Innovation and new product development forum. ZED, will up-skill your key people on how to create better products, services and ventures; from idea through to market and everything in between. You’ll learn from award winning companies including Rakon, Frucor, Gallagher and Kiwibank about improving your processes and increasing your profits.
Rod Oram Business Analyst and Commentator, Fairfax Media
Rod Oram has more than 30 years’ experience as an international financial journalist. He has worked in Europe and North America for leading publications such as the Financial Times of London. His FT career spanned 18 years (1979-1997) as an editor and writer based in London and New York. Rod and his family emigrated from the UK to New Zealand in 1997. He is currently a columnist for the Sunday Star-Times; a radio and television broadcaster; and a frequent public speaker. Rod is an adjunct professor in the School of Management and Entrepreneurship at Unitec.
8.05
Opening remarks - The state of business innovation in New Zealand today
Derek McCormack Vice Chancellor, AUT University
Derek McCormack was appointed Vice Chancellor of AUT University in April 2004. Mr McCormack previously held the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration, taking up the appointment in 2000. Mr McCormack completed his tertiary education at Otago University in Dunedin, with an MSc in Biochemistry. Mr McCormack began his career as a biochemist, working as a project scientist with the Nitrogen Fixation Group of the DSIR, and taught Biochemistry at the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic before embarking on a career in tertiary education management.
8.05
Opening remarks - The state of business innovation in New Zealand today
Bryan Mogridge Chairman, Rakon; Vice Chairman, UBS New Zealand
Bryan is currently Chairman of Rakon Limited, and on the Boards of Mainfreight Limited and Pyne Gould Corporation Limited. Additionally, Bryan Chairs Boards of Enterprise Waitakere, Waitakere City Holdings Limited, Trio Group Limited, Guardian Healthcare Group Limited, Momentum Energy Limited and The Starship Foundation. He graduated from Massey University with a BSc in Biochemistry. Bryan worked in various sales and marketing positions with ICI before becoming General Manager of Kempthorne Medical Supplies Limited and subsequently entering the wine industry. He was General Manager at Corban Wines Limited and the CEO and Managing Director of publicly listed Montana Wines Limited. In 1992 he became CEO and Managing Director of Montana’s parent company, Corporate Investments Limited. He has been a public company director since 1984.
8.20
Entrepreneurship and innovation for your business - Why and How
Dr Peter Lee Chief Executive Officer, UniServices; Former Global Director of New Product and Process Development, International Paper; Former Chief Technology Officer, Tyco
Prior to joining UniServices Peter had spent most of his career in the United States. Between 1988 and 2003 he held executive positions with the $US30 billion International Paper Company, including Global Director of New Product and Process Development and, from 1995, Vice President, Corporate Research and Product Development. Peter returned to New Zealand in 2003. He was raised and educated in Auckland, where he completed a PhD in Chemical and Materials Engineering at The University of Auckland in 1975.
8.50
Introducing a new product development process that gets better results
Michael Hamid General Manager of Research & Development, Gallagher Group
Michael Hamid has been the Research & Development Executive for Gallagher Group for over seven years. After failing to make a decent living as a surfer, Michael tried various pursuits including tree pruning, baking bread, selling books and teaching. Failing in all of these and being too honest for a life of crime, Michael fell into computing. After training in Computer Science, the New Zealand Dairy Group (NZDG) made the mistake of hiring Michael as a software developer. Michael spent ten years at NZDG managing various software development projects. In 1998 NZDG kindly sponsored Michael through an MBA. Michael being the ungrateful swine that he is thanked them by resigning and moving to Gallagher Group after his graduation. When Michael arrived at Gallagher Group there were two development groups; one developing for the Cardax access control product and the other developing energisers, weighscales and accessories for the Animal Management Group. Michael was responsible for bringing both groups together and implementing a structured development process.
9.20
MANUFACTURING OR TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES: Product development from the trenches: An R&D perspective
Ian Wilmot Former Managing Director, McCain; Former National Marketing Manager, Kraft Australia; Principle, Wilmot Consulting Group
Ian commenced his career 1972 in the Product Development laboratories of Kraft Foods Ltd in Melbourne Australia. Ten years later, and after a 2 year stint at the Kraft Foods worldwide headquarters in Chicago, Ian commenced studying for a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing, which resulted in a transfer to the Marketing Department at Kraft Australia, where Ian managed some iconic Australian brands including Vegemite and Coon cheese. In 1985 Ian joined McCain Foods (Aust) Pty Ltd as a Product Manager, and over the next 12 years progressed to National Marketing Manager. In 1997 Ian moved to New Zealand to the role of Managing Director McCain Foods (NZ) Limited, a position he held until 2006. Ian now has his own business, Wilmot Consulting Group in Hawke’s Bay.
9.20
FMCG COMPANIES: Managing the product development and market launches of profitable products
Sam Knowles Chief Executive, Kiwibank
The Chief Executive of Kiwibank is Sam Knowles. Sam helped set up the bank and has been in charge throughout the launch of the bank in 2002 and for the last six years. The bank now has more than 600,000 customers. Sam has considerable experience in the banking industry. He has been a senior manager for trading banks in New Zealand and Australia, specialising in areas including strategic planning, retail services, marketing and business development.
9.20
SERVICE COMPANIES: Sustaining rapid growth and innovation
Chris de Boer Former Chairman, Hong Kong Takeovers Panel; Chairman of Sonar6; Director of Macquarie Media Group and Mobilis Networks and Consultant to NZVIF
Chris has extensive experience in investment banking, regulation, private equity, venture capital and consulting in London, Hong Kong and Australasia. He worked in London until 1989, moved to Hong Kong for 7 years and then came to Auckland in 1996. He was an Adviser to Cable and Wireless plc in Asia/Pacific between 1987 and 2001, Director of Optus Communications, Chairman of the Hong Kong Takeovers Panel, Adviser to the Securities & Futures Commission, Investment Committee Member of GEMS Oriental & General Fund and Chairman of New Zealand Venture Investment Fund and Phitek Systems. Chris is currently Chairman of Sonar6, a Director of Macquarie Media Group and Mobilis Networks and Consultant to NZVIF.
10.20
Building a robust business case and accessing funding
Hans van der Voorn Chairman and Investor, Australo; Founder, Nova Gas
Hans van der Voorn trained as an engineer in New Zealand and worked in civil engineering and construction for 15 years. In 1994 he started the operation of Nova Gas Ltd , originally based on landfill methane extraction, processing and sale. Hans was a founder shareholder and Chief Executive of Nova Gas until 2001, continuing as a non-executive director and minor shareholder until 2006. Nova Gas developed its own pipelines to bypass incumbent monopolies, became an integrated gas supply company and is now wholly owned by Todd Energy with a turnover in excess of NZ$250m. In 2005 he became the sole financial investor in nanotechnology company, Australo Ltd, based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Originally a 50:50 joint venture with the founder scientists, it is now predominantly owned by van der Voorn interests. In early 2007 Hans took over executive management of Australo, with the founder scientists continuing to work on research and development. The company has an advanced technology platform based on dynamically adjustable nanopores. It is just commencing an international rollout of its platform and entering into research partnerships with universities and research institutes in different parts of the world. The first application if Australo’s nanopore platform is a virus counter, due for commercial release in July 2008. Hans van der Voorn is an experienced investor and entrepreneur with a number of public and private investments.
10.50
Using rapid and ongoing innovation to gain competitive advantage
Lezlie Mearns Managing Director, Maxim Group
Lezlie is a founding partner and Managing Director of Maxim Group, one of New Zealand's leading brand and design agencies. Under her leadership Maxim has become an agency prototype with a full complement of in-house resources from research and brand strategy development to design and implementation. Lezlie champions branding as an organisation-wide activity that is actively led by the CEO.
11.20
When brand meets product
Bill Day Entrepreneur of the Year (2000), Engineer & Founder of Seaworks
Bill Day is the Managing Director of Seaworks Ltd, a specialised marine company that he took from a startup to a small multinational. Seaworks lays underwater cables, runs underwater robots and works in the offshore Oil & Gas industry. In addition, Seaworks undertakes the marine management for movies for both Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson. Seaworks runs specialized ships and underwater robots throughout the Middle East from its base in Dubai. Bill has a BA, LLB and MBA as well as a host of professional qualifications and was the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year in 2000. He has given three summers of his life to searching in the sub-Antarctic for the wreck of the General Grant and is a keen diver, skier and pilot.
1.30
Thinking like an Entrepreneur
Paul Adams CEO, EveredgeIP
Paul Adams has over twelve years of experience in technology development and commercialisation. He is the CEO of everedgeIP (formerly Inveratek) New Zealand’s leading intellectual property commercialisation and management firm. everedgeIP clients include Forbes Fortune 100 companies, members of the NZX50 as well as local inventors and investors. Prior to founding everedgeIP Paul was employed as the Intellectual Property Manager of Navman, with revenues exceeding US$700 million, where he managed a multi-million dollar intellectual property portfolio and budget. He was also the founding Incubator Manager of The ICEHOUSE, the University of Auckland’s technology incubator. In 24 months, he developed the incubator from an empty warehouse to hold 15 high technology companies employing over 50 staff. Paul has also spent several years working in Silicon Valley and has practical experience in raising venture and development capital. Paul has an extensive legal background – he served as a litigation solicitor with Chapman Tripp and holds a Law Degree (Cum Laude) specialising in software licensing law from the University of Auckland.
2.30
The Innovation Economy: Implications for commercialising technology and managing intellectual property
Craig Meek Entrepreneur & Founder, iVistra
Craig Meek is a technology visionary and entrepreneur. He founded information visualisation company iVistra in 2003. The idea: businesses would be able to better manage their operations if business information was more visible. The solution: an Enterprise Visibility System (EVS) that delivers real time critical business information in a visual dashboard format. The first customer was NZ’s largest transport and logistics company, Toll TranzLink, who reported a 550% return on IT investment by being able to monitor the capacity and performance of all their trucks and rail-freight movement from a central control room. The first out of the box product was InsightFleetPro, a visual vehicle fleet tracking solution for small and medium sized businesses. Products are also being developed for airport logistics, food traceability and security visualisation. Prior to iVistra, Craig co-founded Virtual Spectator which provided real-time 3D graphics for the America's Cup and other sports. Prior to that Craig founded Terabyte Interactive, NZ's leading interactive media agency, which he successfully sold to NewsCorp in 1995.
3.00
Developing a new product, from idea through to market success
Duncan Mackintosh General Manager (Commercial), WaikatoLink
Duncan Mackintosh is General Manager (Commercial) at WaikatoLink Limited and is responsible for technology and commercial development, and deal broking for University of Waikato Intellectual Property and start-up companies. Deals range from licensing and venture investment to the spinoff and interim management of new ventures. 2007 saw the creation of five new venture backed companies, helping WaikatoLink retain its top 5% ranking when benchmarked against US university technology transfer offices. Following 7 years clinical veterinary practice, Duncan’s experience includes commercialization of High Tech, ICT, Biotech through concept to company stages, and technology incubator development and management.
3.00
Launching new ventures and business incubation
Mark Cowsill Group Managing Director, Frucor Beverages
Mark Cowsill has been Managing Director of Frucor Beverages Group Ltd for the past 15 years. Prior to this he spent 13 years at Goodman Fielder Watties, predominantly at Tip Top Ice Cream, where he was General Manager for three years. The foundation of Frucor was built on iconic juice brands; Fresh Up and Just Juice. In the last 10 years or so Frucor has diversified into other “new” categories through an aggressive innovation strategy. These new products (“V”, Mizone and H2Go) have led Frucor to market leadership positions. The creation of an innovative culture and strong consumer orientation has been the catalyst for Frucors success. “V” is undoubtedly the most successful new product. Frucor was Food and Beverage Exporter of the Year in 2001 and in 2002 was nominated by Forbes as one of the Top 20 small companies in the world.
4.00
Using consumer focused new product innovation to drive business growth
Chris Quin CEO, Gen-i New Zealand
Chris Quin leads one of Australasia’s fastest growing and innovative ICT services businesses, generating annual revenues of NZ$1.49 billion and employing 3,300 people across 17 locations. Under Chris’ leadership, Gen-i is transforming the delivery and support of integrated IT and telecommunications solutions to around 3,300 organisations across New Zealand and Australia. Gen-i is consistently ranked as the number one ICT company in New Zealand for both mindshare and marketshare (according to the IDC). Chris successfully managed the company through the merger and acquisitions of Telecom Advanced Solutions, Gen-i and Computerland. He previously established Telecom Advanced Solutions as New Zealand’s leading ICT services group, and has led the establishment and growth of Gen-i over the last four years.
4.30
Leading a high growth company
Geoff Ross Entrepreneur and Founder, 42 Below; Director, The Hyper Factory
Geoff spent 12 years in the advertising industry before leaving in 2002 to go full time on the Vodka brand he created. From a garage business, 42 Below grew from almost nothing to a value of 138 million in under 4 years, when it was scooped up by liquor giant Bicardi. 42 Below became a global liquor brand while on shoe string budget and it also became the world’s most awarded vodka, winning Gold in all major competitions. 42 Below was named by Deloitte as New Zealand’s fastest growing company in 2005 in their Fast 50 awards. Geoff himself was named marketer of the year in 2005 and also received a World Class New Zealander award in 2007. Geoff also won best groomed calf in the Paparimu A & P Show circa 1978. Geoff is now part of the mobile marketing company The Hyperfactory and its sister company Snakk Media which also features on the Deloitte Fast 50 list. Geoff is an investor and contributor in several other New Zealand growth companies.
5.00
Why a good plan violently executed today, is better than the perfect plan, executed next month
