Kiwi innovation makes its mark

By PETER GRIFFIN

From a Braille device used by singer Stevie Wonder through to hi-tech cameras, New Zealand technology is finding buyers overseas.

Three companies have been recognised in the latest round of Innovative Technology Commendation Awards made by the Foundation of Research, Science and Technology

Chosen from 13 candidates, the companies all developed their technology in New Zealand and have received Government grants.

Albany-based CamSensor Technologies has attracted big-name clients in the meat, dairy and timber industries with its hi-tech cameras that sit alongside conveyor belts in processing plants, automatically checking products for imperfections.

Edwin Russell, technical manager at CamSensor Technologies, said the company had targeted strong New Zealand industries with fast-paced production lines.

"If we can be strong in industries New Zealand is generally strong in, generally we can get a better name for ourselves.

"We managed to get into the US meat industry through working in the meat industry here," he said.

CamSensor equipment is set up on the product lines of Lion Breweries and checks that each bottle of beer leaves with the right label.

Meat processing heavyweights Richmond and Alliance also use the camera equipment, which is in place in Australian factories of Kraft Foods to monitor imperfections in processed cheese.

Christchurch company Pulse Data International caught the attention of the awards judges with BrailleNote, its portable note-taker for the blind. The laptop-sized device has a speech interface, allowing blind users to listen to incoming emails and text-based documents.

Pulse Data's business development manager Greg Thompson, said BrailleNote is the world's first note-taker for the blind to be based on the Windows CE platform.

"We're in the process now of working through language translations for a range of countries, but in the English-speaking markets it's doing very well," he said.

Pulse Data received a major boost when BrailleNote, which retails for around $US5200 ($12,750) was endorsed by blind American musician Stevie Wonder.

The third company to receive the accolade was Auckland-based Southfresh. The hi-tech fishmonger has developed a real-time ecommerce package that allows producers and sellers to trace goods from warehouse to shop shelf.

The "track and trace" software is used by Courier Post as part of its delivery system. All that customers need to access the e-commerce platform is a web browser.

The company now has two people based in Hong Kong and Singapore exploring opportunities in Asia.

The innovation awards will be held again later in the year.

On the Web:

www.pulsedata.com

www.southfresh.co.nz

www.camsensor.com