27 August 2008 Lincoln in three-way university partnership to promote technology-based entrepreneurship

Commercialisation of research, development of an “enterprise culture”, harnessing university knowledge and expertise to benefit industry, and  transforming good ideas into good commercial outcomes … all of these aims, first expressed two years ago with the Government-funded Growth and Innovation Pilot Initiatives (GIPI) programme, have now risen to a new level with the establishment of a partnership between the South Island’s three universities  -  Lincoln, Canterbury and Otago.

The essence of the tripartite partnership is for the universities to work together with successful business entrepreneurs to build, collaboratively, a culture of enterprise based on innovative, technology-based research.

The collaborative programme is backed by $3 million of Government money, distributed through the Tertiary Education Commission’s Encouraging and Supporting Innovation Fund, and central to it are the appointment of “entrepreneurs in residence” at each of the universities and the creation of a consultative Industry Advisory Board.

The programme will encourage and support innovation at all three universities in the areas of science and engineering, biotechnology, agriculture, health science and Information Communications Technology. It will build links between staff and students and people with strong business backgrounds in order to produce graduates who are ready for successful careers in technology-based areas and research staff who are ready to translate their research into new business ventures.

The three “entrepreneurs in residence” are Dr Peter Fennessy (Otago), Dr Garth Carnaby (Lincoln) and Dr Bill Swallow (Canterbury).

The Industry Advisory Board, chaired by Sue Suckling (Chair, National   Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, NZQA and AgriQuality), had its first meeting with university representatives in July. Board members are David Band (ex-PA Consulting and Sibson, UK); Mike Dunbier (ex-CEO Crop & Food Research); Richard Garland (Managing Director, NZ Pharmaceuticals); Pramod Khatri (CEO, MCK Metals Pacific); and Jim McLean  (Chair, NZBio, HortResearch). 
Lincoln University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor Dr Chris Kirk, who attended the meeting,  has long been a strong advocate of university-industry collaborations and the need to encourage a culture of  “enterprise” on-campuses.

“The GIPI programme and its successor, the tri-partite collaboration between Lincoln, Canterbury and Otago universities, reflect the Government’s belief that for New Zealand to pursue a high wage, knowledge-based economy it must encourage greater collaboration between the tertiary education sector and industry,” says Dr Kirk.

Lincoln University’s entrepreneur in residence, Dr Garth Carnaby, is a former CEO of the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand, subsequently Canesis.

Ian Collins, Communications Group, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.