An anti-cancer vaccine, a sound system that causes shellfish to grow faster, an improved anaesthetic and a super-strength metal coating are among University of Auckland inventions waiting for investors to help get them on the market.
The University's commercialisation company, UniServices, is looking for $8 million to test a promising new cancer vaccine to prove it is safe for human use. The vaccine, developed by a team at the School of Biological Sciences and the department of chemistry, led by Professor Rod Dunbar and Distinguished Professor Margaret Brimble, boosts the body's immune system and steers it towards attacking the cancer.
If successful, the vaccine could revolutionise the way cancer is treated, reducing the need for more aggressive and toxic treatments like chemotherapy.
The general manager of technology development for UniServices, Will Charles, says the next step is to form a company, Sapvax, and find an investor to come on board.
"You don't need to have many patients to show it (the vaccine) doesn't do any harm. So once you've done that, it becomes increasingly valuable," he says.
The vaccine is one of hundreds of inventions and technological advances to come from the university's academic staff and PhD students under the Return on Science programme, which is part of the Commercialisation Partners Network supported by MBIE.
But not all inventions make it to development; UniServices are now also looking to ensure good ideas do not exist only as concepts because of lack of money.
Also in the pipeIine is a new aquaculture technology that uses sound to increase the growth rate and collection of shellfish. Exactly what that sound is Charles can't say - it's too commercially sensitive but the technology will be ready for investment by the end of the year.
Another invention uses "nano particles" to create thin but very strong metal coatings. The technology has an array of uses from chrome on taps to the gold used to coat electronic connectors.
"If you can get the same effect with a thinner layer of gold then that saves a tonne of money," Charles says. Aluminium, a light, flexible metal, can be given super strength with the use of the coating technology.
Previous technology to come out of the university includes a car seat that keeps the baby's head upright, rubber sensors for the new world of wearable technology, software making it easier for people to build commercial websites and a wireless power-transfer system negating the need for a plug-in power system for electric vehicles and a vast array of other uses.
The four Return on Science investment committees - biotechnology, information and communication technology, agritechnology and physical sciences - meet regularly to decide which ideas are best and worth backing or sharing.
Once an invention is developed, UniServices can form a company and look for investors. The company is either sold or businesses pay to access the technology or licences are issued. The university receives a dividend, investors benefit as do the inventors and some is returned to UniServices.
Return on Science now boasts many success stories, according to the company's CEO, Andy Shenk. Inventors and the academic team involved - typically a professor, a lecturer and a group of PhD students - stand to benefit significantly if the invention or technology becomes commercially successful.
"We've made some professors and students financially secure and they in turn have created jobs and invested in whole new areas of research that will have an even greater impact in the future," Shenk says.
"We could easily do twice as much without having to drop the quality of the ideas or the attractiveness of a given market," he says, adding UniServices wants to boost the number of promising new ideas funded through its entrepreneurial pipeline.
It has launched the Auckland Inventors' Fund and is looking for philanthropic support from the business community and entrepreneurs who have already been successful.
Shenk hopes the fund will boost the $2.5 million per year UniServices already spend on new ideas - deciding if the concept is worth backing, funding research and development, establishing intellectual property and forming companies to launch the products onto the market.
The investment is often risky and long term, Shenk says. Donors to the new fund would have no expectation of return, other than supporting the next generation of New Zealand entrepreneurs. Any profits would be returned to the fund to continue to grow the pipeline.
"Of course, we are always open to conventional investment as well so we encourage those who want to give something back to consider the Auckland Inventors' Fund and those who want to own a stake in one of our companies to consider a straight investment as well."
"We don't seek outsized profits as our primary goal," says Shenk. "We aim to make enough to carry on investing in new ideas and delivering the benefits of the research and expertise of the University of Auckland to our community and New Zealand as a whole."