New Zealand Innovation on a global platform

Innovation has never been more critical to the future of the agricultural industry and is at the heart of the Fieldays event.

The Innovation Centre accommodates over 60 exhibitors who are there to promote their invention and participate in the highly regarded Innovation Awards.

With a high profile location and networking opportunities galore, exhibiting in the Fieldays Innovation Centre is the fastest way to expose a business to the New Zealand market and beyond.

The centre offers exhibitors the opportunity to get in front of the Fieldays public, showcase their invention to the judges and network with potential investors, as well as speak with Fieldays sponsors and ask questions relevant to their invention and business.

Fieldays event manager Lee Picken says the Innovations Centre has become a global platform, where for four days every year, all eyes are on New Zealand’s brightest minds to herald in the latest inventions in the agri sector, together in one place.

“Every year Innovations sees growth in entrants, growth in ingenuity and growth in event size,” she says. “Past entrants into Fieldays Innovation Awards have enjoyed huge success, raising millions in funding, expanding internationally, becoming household names and generally taking the ag industry by storm. Fieldays is dedicated to fostering Innovation as one of our founding pillars, and as a direct way to advance agriculture in New Zealand, and New Zealand is increasingly becoming a big player on the global ag innovation stage.”

The centre is also the hub of the Fieldays Innovation Awards, which recognise and reward outstanding innovation in the agricultural sector in a variety of categories.

The Innovation Awards welcome innovators from the dairy and drystock sectors, horticulture, information and communication technology, cloud and mobile-based software, animal health and genetics, water and waste management, environment and clean-tech, animal and farm management, farm safety and leading research.

This is the fourth year that Locus Research will sponsor a mentoring award that provides the winner with the tools to take their Innovation to market. Locus also powers The LAB in the Innovation Centre, a purpose-built meeting room where entrants and business leaders can meet to discuss how to take the next step.

The LAB also serves as a hub for mentoring and debriefing entrants, away from the general busyness of the centre. It is a space where Innovations participants can conduct brainstorming sessions, networking and meetings, and receive free advice from lawyers, patent and trademark attorneys, accountants and product development consultants, as well as information on all aspects of project design and market entry. All participants are encouraged to utilise the LAB during Fieldays.

Now in its second year, the Innovations Accelerator provides an opportunity for 10 companies who have previously exhibited in the Innovations Centre to increase the marketability of their product.

In the lead up to Fieldays, those exhibiting in the Innovations Centre were encouraged to attend a series of workshops designed to give them the extra edge when developing their product.

Industry leaders shared stories about their successes and failures and imparted the knowledge they have learnt along the way.

A new feature is the Fieldays Innovations Capital Event, partnered by Enterprise Angels.

The Capital Event will see Innovations entrants network with industry influencers, investors and agribusinesses in this specialised environment in an effort to connect entrants with their targeted market.

“The Capital Event will connect our innovators directly with investors to create relationship opportunities, real feedback and very real capital options,” Picken  says.


This article has been reproduced from Stuff.

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