for careers in the science community, Geoff’s influence has guided many successful individuals in the New Zealand commercialisation ecosystem.
His 5 years of leadership at Viclink grew the business from a small team of three to the well-resourced and highly effective business it is today. Read Geoff’s nomination here.
Viclink spinouts also account for two nominations in the Breakthrough Innovator category, recognising upcoming entrepreneurial researchers who are making outstanding contributions to business innovation or are creating innovative businesses in New Zealand.
Dr Shalen Kumar, CEO of Viclink spinout AuramerBIO and Dr Brendan Darby, founder-CEO of Viclink spinout Marama Labs have both been nominated in the Breakthrough Innovator category. This category recognises an upcoming entrepreneurial researcher who is making outstanding contributions to business innovation or is creating innovative businesses in New Zealand through technology licencing, start-up creation or by providing expertise to support business innovation. Read Shalen’s nomination here and Brendan’s nomination here.
Viclink CEO, Anne Barnett is thrilled with depth of representation for Viclink at the 2019 KiwiNet Awards. “It’s gratifying to see the hard work of both the finalists and the teams that support them acknowledged with these nominations,” Anne explains. “The calibre of the fellow nominees is a testament to the strong state of research commercialisation in New Zealand right now”.
The KiwiNet Awards judging panel comprises: Duncan Mackintosh an Investment Manager at Brandon Capital Partners, Bridget Coates the co-founder of Kura™ and Chairman of White Cloud Dairy Innovation Ltd, entrepreneur Daniel Xu the CEO of Spark 64 and Chair of the Digital Technologies Investment Committee for Return On Science, and angel investor, advisor and director Debra Hall.
Award winners will be announced and celebrated at the awards evening reception on Wednesday 7th August. See the full list of finalists here.
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