MacDiarmid Institute-affiliated start-up data - Annual Report 2023

13 April, 2024

The start-up companies affiliated with us report that during the 2023 year, they:

• Raised NZ $15.9 mil (includes one company that is now registered offshore)
• Spent $8.2 mil on R&D in New Zealand
• Employed 88.8 FTE staff across 10 companies in New Zealand - includes a growth of 15.3 FTE (new employees) over the course of 2023
• Employed 29.9 FTE of PhD team members (one third of their entire workforce)
• Employed 17 MacDiarmid Institute alumni (includes founders)
• Leveraged the IP from 20 patents, including 4 new patents that were granted in 2023

Two new companies spun out and were registered in 2023:

• One that is developing a melanoma and skin diagnostic based on Raman laser
• One that is operating in stealth mode on sustainable energy, while the technology is further developed

Looking forward to 2024, our affiliated start-up companies report that:

• At least 8 existing and 6 new companies plan to go to market for capital raises
• 4 companies are looking to grow into new premises in 2024

Commercial skill-building seminars

This regular online seminar series reaches a network of over 300 research entrepreneurs. This network includes commercialisation professionals, start-up founders and staff, plus the government agencies that support the commercialisation of science. We regularly host talks by experts that help enhance our researchers' skills and awareness of the commercial dynamics that underpin success.

Topics covered by local and international experts this year have included critical materials, green finance, intellectual property, scale-up of deep tech and cleantech, techno-economic analysis and more. We routinely extend the invitations to this national seminar series to our networks across KiwiNet, Return on Science, Callaghan, New Zealand Product Accelerator and each of our affiliated Technology Transfer Offices.