Taking innovation offshore: Kiwi agrifood tech companies share tips for international collaboration

An interactive session at the E Tipu: Boma Agri Summit in New Zealand, hosted by AgriFutures grow^AG. brought together Miruku and Map & Zap to share tips for successful collaboration across the Tasman and globally.

Whether it’s access to a larger market and more capital, or collaboration to test a product, taking an innovation off-shore can be a game-changer.

The panel discussion, ‘The Benefits of Collaboration: Trans-Tasman and Global’ tackled the issue with two companies who are doing just that.

Facilitator, AgriFutures Australia’s General Manager of Global Innovation Networks Harriet Mellish said scaling up is a key challenge, not just for New Zealand innovators but for those in Australia too.

“We represent two per cent of all of the world's agricultural research,” she said.

“We're conscious that we can't solve some of the big challenges that we're facing, unless we partner globally.”

New Zealand Startup Miruku is at the forefront of molecular farming, using the proteins and fats normally found in dairy products but producing them within the seeds of row crops like safflower.

The company plans to partner with Australian farmers for initial crop cultivation and the Chief Operating Officer, Dr Abby Thompson said this has several advantages; scale of crop production, expertise in safflower transformation research and a favourable regulatory environment.

“In Australia, the regulators are much more comfortable with the idea of growing genetically modified crops out in the open, there's been several crops that have been modified and commercialised,” she said.

Harriet Mellish on panel for discussion "˜The Benefits of Collaboration: Trans-Tasman and Global'

Making the right connections

AgResearch’s Dr Kioumars Ghamkhar is the founder of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based weed identification and laser technology system Map & Zap.

He told the conference that after working in agricultural research for nearly 20 years across three Australian states, it was a natural choice for partnerships.

“The bigger market in Australia is advantage for us," he said. “I know the research and innovation environment, and that helps when you have that network already.”

Abby agreed that investing time in developing relationships was crucial to taking innovation to another country.

“We wanted to make sure we were taking the time ourselves to go and meet people, to understand them and for them to understand us, so that when we asked for help, they felt much more comfortable because they knew we were genuine,” she said.

“Also spending time finding out about the other side and looking for a win-win situation, a proper collaboration rather than just a transactional kind of arrangement.”

In terms of the benefits of collaboration, Harriet also pointed to the advantage that Australia and New Zealand can have in testing northern hemisphere innovations.

“There’s a real desire from Europe and also the U.S. to partner in terms of farm trials, we can support that counter-seasonal piece because from an iteration cycle perspective it makes it so much faster.”

She also highlighted the launch of the innovation platform grow^AG.in New Zealand as an opportunity to build networks and unlock opportunities for Trans-Tasman cooperation.

Show me the money

Harriet noted that access to capital was seen as a key challenge for Startups, no matter which side of the ditch they were from.
“Once upon a time, you could raise capital on an idea,” she said. “That's just not the case anymore.”

Kioumars said markets in New Zealand and Australia, are small on a global scale.

“To get access to the real capital, you have to go to U.S. or Europe if you want to scale your business,” he said. But he added there’s opportunity for testing technology and proving that systems work through Trans-Tasman collaboration.

Miruku has raised around NZD $12 million in capital, including NZD $8 million in Pre-Series A funding earlier this year.

“We tell ourselves that there isn't enough capital here, but for us at least, New Zealand has been the most supportive VC community we could have wished for,” Abby said.

Abby said the opportunity in Australia will set Miruku up for further growth.

“We hope that the breadth of extra collaborative opportunity and route to market that we see there, will help us get capital when we need to go bigger than what New Zealand is able to provide.”

There was also discussion the VC wasn’t the only money on the table – with government incentives for research and development in Australia.

Abby pointed to Queensland as an example. “We are registered in Queensland and their R&D co-funding arrangements have a minimum of 50% from government but if you happen to be based in regional Queensland 70% per cent your R&D for the project will be paid by the government,” she said.

Harriet Mellish connecting on stand at E Tipu

Markets in mind

As part of the interactive session the audience also shared their experience of expanding into other markets, including Mexico, the Netherlands, the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore and China.

More than 40% had considered launching in Australia first.

When it came to discussion about what international markets need to appeal to innovators to land innovation, audience members pointed to scale, policy settings, larger markets, success stories and connections.

Abby’s advice was to carefully consider your ultimate market, what you are trying to prove, and the most appropriate place to do that.

“We all hear you need to be working from your consumer back and so if your ultimate consumer is absolutely an urban Asian city somewhere there, then I would suggest that Australia and New Zealand may well not be the appropriate sort of gateway.”

For more on the value of international collaboration and expanding innovation globally watch the full discussion on YouTube below.