$17.5m for seven Kiwi businesses, including EV charging and solar

Callaghan Innovation will support seven trailblazing Kiwi businesses with bold ideas to succeed in global markets, including renewable energy and EV charging.

Science, innovation and technology minister Judith Collins announced the Ārohia Trailblazer grant recipients at the New Zealand Aerospace Summit in Christchurch.

Callaghan Innovation has allocated $17.5 million in co-funding to Astrix Astronautics, Basis NZ,  Emrod, Fabrum Solutions, Toku Eyes, Zincovery Process Technologies and Zenno Astronautics.

The Ārohia Trailblazer Innovation Grant supports businesses that are benefiting the New Zealand innovation ecosystem, and have global potential.

“Congratulations to these Kiwi innovators who have developed these impressive, and ambitious innovations with the potential for success here and in global markets,” says Callaghan Innovation chief product officer Brett Calton.

“We look forward to following their success as they inspire and enable other, like-minded ambitious innovators,”  he says.

“These trailblazers represent diverse sectors, including HealthTech, CleanTech and aerospace, that are growing and have the potential to make a bigger impact globally.”

Astrix Astronautics design reliable high performance power systems for small satellites using an inflatable deployment mechanism that delivers solar power to mega-constellations.

Basis NZ has developed the world’s first residential “Smart Panel”, enabling homeowners to reduce their electricity costs, make their homes safer and lower barriers to adopting electrification technologies such as EVs, batteries and solar. 

Emrod is pioneering the transition to a wireless, global energy network. Its technology is hardware for wirelessly sending large amounts of power over long distances, safely and efficiently, expected to help transform the world’s ability to generate and use energy.

Fabrum Solutions has developed technologies which include a library of patents and trade secrets, including cryocoolers, refuelling technologies, liquefiers and storage systems for hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and LNG. About 80% of its product is made in New Zealand and exported globally.

Toku Eyes has developed a product that can identify individuals with elevated chronic kidney disease risk (CKD) using retinal fundus images.

Zincovery Process Technologies aims to bring the first 100% recycled, low carbon and high purity zinc product to the market, enabled by its zinc recycling technology that avoids the use of fossil fuels, reducing emissions by up to 95% and processing costs by 45%.

Zenno Astronautics is building the future of agile and sustainable operations in space, developing a patented technology based on superconducting magnets that enables spacecraft operators to reduce their costs while also increasing their mission value.

Click here for more grant information.