We had a good showing at the Kiwinet Research Commercialisation Awards last Thursday, with six Matū team members cheering on our finalist portfolio companies. Prof. Justin Hodgkiss (Executive Director at Advemto) won the Researcher Entrepreneur category, and Alimetry won the Breakthrough Project Award. We were happy to see our other finalists, Dr Richard Winkworth in the Breakthrough Innovator category, A/Prof. Franck Natali in the Researcher Entrepreneur category, and Ligar in the Commercial Impact category.

We were also proud to present the Momentum Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award to Mrinali Kumar from Massey University, who is working on a cauliflower-based ice cream. Cather Simpson, independent Director for portfolio company Advemto, was also awarded the highest honour of the evening, the Commercialisation Icon Award! It was a great evening all round, with the opportunity to see many folks who we haven’t seen in a few years due to COVID restrictions. There’s definitely a lot of energy in the research commercialisation space in Aotearoa New Zealand!

Newshub also did a feature on Alimetry the following night! https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/technology/2022/10/auckland-company-s-breakthrough-tool-for-gut-disorders.html

Read more about the winners here: https://kiwinet.org.nz/Awards/Awards2022