Kode Biotech chief Steve Henry (right) with Tobias Marchand of Bayer Australia & New Zealand.
Kode Biotech chief Steve Henry (right) with Tobias Marchand of Bayer Australia & New Zealand.
Anti-cancer treatment takes honours
Kode Biotech and their game-changing anti-cancer treatment has been crowned the most innovative organisation at the New Zealand Innovators Awards, held at The Cloud in Auckland on Wednesday night.
Kode Biotech has developed a base platform that can help fight cancer using the human body's autoimmune responses.
The technology uses synthetic animal antigens to modify the cancer cell surface membrane and encourage the body's natural immune response to attack the cancer tumour cells.
Steve Henry, chief executive and chief science officer of Kode Biotech, and Professor of Biotech Innovation at AUT, accepted the Supreme New Zealand Innovator Award in front of more than 700 people who attended the ceremony and event celebrations. Kode Biotech also won the Innovation in Health and Science Award.
Technology to help new and existing buildings withstand earthquakes has won the University of Auckland's Spark $100k Challenge, with its creators Dr Pouyan Zarnani, a former PhD student, and Professor Pierre Quenneville, head of the university's Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, picking up the award on Thursday.
The Resilient Seismic Solutions team have created the Resilient Slip-Friction Joint, a seismic solution that can be implemented in concrete, timber and steel structures. It improves building resilience during earthquakes, makes them safer to re-enter and reduces the need for maintenance after an earthquake.
The result was announced at a grand final ceremony on Thursday, with Resilient Seismic Solutions beating out protein-rich flour made from apple byproducts, a glaucoma screening test and a chest physiotherapy device.
The company won $25,000 in seed capital and six months' residency at Kiwi business incubator The Icehouse.
The Spark $100k Challenge is open to all University of Auckland staff and students, who have to submit a 3000-word venture summary before a seven-week programme of intensive training, mentoring and workshops. The challenge ended this week with a presentation to judges at a Dragons' Den-style pitching session.
Art for incubators
Original works from more than 40 internationally recognised artists will go under the hammer on November 5 in what is being billed as the largest collection of New Zealand contemporary art offered in one auction. The auction is being held with the aim of raising half a million dollars to fund the initial production of Sir Ray Avery's LifePod incubators.
Sir Ray Avery who has developed a high-quality affordable baby incubator. Photo / NZ Herald
Avery has spent the past seven years working on the product, designing an incubator that was much more resilient than current models and affordable for any hospital. The cost of current incubators is around $45,000 - Avery is hoping to sell his models for just $2000. Renowned artists including Dick Frizzell, Peter Hackett, Emma Bass and Paul Dibble have donated original pieces to the auction, which will be held at Auckland City Art Gallery.
Fish Fish
One of Ponsonby's most popular eating joints Burger Burger is set to get a twin with founder Mimi Gilmour's next venture, Fish Fish - a modern twist on the traditional fish and chip shop. Gilmour has been busy with Burger Burger over the past year since it opened but is now turning her attention to the next business venture.
She hopes to open the new restaurant next year and if her previous eateries are anything to go by, the market will be expecting big things from the entrepreneur.
