7 October 2016 Two Lincoln academics to jumpstart their research ideas

A Lincoln University competition, supported by Kiwinet, is providing two academics with $60,000 of prize money to develop cutting-edge technologies.

Professor John Hampton (Bio-protection Research Centre) and Dr Luca Serventi (Department of Wine, Food and Molecular Biosciences) have won the second Lincoln University Innovation Jumpstart Competition after presenting their commercial science projects to a panel of judges.

Professor Hampton’s project aims to develop novel biological control agents of soil-borne and seed-borne pathogens of vegetable and arable crops delivered via an innovative seed treatment.

Dr Serventi’s project will investigate how novel ingredients can be used to overcome common issues with brewing gluten-free and low alcohol beers.

The competition was run by Lincoln Research and Innovation.

“We have developed Innovation Jumpstart to help us identify innovative ideas that address real market needs, with the aim to support the development of these ideas into valuable products and services,” says Lincoln Research and Innovation Director, Elizabeth Hopkins.

The competition attracted nine applications, of which five progressed to the next round. The five finalists gave a short pitch to the judging panel, consisting of Lincoln Hub commercialisation experts, Elizabeth Hopkins, Peter Barrowclough (Lincoln Agritech Ltd.) and David Hughes (Plant and Food Research).

Lincoln Research and Innovation also offered support to finalist Dr Bin Tian (Department of Wine, Food and Molecular Biosciences) to further explore the commercial potential of his proposed idea – a new method for white wine quality determination.