Scion wins award for wood-fibre 'dice'

Materials scientist Damien Even and business development manager Jeremy Warnes, members of Scion's wood fibre dice development team.

Rotorua Crown Research Insitute Scion has won a 2016 KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Award.

The winners of the awards, designed to celebrate commercialisation success within New Zealand's universities and Crown Research Institutes, were announced in Auckland last night.

Scion and Sonae won the MinterEllisonRuddWatts Research & Business Partnership Award for Woodforce - a high performance wood fibre-reinforced plastic.

Judges said the partnership had unusual strength in longevity for a licensee/licensor relationship.

"They have managed to put together their skills of business and research in a highly complementary fashion. Scion has a deep understanding of the whole supply chain to significantly influence how the market operates. Wood replacing oil is impressive and has potential to make major disruptive impact."

Scion's patented process forms wood fibre into "dice" that can be made in existing MDF plants and easily added to a range of plastics.

European MDF manufacturer Sonae Industria was granted an exclusive licence for the technology in North America and Europe. Sonae owns and has developed the Woodforce brand. End products that meet demands for lighter weight, thermal stability and sustainability are being trialled and approved by major automotive manufacturers.

KiwiNet general manager Dr Bram Smith said: "There are so many exciting examples of science powering business innovation in the research community. To quote one of the finalists today, sometimes even science that is initially seen as operating in the fringe ends up creating immense commercial value for the New Zealand economy. That's a story we see often."