Monthly Archives: February 2011

New Zealand needs to wake up to bioenergy’s potential

Posted on February 28, 2011 by

Because our brains are controlled by history and habit we tend to think about things the way we thought about them yesterday. It means we’re missing the opportunity for bioenergy says Brian Cox. The Executive Officer of the Bioenergy Association … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Innovation, sustainability, technology | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The connection between innovation and football – they both require balls

Posted on February 25, 2011 by

There’s no connect between football, as in soccer, and innovation – right? Wrong, according to Innovationfixer (and my apologies for not being able to give an actual name). The writer’s passionate about sport, particularly football, and loves the use of … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The business of learning about business a state of mind for pyschologist

Posted on February 24, 2011 by

Any start-up business is a work in progress, an environment where the founder is driving whatever the business sells as well as the business itself. And in spite of the thousands of textbooks written on the subject, like a sport, … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, education, Entrepreneur, Innovation | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Angel Association comes out with some ‘New Year’s revolutions’

Posted on February 23, 2011 by

Angel Association chairman Phil McCaw’s got a big year in front of him – and echoing his daughter’s misheard words, has made some late New Year’s revolutions. His wide-ranging thoughts are available here, and among one of his goals for … Continue reading →

Posted in Angel investment, Entrepreneur, high tech, Innovation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

LanzaTech keeps gearing up and seeks the holy grail of CO2 conversion

Posted on February 22, 2011 by

It’s not difficult to be a fan of LanzaTech, the Kiwi company that uses proprietary bacteria to convert smoke stack waste gases into useful products such as ethanol. Having got its technology up and running at the Glenbrook steel mill, … Continue reading →

Posted in Entrepreneur, high tech, Innovation, proprietary, sustainability, technology | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Helping people help themselves – a start up enters a new mind space

Posted on February 21, 2011 by

There’s money in stress, or at least in helping people deal with it. That’s the business plan of eight month old Wellington start-up company Umbrella Health and Resilience, whose workplace oriented training package is set to expand into Australia and … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Entrepreneur, start-up, university | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Natural, sleep-enhancing product’s story a great yawn

Posted on February 18, 2011 by

The almost instant sell-out of New Image Group’s sleep-enhancing milk product in Taiwan late last year might at first glance be considered a bit of a fluke. But that success with one of milk’s ‘good bits’ had its genesis a … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Entrepreneur, Prototyping, technology, value-added food. processed food | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

China’s second wives, and its luxury goods culture – a couple of surprises

Posted on February 17, 2011 by

From the perspective of ‘I didn’t know that’, and what will I write about today, a minor re-write of a Canvas8 report. Canvas8 has previously been given a plug by sticK, most notably for its TABS (trends + anthropology + … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Entrepreneur, sustainability, technology | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Here’s one way to make New Zealand a visibly ‘smarter’ place

Posted on February 16, 2011 by

Over the past decade the number of R&D staff transferring into New Zealand’s private sector has reduced according to IPENZ. There has been a corresponding reduction in upskilling says the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ, and the low absorptive capacity … Continue reading →

Posted in high tech, Innovation, Science, Science policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Where’s our middle ground between laboratory and large scale?

Posted on February 15, 2011 by

There’s a bit of a scale-up conundrum in New Zealand for people wanting to produce value-added bioactive products from a biological base. Yes, the small(ish) laboratory-scale work can be carried out OK. But where do you go for that next … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, proprietary, Science, technology | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments