Lifelong asthmatic Garth Sutherland wanted to use his electrical engineering skills to help fellow sufferers better manage their symptoms.

He devised a way to equip inhalers with mini computers so they could monitor their medication intake more effectively.

After two years of developing the "Smartinhaler" at the Icehouse business incubator, his small company Nexus6 is drawing two-thirds of its sales from overseas.

Some of the world's top asthma researchers sit on its science board. Last week the company closed its first round of funding of $500,000 from business angels and venture capitalists, which will see it scale up global marketing of the Smartinhaler and commercialise new products.

Nexus6 is one of many high-tech companies hatching at the Icehouse.

The cool name is a bit of a misnomer for the Parnell-based incubator where fledgling entrepreneurs, working feverishly during a two-year stay, bring their business ideas to fruition.

They arrive with little more than a concept and it is intended that they leave with a business that stands on its own two feet and can succeed internationally.

They are given a desk, phone and internet connections, tea, coffee and meeting rooms.

The cleaning is done and they don't have to sign a lease.

Surrounded by like-minded companies and with deep business networks and expertise on tap, residents have the best possible assistance to make their ventures successful.

Icehouse chief executive Andrew Hamilton says his position is like being on the edge of a frontier where he is seeing the next generation of high-growth companies launched into international markets.

And as chairman of Incubators New Zealand, an association set up in 2003 to support and guide the industry, he is helping to establish the foundations of the incubation industry.

Barely out of start-up mode itself, the industry has grown from two incubators in 2001 to 14 around the country today.

Together, they are rearing 130 young companies which represent 40 per cent of the start-up market.

Business incubators have been something of a global trend in the past decade, and have met mixed success worldwide.

But in New Zealand, with a combination of right timing and a focus on high-tech companies, incubators are flourishing and producing some outstanding success stories.

Icehouse alumni include Func Nutrition - producers of the Sun Latte milk - and Climate Coatings which developed a revolutionary colour-coating process for the medium-density fibreboard used to make kitchen cabinets.