Water systems are failing around the country this is the problem that needs to be solved.
[Richard Quinn]
Tana koutou katoa, good afternoon everyone and thank you so much for joining us today my name is Richard Quinn group manager for the energy and environment sector here at Callaghan Innovation and i've had the pleasure of leading the C-prise project team and getting to know our truly talented finalist teams throughout their C-prize journey now we'd love to be announcing the C-prize winner in person however as with most recent events Covid-19 threw a spanner in the works, fortunately technology means that we can still have a virtual celebration and acknowledge our incredible finalist teams. The 2019/20 C-prize theme was a bold one and we challenged and incentivized New Zealand innovators to develop inventive and scalable solutions that will create positive global change climate change resource scarcity changes in demographics and consumer attitudes and new technologies are all fueling innovation and creating opportunities to translate those social and environmental challenges into commercial products and businesses that's why this C-price challenge has been about accelerating tech-based solutions to climate change cleaning our waterways and preserving our planet's finite resources pushing the boundaries of tech and innovation thankfully for all of us there's no shortage of talented scientists engineers and entrepreneurs in New Zealand willing to pick the gauntlet as we've seen across our C-price finalist teams and in fact all of the 140 entries we received back in December covering all aspects of our three impact categories of climate change fresh clean water and resource use and here we are now 11 months after launch with eight outstanding finalist teams in the running for the title C-prize 2019 and 20 grand prize winner. The journey for our C-prize teams hasn't been easy, Covid-19 disrupted our best laid plans so instead of bringing our teams together physically for boot camps across New Zealand we embrace technology using video conferencing and other online tools to deliver content and interact virtual, the team's perseverance and adaptability under already trying circumstances is a credit to them.
So it is now my pleasure to introduce you to our eight finalist C-prize teams Nag Kaitiaki with Amber, Isaac, Zoe, Vaughan, Ben and James. Ecotex with team members Georgie and Andre. Biofab with team members James, Leonard, Michael, Phil, Craig and Madushi then Zincovery with Aaron, Jono and Thomas. Loop HQ with Danny and Julian. Blue Tide Aquaculture with Scott, Cody, Jonathan and Thomas. SES with Gohan, Muhammad and Misagh and finally the team from OneBin with Carl, Dale, Ali, Muhammad and Mustafa let's give them all a virtual round of applause, now this virtual program wouldn't have been possible without support from our many partners including ministry for the environment Akina Luke Krieg the spring load team catalyst IOP and other subject matter experts and of course Creative HQ, a special mention also to our stellar lineup of judges to Marama who joined us in person and virtually from the US. Thanks to Juliet, Anne, Suse, Shawn, Conrad, Louis, and Brett and to Blythe for convening and coordinating our judging activity and last but not least thanks to our mentors the commitment you've shown to your teams and your generosity in sharing your time, commercial and scientific experience and knowledge and your connections has been instrumental in making C-Prize 2019 and 20 our best C-prize yet. Now before I hand to our chief executive Vic Crone i'm pleased to share a video we produced to capture our team's incredible C-prize journey starting from the very first boot camp back in February this year, it's a snapshot of the triumphs and challenges but most of all the passion and determination and resilience it takes to deliver tech solutions to help change our world for the better I hope you enjoy it.
[Music]
C-prize like other challenge prize competitions is about incentivizing people to solve gnarly problems and environment is kind of the gnarliest problem of them all right, it's an existential crisis for humanity, the galvanising industry produces waste acid that's high in zinc in other metals so what we're doing is completely recycling this list. We've basically found an idea for essentially an advanced switchboard for a home. There's a species called Toheroa. We're trying to rejuvenate that species and through that bring it to the market. SES is a thermal battery which absorbs warm energy from the environment, stores it and releases it on demand. We understand waste at the point of collection to improve recycling habits everywhere, we're trying to remove microfibers from being released into waterways through your washing machine and going into the environment Biofab is working on a 100 natural and biodegradable alternative to polystyrene and wood composites Nga kaitiaki is an augmented reality game that's going to become the largest data collection platform for citizen science in the world.
[Music]
We brought our 10 teams in together for boot camp and they all arrived all optimistic and bubbly and joyful and thought they were close to having this solution and then we spent a day talking about things like product market fit and they were all looking a little bit sad at the end of that day, let's get stuck into it
[Julyan Collett]
It was a really good kick in the ass to put it one way.
[Scott Harvey]
Being dropped into the deep end is easily the best way to learn and to have mentors coming at us with all this information has just helped us grow so much faster.
[Zoe Timbrell]
One of the really cool things about C-prize is that we get these amazing mentors that really customise to what we need as a team and pushing us further than we probably would have pushed ourselves.
[Sam Davies Talwar]
As a mentor it's been great just to dive into I guess even my past experiences and share the things that I've learned along the way I guess the mistakes that I've made and share those with the team.
[Grace Huen]
Getting them from an idea to what looks like a commercial product at the End.
[James Ferrier]
We've ended up with a far greater understanding of innovation to improve our process and that's helped develop the really strong IP strategy for us. Now we can actually to represent us to other people, we need to talk in their language so we've learned a new language so to speak.
[Georgie Northcoat]
The C-prize experience has been a bit of a roller coaster due to Covid.
[Richard]
Lockdown is just before the second boot camp so we had to scramble the calendar, innovation team had to come up with a new way of delivering that same content.
[Sam McGerty]
Obviously working from home was not the best environment as designers we like to be collaborative we like to be in front of each other we like to talk to each other. It's pretty impressive that they've been able to pivot online and still support us from a distance everyone at Callaghan that we've dealt with has been incredibly awesome and supportive
[Chong Deng]
During the lockdown the team still continued to work and at one of the catch-up meetings they showed us prototype working so that was the exciting moment as an engineer to see something working
[Carl Lickfold]
Here we are and still going so that's a good sign.
[Gohar Gholami]
I can say that the whole journey of C-prize has been a priceless experience for me but if I were to choose among them I would go for the connections that we made with people and we've been given some really good information and workshops around how to build a business and what's involved and taking that to the next level so we're able to take risks, we're able to try things that we might be too cautious to in the real world C-prize was a really good initiative for us to kick off and actually get this company moving and then turn an idea into basically reality.
[Jonathan Ring]
The experience that we've gotten out of it and how we've grown as a team is invaluable. I'll be looking back on the workshops we've done and the content that was shared for years from now being able to tell our story, I think will allow us to take on the world.
[Music]
[Vic Crone]
Kei nga tapu, Kei nga mana, Kei nga ihi, Kei nga wehi, nga iho maunga I waenganui i a koutou, nau piki mai, nau kake mai, haere mai koutou katoa.To all senior lineage among you to all authorities among you. To all of your essential life forces to all your awesomeness and the sacred mountains that bind us all together welcome, welcome, welcome, each and every one of you. Good afternoon and a warm Callaghan Innovation welcome to you all, thank you to our virtual audience for joining us as we announce the winner of C-prize 2019-20 technology challenge C-prize is Callaghan Innovations technology challenge, every two years we call on Kiwi innovators to develop disruptive tech solutions to address complex global issues, the challenge is a mental program of technology and commercialisation boot camps with finalists teams each receiving ten thousand dollars plus specialist Callaghan Innovation advisors providing guidance throughout with the winning team receiving a grand prize of one hundred thousand dollars plus continued Callaghan Innovation support for their commercialisation journey as Richard said earlier, this time we called on entrants to consider the global environmental challenges we face and to explore the massive opportunities for environmental innovation, this responds to the government's renewed focus on tackling climate change, for example the government has committed 124 million dollars to developing recycling infrastructure in a bid to reduce the staggering increase in waste heading to our landfills every year, the government has also set a target of net zero for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, forming an independent climate change commission to advise on addressing this pressing environmental concern with sea levels projected to rise 67 centimeters and temperatures to increase 3 degrees celsius by 2090, the government has released its first ever climate change risk assessment identifying 10 key social, economic and resource risk areas to urgently address over the next six years, Callaghan Innovation is committed to supporting these crucial environmental targets, we're working closely with the ministry for the environment and work alongside other government agencies and research institutes as well as the WWF's nine wire program to fund and support environmental innovations. Callaghan Innovation is committed to helping businesses use R&D and innovation to grow for the benefit of all New Zealanders we look forward to continuing to support ambitious New Zealand businesses on their innovation journeys with our programs and initiatives before we announce the C-prize 2019-20 winner i'd like to acknowledge some outstanding finalist teams that stood out to our judges, all of our eight finalists teams delivered exceptional presentations and submissions to the judging panel, making it tough to choose an overall winner, on the judge's request this year we've added a highly commended category to acknowledge three outstanding finalist teams so take a bow to Loop HQ, Nga Kaitiaki and OneBin, now what you've all been waiting for, the announcement of our C-prize 2019-2020 supreme winner, i'm delighted to announce that the winner of C-prize 2019-20 is ZinCovery! Congratulations, an amazing achievement of this year's winner, the judges said ZinCovery absolutely nailed it, not only did the team deliver an excellent presentation but they clearly understood the customers challenge and paid attention to feedback around potential solutions, Zincovery understands its target market and has identified opportunities for commercial growth, the business has already been building partnerships in the wider innovation ecosystem and engaging with stakeholders, putting it in a strong position to expand globally. Zincovery is a terrific exemplar of the role New Zealand can play in saving the planet by tackling complex environmental challenges well done and again congratulations, now let's hear what the team has to say about winning C-prize.
We're so excited to win C-prize, it's recognition for all our hard work that we've been putting in and it's the boost that we need moving forward, we're so thankful and we really want to thank Callaghan for the opportunity, the prize package is going to help us accelerate our business by enabling us to bring in some more staff and also meet some technical goals that we need to achieve before we take our process into industry, next year we're entering the market with our first ever commercial plant we're going to build this right here in New Zealand, and with it we want to give us the world's first waste-free galvanising industry, we would like to thank the team at Callaghan Innovation, especially Richard and Debbie, who've done a great job, we'd also like to give a big thank you to our mentors Sam and Matthias who, without their support, we wouldn't be able to do this and anyone in the future that wants to participate in the Callaghan Innovation C-prize I would highly recommend it.
[Vic Crone]
Congratulations again Zincovery you are deserving winners of the $100,000 grand prize and we look forward to supporting you on your journey, that's it from us I hope this year's C-prize challenge has highlighted what we stand to lose if we don't protect our precious environment and the power of innovation and technology to enable positive change kia kaha, Kia maia, Kia mamawa nui, good afternoon and thanks again for joining us.
[Music]
[Richard Quinn]
C-prize, like other challenge prize competitions is about incentivizing people to solve gnarly problems, an environment is kind of the gnarliest problem of them all right it's an existential crisis for humanity, the galvanising industry produces waste acid that's high in zinc in other metals, so what we're doing is completely recycling this waste we've basically found an idea for essentially an advanced switchboard for a home there's a species called Toheroa, we're trying to rejuvenate that species and through that bring it to the market, SES is a thermal battery which absorbs warm energy from the environment stores it and releases on demand we understand waste at the point of collection to improve recycling habits everywhere we're trying to remove microfibers from being released into waterways through your washing machine and going into the environment Biofab is working on a 100% natural and biodegradable alternative to polystyrene and wood composites, now Nga kaitiaki is an augmented reality game that's going to become the largest data collection platform for citizen science in the world.
[Music]
[Richard Quinn]
We brought our ten teams in together for boot camp and they all arrived all optimistic and bubbly and joyful and thought they were close to having this solution and then we spent a day talking about things like product market fit and they're all looking a little bit sad at the end of that day let's get stuck into it.
[Julyan Collett]
It was a really good kick in the ass to put it one way.
[Scott Harvey]
Being dropped into the deep end is easily the best way to learn and to have mentors coming at us with all this information has just helped us grow so much faster.
[Zoe Timbrell]
One of the really cool things about C-Prize is that we have these amazing mentors that really customize what we need as a team and pushing us further than we probably would have pushed ourselves.
[Sam Davies Talwar]
As a mentor it's been great just to dive into I guess even my past experiences and share the things that i've learned along the way I guess the mistakes that i've made and share those with the team
[Grace Huen]
Getting them from an idea to what looks like a commercial product at the end.
[James Ferrier]
We've ended up with a far greater understanding of innovation to improve our process and that's to help develop the really strong IP strategy for us.
[Scott Harvey]
Now we can see that actually to represent us to other people we need to talk in their language so we've learned a new language so to speak.
[Georgie Northcoat]
The C-prize experience has been a bit of a roller coaster due to Covid.
[Richard Quinn]
Lockdown hit us just before the second bootcamp so we had to scramble, the Callaghan Innovation team had to come up with a new way of delivering that same content.
[Sam McGerty]
Obviously working from home was not the best environment, as designers we like to be collaborative, we like to be in front of each other, we like to talk to each other, it's pretty impressive that they've been able to pivot online and still support us from a distance, everyone at Callaghan that we've dealt with has been incredibly awesome and supportive.
[Chong Deng]
During the lockdown the team still continued to work and at one of the catch-up meetings and they showed us prototype working so that was the exciting moment as an engineer to see something working.
[Carl Lickfold]
Here we are and still going so that's a good sign.
[Gohar Gholami]
I can say that the whole journey of C-Prize has been a priceless experience for me but if I were to choose among them I would go for the connections that we made with people and we've been given some really good information and workshops around how to build a business and what's involved and taking that to the next level so we're able to take risk, we're able to try things that we might be too cautious too in the real world, C-prize was a really good initiator for us to kick off and actually get this company moving and then turn an idea into basically reality.
[Jonathan Ring]
And the experience that we've gotten out of it, and how we've grown as a team is invaluable.
I'll be looking back on the workshops we've done and the content that was shared for years from now being able to tell our story, I think will allow us to take on the world.
