18 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS <strong>January</strong>/<strong>February</strong> <strong>2017</strong> Turning innovation into gold – top tips Innovation in business. It’s unquestionably important – as a scan of most, if not all, CEO’s strategic priorities and board agendas will attest. But equally important, as the CFO will dutifully remind us, is that innovation is pointless if it doesn’t make - or save - money for the business, and hopefully appreciable amounts of it. That was the key message behind our recent four-city, nationwide seminar series, “Turning Innovation into Gold”, which saw 13 kiwi entrepreneurs tell the business story of their personal journey through innovation. A journey that covered the mistakes made, the strategies that worked (or didn’t), the lessons learned and advice for others contemplating a similar path to possible prosperity. Some common themes emerged. One of the biggest issues many of our entrepreneurs faced was a simple lack of funding – at start-up, or at critical growth points on the journey such as that scary step into the global marketplace. Being innovators, however, the speakers on tour had plenty of tips to help others struggling in this environment and their innovative instincts extended beyond the products or services they’d created. For Scott Noakes of classroom management software company LineWize, innovation was also about saving start-up costs by engaging experts in the business and giving them shares in the venture – creating fully engaged employees in the process. Other speakers had similar tips around collaboration. Karl Gradon of NZ Mānuka Group told the Tauranga audience of the power of giving your suppliers “skin in the game” – letting them share in the prosperity. Amanda Wiggins of Christchurch-based Forest Herbs, makers of thera- peutic products derived from the native Horopito plant, says her company benefits immensely from working closely with a few key distributors, developing the relationship, rather than working with many who you don’t know so well. Collaboration for Bruce Davey’s Christchurch-based company ARANZ Medical, makers of specialised 3D medical cameras, means working closely with your customers – seeking their referrals and leveraging their marketing. Jason Low of Tauranga-based Trimax Mowing, who manufacture large mowers for parks and sports grounds and sell them globally, also emphasised the importance of customer collaboration – in Trimax’s case, that’s about constantly innovating, drawing on what customers tell Trimax they want and need. Leveraging your customer relationships was also on the menu for Heilala Vanilla, says Jennifer Boggis, who pointed to the benefits of co-branding with established manufacturers like Whittakers and Lewis Road to get the Heilala Vanilla brand recognised. Innovation Council speaker Louise Webster urged innovators to look for partnerships both as a way to improve their speed to market and to access established channels to their customers. Trimax also flew the flag for the importance of service and reliability – don’t let your customers down, a view shared by Prolife Foods of Hamilton, part of whose marketing catch cry is “Providing great food with obsessive service”. For Binu Paul, Aucklandbased developer of SavvyKiwi, an app that helps people decide which KiwiSaver provider is the right one for them, the hardlearnt lesson was about not blowing all your funds on product development. You never have enough funding at the start, he said, but whatever funding you do have, you must keep a decent amount aside for market validation. That importance of clearly identifying the need (and thus a viable market) for a product was echoed by Todd Gisby of StretchSense and SleepDrops founder Kirsten Taylor. An engineer, Gisby worked for many years trying to develop an artificial muscle before realising that what people really wanted (and couldn’t get) was a type of sensor that could be woven into stretchable clothing – which StretchSense duly delivered. Taylor, a naturopath, tapped into an often undiagnosed need for sleep remedies but realised there were many different sleep disorders and one remedy couldn’t possibly cover them all – hence her specialised range, targeting individual disorders. Gisby’s approach to collaboration differed from the others on the tour, however; StretchSense sticks resolutely to its core – making the stretch sensors – which they sell to those producing the actual consumer products for the marketplace. Proud <strong>Waikato</strong> craft brewer Darrel Hadley was able to get around a common obstacle to marketing new beers - not being able to secure outlets for the product – by opening up his own, on the back of his experience in establishing cafes and bars. Selling the <strong>Waikato</strong> brand story and collaborating with fellow Hamiltonians has grown this award-winning brewery TIPS FOR INNOVATORS Give experts a share in the business to save money and ensure engagement Look for partnerships Allow loyal suppliers to share in the profits Develop great relationships with a few key distributors Use customers for referrals and product development Emphasise service and reliability Set aside some funding for market validation rather than just product development Clearly identify the need and thus the market Invest in R & D New Fieldays Society president Pete Carr, an experienced commercial businessman, with a background in logistics and shipping, has been elected president of the NZ National Fieldays Society. At the society’s annual general meeting (AGM) in December, Mr Carr was elected president by the society’s members. He had previously served as Fieldays Society vice president and chair of its structure committee. NZ National Fieldays Society CEO Peter Nation, who reports to the board, said he was delighted with the new president. “He brings an eye for rural business, a community focus and an understanding of how local government works,” he said. “We are pleased to welcome a president who is approachable, has worked with a diversity of people and can help the Society and its assets to grow.” Mr Carr has been a regular volunteer at Society events and founded the NZ National Fieldays Society Future Leaders’ programme, which helps educate and encourage young agricultural leaders. Originally from Yorkshire, England, Mr Carr has had a long career in shipping, logistics and management. He has lived in New Zealand for more than 45 years and has strong roots in the <strong>Waikato</strong> and Cambridge communities. He has a good understanding of rural business in country communities, and how to work well with others. He is a life member of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and has worked as business development manager for Waipa District Council. He is also a board member of Karapiro Rowing Incorporated and has served as a Justice of the Peace for four decades. As well as the president’s role Mr Carr will chair the NZ National Fieldays Society board, saying the president’s role was both an honour and a “juggling job”. Although he was mindful of the Society’s rich history, he is eager to look at new opportunities for future commercial growth for the Society. “Last year we recorded 109 event-days, and Fieldays was just four of them,” he said. “Equidays began six years ago with good success. Looking forward, we want to consider where there are gaps in the calendar and how can we fill them. There is opportunity for growth. Watch this space.” At the AGM several new board members were elected. “It is great to see a board emerge which combines established experience with new blood,” he said. The new NZ National Fieldays Society board includes James Allen (vice president), Warwick Roberts (immediate past president), Lance Enevoldsen (director and chairman of the events committee), Jenni Vernon (director), Pam Roa (director), Brent Goldsack (co-opt director), Bill Falconer (co-opt director) and new additions David Gasquoine (director) and Jason Hoyle (director). Clint Gulliver has been appointed vice chairman of the events committee. Mr Carr thanked the outgoing president, Warwick Roberts, for his efforts, as well as those of outgoing board members. Mr Roberts will continue to serve as a board member. Mr Nation is looking forward to working together with Mr Carr on implementing the Society’s new five-year strategic plan, which was approved earlier this year. The Society’s revised vision includes growing new events, improving the site, investing in charity and growing the Agricultural Heritage Village. He said the president’s role is a vital one for the Society, especially significant with the Society’s 50th anniversary little over one year away. “Fieldays is a worldclass event on the world stage, and the Fieldays Society president’s role is one where you are mixing with presidents and politicians and leaders, not only from New Zealand but overseas.” IP MATTERS > BY CERI WELLS Ceri Wells is a founding partner of national intellectual property law experts James & Wells. Ceri.wells@haws.co.nz – www.jaws.co.nz Fieldays Society president Pete Carr. brand. For Gallagher, a global electronics success, the constant push for innovation was illustrated by the amount of money they put into R&D – around 9 percent of revenue, against a New Zealand industry average of less than two percent. And therein lies the self-evident truth to come out of the “Turning Innovation into Gold” seminar series. Continual innovation is a key to long-term growth and competitiveness in the global marketplace and a higher standard of living for all, yet we do little in this country to really prime the innovation pump. Back in the 1980s, countries like Denmark and Finland were agriculture-based economies like New Zealand with similar per capita incomes. But they have now sprinted ahead, leaving us mired on the farm in our Wellington gumboots. In the 1980s Israel’s economy was a cot case – but in the last year alone, there were 1400 new technology start-ups in Israel. The economies of these countries have diversified and become more productive because their governments engineered a cultural shift in attitudes to innovation and created a business environment that facilitates and supports technology based start-ups. We can do this too. Persuading kiwis to invest in innovation and start-ups (rather than property) is not something business alone can do, because we have a small, risk-averse domestic market which is dominated by small businesses. The answer lies with our Government; if it sincerely believes in a thriving innovation economy where we profit from the brainpower we have here, it needs to unclog the arteries of innovation and get things pumping. Our government must follow the lead of countries like Israel, Denmark and Finland which have R&D tax breaks, assistance for IP ownership, and generous, readily accessible funding for good ideas. New Zealand needs to be creating jobs in the high-salary technology sectors rather than low-wage farming and tourism sectors. What we need is a government which itself has some innovative flair and the determination to create a start-up welfare state in New Zealand.
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