UK sleuths like what they find

Dr Andrew King says experience has given him an eye for a winning ticket. Picture / Fotopress

A British fact-finding mission has raised expectations here of new business partnerships between the two countries.

Andrew King, from the UK Government's Department of Trade and Industry Global Watch Service, toured the country last week on the hunt for the best Kiwi science, technology and business opportunities. The visit, he said, turned up some interesting possibilities.

"It was a pretty blind, coarse look at what was here and we've dredged up a number of companies we'll come back and visit next time."

The first-ever Global Watch visit sought to identify intellectual property for licensing in the UK, open up new market opportunities in both countries and foster inter-territory collaboration.

King said he spoke to more than 50 companies during his mission, which took him to Christchurch, Wellington, Hamilton and Auckland.

He said that Global Watch's approach of targeting specific companies would be more successful than a broad, all-encompassing campaign.

One company that stood out for him was Christchurch-based compound detection company Syft Technologies.

"I have some clients already who I know want to talk to them ... they have sold instruments into the UK, but we can open more doors for them."

Syft was spun out from Canterbury University in 2002 to commercialise volatile organic-compound-analysing technology.

The company says its Voice100 product could have widespread applications, including healthcare, national security, environmental monitoring and food control.

Syft sales and marketing manager Rebecca Bain said the tool, which is about the size of a washing machine, could test air for traces of drugs and explosives as people passed through a revolving air lock.

Bain said Syft's future market could be 99 per-cent export-based and she welcomed any contacts made by King.

"We're certainly not too proud and we don't think we have all the answers," she said.

"It will give us more visibility.

"It will take us to places where, by knocking on doors and turning up, we wouldn't have had access."

Apart from international partnering, Global Watch supports personal secondments and group missions. Secondments provide partial funding for small and medium-sized companies that develop partnerships to send employees overseas to acquire knowledge and skills.

Missions would bring small groups of industrial experts to New Zealand to identify new markets, technology partners and share best practices.

Areas covered by Global Watch include energy, environment, information and communications technology, engineering, agriculture, medicine and bio science.

The next Global Watch promoter visit could be within the next two months and would seek to build on the high level of expectation generated last week.

"What [international technology promoters] are able to do is put a face in the office and listen and learn directly to what the proposition is and then go back and do the same thing in the UK," King said.

King is one of 25 technology promoters in the global programme.

He says that his experience in a number of business sectors has given him an eye for a winning ticket.

Search and deploy

* British fact-finding mission sought out new business partnerships.
* Christchurch-based Syft Technologies attracted particular attention.
* Next mission may follow within two months.