Announcing the finalists in the New Zealand Aerospace Challenge 2019
Robotics, satellite data, remote sensing and solar power are just some of the technology featuring in the top eight solutions for the New Zealand Aerospace Challenge 2019.
Entrants to the Challenge were asked to design solutions to identify, monitor or measure water or soil pollution using satellite data and unmanned aircraft technology. Submissions from all around New Zealand were considered as part of the judging process.
The eight finalists are:
- Christ’s College
- Drones technologies NZ Ltd
- Kea Aerospace
- Landpro
- Lincoln University
- NIWA
- Samplair
- Seequent
The finalists will take part in a demo and ‘pitchfest’ in Christchurch and the winner will be announced by Marie-Frederique Romain, Airbus Director of Sales Pacific and Hon Dr Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and Innovation at an awards event on Friday 18 October.
The winner will receive $30,000, Airbus data vouchers and six months of commercialisation support.
Entries were judged by Cyrille Schwob, Airbus Head of Technology Asia-Pacific, alongside New Zealand’s top space and agritech industry leaders.
“Airbus has been impressed by the quality and quantity of the solutions submitted for the Challenge.
“Narrowing down the list to the top eight was exceedingly challenging but it demonstrated that New Zealand is at the forefront of leveraging new technology to address some of the world’s biggest issues,” said Schwob.
ChristchurchNZ is hosting and delivering the Challenge and Richard Sandford, General Manager Innovation & Business Growth, said the competition brought together sectors and skill sets that don’t always naturally intersect.
Cyrille Schwob, Airbus Head of Technology Asia-PacificNarrowing down the list to the top eight was exceedingly challenging but it demonstrated that New Zealand is at the forefront of leveraging new technology to address some of the world’s biggest issues,
“Applications featured agritech, aerospace, data analysis, product design, engineering and business development skills.
“It’s this type of innovation that we want to foster here in Canterbury. Our region is one of the largest food bowls and centres of advanced manufacturing in New Zealand and we have a rapidly growing hub of innovative aerospace and future transport businesses,” said Sandford.
The Challenge is the first deliverable under the Letter of Intent signed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Innovative Partnerships programme and Airbus in October 2018.
