The Entrepreneurs in Residence
Each university has an Entrepreneur in Residence, who are experienced entrepreneurs with strong credentials in both science and business. The Entrepreneurs in Residence mentor and stimulate academic staff within the universities. This external involvement is a key part of the programme and provides an effective link between academia and industry.
Dr Garth Carnaby (Lincoln University)
Garth Carnaby runs his own company providing governance, strategic advice, consultancy, and research services in the business development, science, and agriculture fields. His current external appointments include; President Elect of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Chair of the NZ Synchrotron Co Ltd, Director of the Australian Synchrotron Company Ltd and of the Australian Synchrotron Holding Co Ltd, Deputy Chair of The Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd, and Chair of the Canterbury Development Corporation and the Canterbury Economic Development Fund Trustee Ltd. He was World President of the Manchester based Textile Institute in 2000-2002 and chaired the Marsden Fund Council from 2004-2009.
Garth graduated from the Universtiy of New South Wales in 1971 with a BSc Hons and was awarded his PhD from Leeds University in 1976, he returned to NZ to spend 20 years at Wool Research of New Zealand (WRONZ) (Inc.). He produced over 200 publications and patents during this period and was awarded a DSc from UNSW and Fellowship of RSNZ in recognition of this research work. In 1992 Garth became Managing Director of WRONZ (Inc.), and led the organisation through twelve years of continuous profitable growth. He retired from his CEO roles in 2004 and set up his own business after successfully creating Canesis Network Ltd from merging WRONZ (Inc.) and Wools of New Zealand Ltd.
Garth has overseen the commercialisation of scores of technologies and led the creation of numerous successful Canterbury-based spin-out technology and innovation companies including Woolfill Corporation Ltd, R5 Solutions Ltd, and Softswitch Ltd (UK) on all of which he served as Director or Chairman. In 2002 he oversaw the formation of Keratec Ltd, a Canterbury based biotechnology start-up company, on which he then served as a Director. He was made a Member of NZ Order of Merit, (MNZM) in the 2006 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
William Swallow (University of Canterbury)
Bill Swallow runs a consultancy business which specialises in science, commercialisation and culture change. Throughout his working life Bill has worked with science and scientists and has developed an interest in the effect of culture on the effectiveness of science organisations and how environments can be created in which people are motivated to take ideas from the lab bench to a pre-incubation stage.
Bill gained a MSc (with distinction) in Chemistry 1968 and a Ph.D (Canterbury) in Chemistry 1972. He was acting director of the DSIR Wheat Research Institute until 1988 and then moved to be Group Manager, Food Science and Technology, DSIR Crop Research from 1988 unitl 1992. Bill joined ESR (Environmental Science and Research Ltd) on its formation (1992) and was closely involved in its transition from an internally funded government department to an externally funded business. Changing from an operation where the prime drivers are cost and time to one based on staff expertise and knowledge requires a marked change in thinking. Successfully changing the culture of a professional organisation demands it own set of skills, not the least being patience and tenacity. However a measure of the Group’s success in making the transformation may be gauged by the increase in the number of professional staff from 75 to150 with annual revenues of over $17M.
In 2005 while working at the University of Canterbury Bill organised a collaborative Canterbury/Lincoln University Growth and Innovation Pilot Initiative (GIPI) project – “Building a University Enterprise Culture”. This $2.4M three year project has proved most productive. In particular it has created a strong network of like minded people. This has been instrumental in raising $2M to equip a Biomolecular Interaction Centre with modern scientific instrumentation, boosting the local biotechnology infrastructure. Other GIPI successes include: assisting the commercialisation of two major projects involving development of a hand held anthrax spore detector, and a medical treatment of cataracts. These projects have currently raised over $2M of private investor funding.
Peter Fennessy (University of Otago)
Peter Fennessy is Managing-Director of AbacusBio Limited (www.abacusbio.co.nz), a privately held consultancy and new venture development business with a focus in the agricultural, agri-bio and biotech sectors. Peter is driven by enthusiasm for turning good ideas into businesses. He specialises in strategic planning and technical consultancy for clients in the agribusiness sector (including the farm production, product processing and marketing), evaluation and development of new technology-based business and investment opportunities especially in biotechnology and agribusiness, and in the management of technology-based development projects.
Peter is Chair of BLIS Technologies and a director of a number of private companies, and of the National Research Centre for Growth and Development; he is also Chair of the Advisory Board for the University of Otago Applied Science program. Peter has a scientific background and spent many years as a research scientist before he moved into the business end of things.
Academic Leads
Associate Professor Vernon Ward (Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago)
Vernon has BSc(Hons) and PhD degrees from Otago. After holding post-doctoral positions at the Institute of Virology, Oxford and the University of California Vernon took up a position in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Otago. Vernon is interested in Molecular Virology and his current research involves the study of pathogenic viruses and the exploitation of virus properties for beneficial purposes.
Vernon is course director for Molecular Biotechnology, a major in the Applied Science programme. He is on the Applied Science Board of Studies, a Member of the Executive for BioSouth, on the Management Board of the Otago Centre for Protein Research a former Vice President of the New Zealand Biotechnology Association and is a coordinator of the Virology Research Theme at the University of Otago.
The Sponsors
Professor Don Roberton (Pro-Vice-Chancellor Health Sciences, University of Otago)
Don has been Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Division of Health Sciences from 2006. He is also Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He is responsible for all academic activities within the Division, as well as management of the Division’s resources. As Pro-Vice-Chancellor, he is also part of the senior management team of the University.
Don graduated from the University of Otago in 1971 and then completed his postgraduate professional training and qualifications in paediatrics and pathology. Prior to returning to the University of Otago in 2006, he was the McGregor Reid Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Adelaide. His research and previous practice interests have been in paediatric immunology, vaccine provision, paediatric rheumatology, and medical education.
Professor Ian Town (Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Canterbury)
Profile of Ian Town to come
Professor Chris Kirk (Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Lincoln University)
Profile of Chris Kirk to come