From scientist to suit; it can be a sizeable leap. But Wellington has a thriving innovation industry working feverishly to guide academics from eureka moment to the unfamiliar territory of the commercial world.

After 20 years as a chemist, Victoria University Associate Professor Kate McGrath now has a dual career as an innovator. The career chemist, whose mind has been trained on her scientific field for most of her adult life, has now filed a provisional patent and is sizing up three potential company leads.

“Anyone who is doing science is doing it because they truly believe the knowledge they gain will aid society. Some people do things that are more tangible, and can be applied in a commercial way, and I’m just one of those people.”

Dr McGrath is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences. The commercialisation of her work drew on the set of talented individuals and organisations helping develop Wellington’s innovation ecosystem. The capital has a network of world-class academics, intellectual property strategists, commercialisation experts, and angel investors coming together to turn innovations, ideas and inventions into serious business ventures.

Viclink chief executive John Errington says Wellington’s innovation industry didn’t exist in its present form five years ago because of a lack of investment and collaboration. But various factors combined to drive a new way of commercialising the research coming out of Victoria University: the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST) started focusing more on commercial outcomes from research, Viclink was bolstered with the resources to properly guide academics through commercialisation, and Grow Wellington’s Creative HQ incubator came on board to mentor and develop fledgling businesses.

“There’s a buzz,” Mr Errington says. “This industry is achieving, for the first time, a critical mass of co-ordinated organisation.”

Not that that means commercialisation will come easily. It certainly didn’t for Dr McGrath. The patent process has required secrecy, which has jarred with a woman who firmly believes in freedom of knowledge. And, after years working in her highly-specialised field, she has suddenly had to learn the ways and motivations of patent attorneys and angel investors.

“It’s a huge mind-shift for me and I struggle with it a lot.”

What kept her motivated was the knowledge she was contributing to the status of physical science in the New Zealand economy.

“I’m passionate about the fact that the New Zealand economy should be based on physical science. If we feel passionately about science, and about New Zealand, the only way that change is going to come is if we, as physical scientists, can prove, even in this environment, we can do this.”

In recognition of the huge potential in her work, the university’s Strategic Research Fund has agreed to support a post-doctoral scientist for three years to ensure Dr McGrath’s biomineralisation innovations have the best possible shot at commercial success. The scientists’ sole focus on commercialisation over the past 10 months has helped the project move swiftly. Viclink commercialisation manager Sophie Howard says many aspects of Dr McGrath’s work are still commercially-sensitive but each of the three company leads presents unique commercialisation potential. One is around paint and coatings technology, another is to do with medical implants and another could help wounds to heal faster and stronger. Dr McGrath and other researchers involved in commercialisation are inspiring a new generation of academics who are eyeing up the career potential in commercial application of research. Benjamin Matthewson, a PhD candidate with a chemical science background who worked with Dr McGrath, has actively courted a commercialisation career. He is about to take up a role as a commercialisation manager with Viclink and says students he talks to are adamant that they want their innovations to reach consumers.

FRST’s emphasis on funding projects with commercialisation value, and researchers with commercialisation expertise, has justified Victoria University’s decision to start developing Viclink. A key plank of Viclink’s work is IP (intellectual property) strategy. Mrs Howard says there are three women who form the core of the IP strategy industry in New Zealand; IP manager Anya Hornsey of Powerhouse Ventures in Christchurch, Viclink’s own IP advisor Julie Crisford and Grow Wellington’s IP strategist Dr Penny Gibson. Dr Gibson is a member of the Viclink IP commercialisation committee and a key figure within the capital’s business incubator Creative HQ. Originally from the United Kingdom, Dr Gibson’s PhD was in the strategic use of patents to achieve growth in small and medium-sized research and technology innovators. As Sophie Howard says, Dr Gibson’s skills have proved a dream resource for Wellington’s innovation industry.

Dr Gibson says New Zealand is operating at the cutting edge of innovation, but there needs to be more support to get Kiwi ideas and inventions into an international forum. Throughout Europe, government bodies offer millions of Euros to fund the development of great ideas.

“Small companies in Europe get significant government support on IP audits, investment and commercialisation. That automatically sets them at an advantage over a New Zealand company.”

Dr Gibson says she’d like to see a government commitment to innovation and changes to the grassroots IP environment: affordable expert advice for small businesses, earlier strategic thinking about IP and greater use of free resources such as the international patent databases to help refine novelty and valuable innovation – a proxy for competition in small innovative communities.

“New Zealand’s a very positive environment for innovation. I can see the calibre of innovation coming along. It’s definitely all moving in the right direction, but there’s a long way to go. I’d like to see New Zealanders have a higher profile on the IP stage.”

David Beard is a partner in angel investment group Movac, and another member of the Viclink IP commercialisation committee. He says the committee is an example of the capital’s academia and industry working well together.

“We’re starting to talk the same language.”

Mr Beard says a more mature commercialisation model is developing, and Viclink is quickly learning how best to integrate investment and people to get a deal.

“When you start putting deals together, that’s when the rubber hits the road.”

Ms Howard says Viclink and the organisations working closely alongside it, such as Creative HQ, are on the brink of achieving serious momentum in the innovation game.

“We’ve got the resources, the focus and the people to do this job. And we’re on the verge of creating a range of companies based on the IP coming out of Victoria University.”

Viclink’s chief executive John Errington says US research suggests the recession will only serve to feed the surge.

“Five years after a recession, there is always a peak in IPOs (Initial Public Offerings). Recessions are often the genesis for innovation.”

Mr Errington says the capital’s innovation ecosystem is now well-established, highly effective, and braced for that recession-era deluge.