Risk aversion frustrates top innovator

By CHRIS BARTON

Ian Taylor says that despite all the talk of last week's Knowledge Wave conference he is not optimistic there will be real change - mainly because the bureaucrats in universities, large corporations and Government are unable to take the risks necessary to move forward.

"The bureaucrats who have never taken a risk in their lives don't understand about moving quickly. With them running the country, the Government will always be left in the eddy behind the Knowledge Wave. To catch the wave takes risk."

The managing director of Animation Research is getting increasingly annoyed at his company being held up as an example of what can be done by those who, when presented with an opportunity, duck for cover. It is a reality he has faced more than once.

True, he says Otago University staff "at the cliff-face" were fantastically helpful in the early days of Animation Research.

But in the first year of the joint venture with the university, the company developing cutting edge TV animations, as with many start-ups, had clocked up $100,000 in debt.

The university administration could see no future except more debt and decided to pull the plug. Mr Taylor mortgaged his house to buy them out.

"The truth is nobody is supporting innovating in NZ. Nobody has confidence in NZ companies."

Later when Animation Research's technology was used to produce Virtual Spectator's internet-based animations for the America's Cup, the company pitched the idea to Telecom.

"We were told it wouldn't work, it was too advanced. Telecom gave the web site development to an overseas company."

That company was Quokka Sports, which went into receivership this year. Virtual Spectator did get to be part of the America's Cup in the end - but only because it was picked up by the Challenger series.

"If it hadn't been for Louis Vuitton and the challengers who looked at our proposal and said it was a fantastic idea, Virtual Spectator on the web would never have happened."

Virtual Spectator faced the same lack of confidence when it came to looking for venture capital - having to go overseas for development finance.

Since then Virtual Spectator and Animation Research have gone on to develop web-based animation software - not just for yachting, but also motor rally racing, golf and cricket.

Now Mr Taylor is facing the same saga yet again with an "evidentiary display system" the company had built for the Dunedin District Court.

The paperless system was used to help process a mountain of documents and video evidence during the depositions hearings in April of Dunedin psychiatrist Colin David Bouwer, accused of murdering his wife, Annette.

"We put it in at a cost of $4000, because the Dunedin Police asked for help. It worked like a dream. The crown prosecutor, the JPs and police all support its use for the trial, but the Department for Courts won't fund it."

Mr Taylor says Animation Research has even offered to install the system at its own cost, suggesting the Department for Courts fund an assessment of the system during the trial. Again Courts has said no.

Manager for operations and judicial support Fiona Saunders-Francis, said the the Department for Courts is at present engaged in a modernisation programme, which includes a significant investment in IT development.

"There are many competing demands on scarce resources. Improvements in evidence recording technology and the introduction of video conferencing facilities are two improvements currently under consideration."

Ms Saunders-Francis said any other proposal for new technology, such as the electronic evidence presentation product (also known as Jedi) developed by Animation Research "would need to be considered against the benefits of other proposed improvements to the way in which courts are managed to determine its priority".

"At first glance, the Jedi product may hold the potential to simplify the presentation of evidence. However, technology decisions made under pressure, to meet one-off needs, may be regretted in the long run and are no basis on which to modernise the court system."