New Bio Commerce Centre to harness skills

Manawatu's new $3 million business incubator Bio Commerce Centre opened yesterday, aiming to plug the gap between good ideas and research, and get them to commercial production.

The centre has space for 10 "good idea" companies to start up and be mentored, and it will offer international marketing, investment and contract advice.

Opening the centre, Research, Science and Technology Minister Steve Maharey said biotechnology would be key to New Zealand's success in the 21st century.

Bio Commerce Centre chief executive Ralph Schneideman said the hard work would start now, growing companies.

"New Zealand lacks entrepreneurial confidence on a mass scale. We need to turn that around," said Mr Schneideman, who has an international business background with experience in banking, finance and product development.

He sees the centre as a place where scientific thinking can be exposed to business and investor thinking, to trap the good invention ideas now lost.

The main barrier to commercialisation is the high cost of venture capital in New Zealand, Mr Schniedeman said.

The centre is operating out of Massey University's old dairy factory in the science park. It has been earthquake strengthened and refurbishing has seen the old industrial character of the building retained.

The centre now has two tenants. Grasslanz, a subsidiary of AgResearch, is developing better pasture plants. Waituna Brewing Company makes an indigenous beer flavoured with kawakawa leaves.

Waituna co-founder Simon Burney said the company plans to export the beer and to develop other indigenous drinks.

Former Palmerston North mayor Mark Bell-Booth is also signing as a tenant. His new business, Assetta, will quantify the condition of company assets.

Landcorp Farming chief executive and centre board member Chris Kelly says his goal for the centre in the next five years is to see four or five companies successfully stand alone.

Massey University's Albany campus business incubator is four years old and its chief executive, Steve Corbett, said it has seen four businesses successfully stand-alone so far. It took businesses two to four years to reach independence.

The centre's $3 million dowry will support it for its first three years, then it must be self-sufficient. The money has come from New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, the Palmerston North City Council, Massey University and the Central Energy Trust.

It also has two corporate partners, Marton-based Speirs Foods and New Plymouth-based Lamberts Business Systems.

- NZPA