COMMERCIALISINGSUCCESSBy John MacDonaldWhen Dr Keith Alex<strong>and</strong>er raised the ideaof buying a trampoline for his children, hiswife was against it, saying they were toodangerous.Instead of arguing the point, themechanical engineering senior lecturerset out to design one that would win hiswife over.Alex<strong>and</strong>er says it is ironic that in his pursuitof a trampoline that would meet his wife’ssafety requirements, his family probablyhad more trampolines in their backyardthan would have been the case if they hadbought one in the first place.Nevertheless, he eventually came upwith a model which eliminated the springs<strong>and</strong> frame from the level of the mat <strong>and</strong>replaced the traditional trampoline springswith composite fibreglass rods that flexwith the jump, providing a smooth,even bounce.It was the first completely new trampolinedesign developed in over half a century<strong>and</strong> to date, 30,000 units have been soldworldwide.Alex<strong>and</strong>er credits the scale of his success toCanterprise, the University of Canterbury’scommercial arm.“One of the things I’ve learned is that thereare no lone heroes. There’s a whole team, awhole process. If Canterprise hadn’t beenthere, it wouldn’t have happened.”It is the kind of success Canterprise ChiefExecutive Officer, Dr John Chang, sees asthe company’s reason for being. He is quickto name some of its other successful spinoutcompanies.From its modest offices on the UC campus,Canterprise has helped deliver WhisperTech(which manufactures combined heat <strong>and</strong>power generation units), Syft Technologies(which is marketing technology capable ofdetecting volatile substances) <strong>and</strong> NanoCluster Devices (which is refining novelmethods of manipulating atom clusters<strong>and</strong> forming them into electrically–conducting wire).“These companies combined have helpedgenerate more than 200 high-end jobs inthe Canterbury region. That is substantial,<strong>and</strong> all these companies certainly haveexport potential so it is not just Canterburybenefiting — potentially it’s the wholecountry that can benefit from thecommercialisation work we do,”Chang says.These achievements were publiclyrecognised last year when Canterpriseenjoyed top honours in the Champion20 Canterbury Magazine
Canterbury Awards which celebrate theexcellence <strong>and</strong> enterprise of business inthe region.Canterprise won the Service SmallEnterprise category prize <strong>and</strong> The PressSupreme Award for Small Enterprise.Chang says the wins provided a significantboost for the company.“It certainly did a lot of good in the sensethat we were thrown into the limelight<strong>and</strong> it made people notice that therewas this organisation at the Universitycommercialising intellectual property (IP)<strong>and</strong> spinning companies out.“It has certainly served us well in termsof what we wanted to achieve inhighlighting our business, our role withinthe University <strong>and</strong> in industry, so it was atremendous thing.”The achievements of Canterprise areamplified by the fact thatcommercialisation is not an easy road.Chang cites a study in the United Stateswhich found that from $100 billion dollarsof research funding 100,000 inventiondisclosures are created.“Out of those 100,000 inventiondisclosures, only 250 were classified as asuccess so that is a strike rate of 0.25 percent,” Chang says.“The odds of commercialising a ventureout of research are stacked against us, butwith good people we certainly can achievea whole lot of things.”Essentially, it is Canterprise that givesintellectual property developed atCanterbury University a leg-up to enterthe marketplace.It develops links with industry <strong>and</strong>investors <strong>and</strong> is instrumental inestablishing companies as vehicles tocommercialise valuable University IP.Alex<strong>and</strong>er describes the relationshipbetween academics <strong>and</strong> Canterprise as alink between “the knowledge economy <strong>and</strong>the dollar economy”.“There is a whole lot of legal stuff to dowith IP which, for a mere academic, takesa lot of coping. So it is an advantage tohave somebody there actually lookingafter that.“And then when it comes to a deal, weare not good at negotiating deals. A lot ofacademics are academics because they arefearful of this commercial world.“It is nice to have a translator fromthe other culture to come <strong>and</strong> be a gobetween<strong>and</strong> do the negotiation <strong>and</strong>write the agreements.”Canterprise CEO Dr John Chang with the ChampionCanterbury trophy.While Chang appreciates this kind ofendorsement, he says the quality of IP isextremely important. It is essential thattime <strong>and</strong> money are not wasted trying tocommercialise an idea that has limitedmarket potential.He says in other countries, such asAustralia, there is a history of institutionstrying to commercialise “just abouteverything”.“I think we need to be very careful as towhat we should be picking up. Setting up acompany is the easy bit because you onlyneed $200 to set up a company. But if itdoesn’t have enough business credibilityor opportunity then the business will notsucceed. If you play the numbers game ofan incredibly large number of companiesyou will be among the failed ventures <strong>and</strong>that is not the path that we want to take.”The latest IP Canterprise is helpingrelease on the world stage is technologydeveloped by Associate Professor LouReinisch (Physics <strong>and</strong> Astronomy) which iscapable of detecting anthrax spores <strong>and</strong>other bacterial spores within minutes.The lightweight, h<strong>and</strong>-held device is beingtaken to the international marketplacein partnership with venture capital firmsEndeavour i-Cap <strong>and</strong> Ngäi Tahu Equities.Tests of the unit, which will be the size of alarge coffee mug once development workis complete, have found it to be 99 per centaccurate <strong>and</strong> capable of producing a resultwithin minutes.The product is going to be marketed byVeritide Limited, a new Christchurchstart-up company developing biologicalidentification <strong>and</strong> detection equipment.Veritide Chairman <strong>and</strong> UC alumnus,Neville Jordan, who is also the presidentBeth Alex<strong>and</strong>er jumps on the trampoline designed by herfather, Dr Keith Alex<strong>and</strong>er.of Endeavour Capital, says current sporedetection technology is complicated <strong>and</strong>time-consuming, resulting in lengthydetection times <strong>and</strong> reduced reliability.“The fact that this technology is h<strong>and</strong>held,portable, easy to use, fast-working<strong>and</strong> very reliable makes us very excitedabout its potential.”He says the optical technology in theVeritide device detects the physicalcharacteristics of spores, providingrapid on-site information for criticaldecision-making.“Let’s say in the case of a white powderincident, where there is concern that apowder that has fallen out of an envelopecould be anthrax, then this technologycould be placed over the powder <strong>and</strong> woulddetermine within minutes whether it isanthrax or something harmless.”Jordan envisages the technology willattract interest from emergency <strong>and</strong>security services, <strong>and</strong> the military.Interest is also expected from the foodprocessing industry.Chang says the Veritide detector is agood example of the potential that canbe realised when universities <strong>and</strong> venturecapitalists work together.“This highlights that when good universityresearch <strong>and</strong> smart money combine, greatinvestment opportunities are created.”So what about Mrs Alex<strong>and</strong>er — thewoman whose concern about trampolinesafety led indirectly to the kind ofinvestment opportunity Chang talksabout. Has she been won over by herhusb<strong>and</strong>’s design?“It has won her over,” Alex<strong>and</strong>er says.“In fact, she’s an ardent supporter ofour trampoline.”Summer 2006 21
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