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- Massey Ventures: Catalysing Innovation and Sustainability
- International collaborations
- College of Creative Arts celebrates 10 years in Asia-Pacific top three
- Innovation Awards
- Student innovation successes
- Launch of MI8 Optics: An Innovative Grass Seed Company
- AgriFood and NZ Product Accelerator launch new hub
- Plant-based commercial opportunities
- MBIE funding for Smart Floors
- Senior Entrepreneurship report and website launch
- Related content
Massey Ventures: Catalysing Innovation and Sustainability
Massey Ventures offers expert advice and early-stage investment to help Massey staff and students develop, commercialise and launch their great ideas. In 2022, they supported three spinouts, two investments and two licences. In 2023, a further two licencing deals and a spinout were supported.
Two start-up companies which support a low-carbon economy:
- Captivate Technology specialises in carbon capture and removal.
- EatKinda makes dairy-free ice cream from cauliflower that is better for the environment (compared to dairy ice cream) and tastes great.
Massey’s Innovation Competition continues to support Massey staff and students with innovative ideas that show commercial potential. In 2022, 13 teams competed, with this increasing to 16 in 2023.
In 2022, the $50,000 prize was awarded to Associate Professor Vyacheslav Filichev and his team from the School of Food Technology and Natural Sciences to begin research and development on a gene manipulation technology with the potential to treat aggressive cancers.
Furthermore, Massey Ventures is leading the commercialisation of a life-changing treatment for strawberry birthmarks in infants, with the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute and AFT Pharmaceuticals. The case study won the Best Licensing Deal award at the 2023 Australasian Research Commercialisation Awards.
International collaborations
More than half, 52 per cent of Massey University’s 328 SDG9 publications between 2019 and 2023 resulted from international collaborations (Scopus database extracted using SciVal in October 2024).
The most frequently cited papers focused on topics including corporate green innovation, life-cycle methods for assessing environmental sustainability and sustainable initiatives in industry.
College of Creative Arts celebrates 10 years in Asia-Pacific top three
Massey University’s Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts received second place in the 2024 International Red Dot Design Awards. This is the tenth year in a row that Massey has been ranked in the top three Asia-Pacific universities.
Furthermore, in 2024, Massey students were awarded 19 Red Dot awards, including a Best of the Best Red Dot award. Staff members also received 2 Red Dot awards.
Innovation Awards
Magritek Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technology – the result of decades of world-class research at Massey and Victoria University of Wellington, won the Commercialisation Impact category at the 10th annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards, in 2022.
In 2023, industrial design student Nick Holland won the national James Dyson Award for his drug-testing kit tailored to women and disabled individuals, Pre-Podium. This is the ninth consecutive year in which a Massey student has won the top prize.
In 2022, Hatch, an accessible medical bassinet that facilitates acute postpartum recovery and maternal bonding by allowing babies to be in close proximity to the mothers, took top honours in the James Dyson National Awards. This was the eighth consecutive year a Massey student had won the competition.
Also in 2022, an operational hijab, designed by two Massey lecturers, was awarded the highly prestigious Tahunui-a-Rangi award for invention and creation by the Royal Society Te Apārangi. The innovative hijab allows Muslim women in policing, emergency response and government to benefit from the inclusivity, efficiency and safety the design brings.
Student innovation successes
Massey celebrated several student innovation successes in 2023, including:
- a post-surgery bra designed for comfort
- Smoosh flatpack shoes, which are designed for frequent travellers
- new technology to make protein-enriched, plant-based cheeses
- a culturally responsive “slot n slide” lifejacket inspired by the Indian sari for flood events in India.
Launch of MI8 Optics: An Innovative Grass Seed Company
Massey Ventures and Grasslanz Technology launched the agri-tech company MI8 Optics.
MI8 Optics uses hyperspectral imagery to detect endophytes in grass seed. Quality assurance of grass seed is essential as endophytes are naturally occurring fungi that protect pastures from insect pests but can cause animal health problems.
AgriFood and NZ Product Accelerator launch new hub
Massey‘s AgriFood Digital Lab partnered with the NZ Product Accelerator to form a new hub in Palmerston North. The hub will support companies and research to accelerate commercial opportunities in local and international markets.
Plant-based commercial opportunities
Massey's Kei hea tō karaka project received MBIE funding to explore the development of karaka as a potential commercial enterprise in partnership with Rangitāne o Manawatū and Plant & Food Research.
Another plant-focused research project aims to advance the juniper berry industry in Aotearoa New Zealand.
MBIE funding for Smart Floors
MBIE Endeavour Funding of almost $1 million was awarded to a Massey-led team for research on Smart Floors to make homes and aged-care facilities safer. For example, the floors could detect motionless bodies lying on the floor and instantly alert hospitals and relatives to falls.
Senior Entrepreneurship report and website launch
Massey’s Health and Ageing Research Team released the report Senior Entrepreneurship in Aotearoa New Zealand, which outlines how senior entrepreneurship is an unrealised opportunity for the country. A new website, Better Work in Later Life, was also launched.
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