A group of Waikato University students has set out to turn honey production on its head with a product that aims to speed up the honey-making process.
The friends, who all met at university, call themselves Inn-Digi.
They created a product which replicates a honeycomb and took it to the Fieldays Innovation tent.
Named 3D Gold HoneyCombs, the new product means bees can produce honey straight away rather than wasting time and beeswax on making the honeycomb first.
The team of creators say it will significantly increase honey production, while reducing beeswax wastage.
"In commercial production, a beekeeper lays a foundation of wax to the hive frame, and the bees then extract honey and turn it into beeswax to create the honeycomb," says group member Christopher Coromandel.
"The process can sometimes take up to 12 weeks, and a lot of honey is wasted in the process - about 10kg of honey to every 1kg of beeswax."
The product they've designed is an insert with pre-made holes that resemble a honeycomb.
"Generally, it takes 33,000 bee hours to make about 5kg of beeswax, with about 3-4kg of that wasted, along with millions of dollars in lost profit for the honey industry," he says.
While they're at prototype stage now, the group's next steps will be to finalise testing, raise the capital required, and move to production.
For the final product they're looking at using biopolymer plastic, which is made from biodegradable materials, to create the honeycomb trays.
The Inn-Digi team originally formed through a business start-up Competition - Innes48 - in March.
Team member Tillery Paintin says they had 48 hours to come up with a product, complete a business plan and pitch to investors.
"Since then we have taken the idea and refined it to something that is viable for the market," she says.
The group is now focusing on R&D for the rest of the year to fine-tune their product.
Inn-Digi has had plenty of attention with the product so far, including interviews with Breakfast and The Paul Henry Show during Fieldays.
Team member Bronson Waaka says the team has a strong belief in 3D Gold HoneyCombs, and while no one is planning to give up their studies, they are also putting in a huge effort to bring the product to market.
He says the first-hand experience at Fieldays and the networking opportunities created means they are confident they are on track and have a viable business opportunity.
Mr Coromandel says entrepreneurship and innovation is alive and well in New Zealand.
"This country has some amazing talent in this space, we just need to get in and help foster it's growth."
- Follow progress at www.inn-digi.nz