New ways to live off the sheep's back

By LIAM DANN primary industries editor

We might have been farming them for thousands of years but as far as Garth Carnaby is concerned sheep are a high-tech product of the future.

If someone invented a Machine that could turn grass into everything from plastics to health supplements we would be amazed, he says.

New Zealand has 40 million of those machines grazing on its hills and paddocks.

Carnaby is chief executive of Canesis, a new technology company created from the intellectual property of the former Wool Board's research facility at Lincoln in Canterbury.

It is a company that specialises in - and leads the world, Carnaby believes - finding new ways to live off the sheep's back.

Canesis and joint-venture company Keratec, also based at Lincoln, were formerly part of Wronz (Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand).

They have been relaunched as commercial ventures following the restructuring of the Wool Board.

Sheep farmers, whose levies have over the years funded their development, will hold a significant stake in the companies through the farmer-owned company Wool Equities. It owns a 34 per cent stake in Canesis and a 67 per cent stake in Keratec.

If Canesis and Keratec are successful the wool industry could rival dairy for the range of value added ingredients products it can produce.

"If we're successful they [farmers] will have dividends to invest back into the wool industry," Carnaby says.

One of the core products that will drive that success is a wool protein called keratin.

Incredibly versatile, it can be used to create anything from biodegradable plastics to nutrients for the cosmetics and health industries.

In this product area New Zealand has a technological edge.

"We know more about keratin than anyone else in the world," Carnaby says.

The company's vision is for Keratin to feature in the "bio-materials revolution".

Around the world the race is on to find cheap and renewable alternatives to petroleum based products.

The technology at Lincoln will make sheep a crucial resource in that process.

"Sheep are going to become keratin harvesting machines," he says.

That could mean other pay-offs for farmers besides their capital investment in the company.

Keratec believes that within several years it could be processing 10 per cent of the nation's wool clip for its high-value products.

That has to be a good thing for wool prices.

Keratec already has a steady revenue stream from keratin products and expects to be profitable within four years.

Canesis is the more mature of the two businesses. Taking over the Wronz brand, which is still used because of its recognition overseas, Canesis has annual revenue of about $30.5 million a year.

The Wronz legacy has left Canesis with 290 partner or client companies around the world. It specialises in textiles technology and is taking wool in unusual new directions.

"At the start of the 21st century textiles are still one of the most ubiquitous consumer products in the world," Carnaby says.

To boost the popularity of wool Canesis is developing new products.

One technology already providing good revenue for the company is making woollen textile production cheaper and allowing the creation of new products that can compete with popular synthetic fabrics such as polar fleece.

Called non-woven processing, it skips the traditional weaving process and compresses wool into fabrics of varying textures and strengths.

At the really space-age end of things Canesis is making clothes with electronic switches sewn into them, and other machine-washable electronics.

How about a computer keyboard you can blow your nose on and throw through a spin cycle? A Canesis division called Softswitch has already made one.

Snowboard company Burton is already selling a jacket that has Softswitch technology built into it. The controls to a music player are woven into the sleeve of the jacket so the wearer does not have to remove their gloves. At US$1000 ($1716) each the jackets are not cheap.

Softswitch and companies working in the field believe it will not be long before smart-wired garments can sense the temperature and adjust internal heating and cooling systems to suit the wearer.

The division is also working with carmakers and airlines to develop seats with pressure sensitive fabrics that can measure loads and sense crashes to let the car know when to deploy airbags.

Another Canesis division is working on new scouring techniques that will give New Zealand wool the edge on the global market. They are already selling three high-value branded wool products for carpet manufacture:

pf* Glacier is a super bleached wool that can create snow white carpets, which have been bought by stars such as Madonna.

pf* Strike is a wool prepared for printed carpets. It allows more dye uptake and gives patterned carpets a sharper, brighter look.

pf* Aurora is a wool blend for creating marled and flecked yarns. It can even be used to create fluorescent, glow-in-the-dark carpets.

Next month farmers will have the chance to decide if they want to be investors in Canesis and Keratec.

After two years those who have stayed with Wool Equities will vote again on whether the share register should be opened up and the company listed on the stock market.

Even the most enthusiastic share trader will admit that high-tech companies have their investment risks, but the best of them have a wide range of potential products.

In that respect Canesis and Keratec can claim a significant place in the small pool of quality New Zealand science companies.


Woollen wonders

Some of the new products Canesis and Keratec are creating with wool:

Protein formulas for shampoos and cosmetics

Conductive fibres for clothing with in-built electronics

Plastics and adhesives

Surgical screws and bone grafts

Non-woven "polar fleece" style fabrics

High-grade "silk substitute" fibres

Fluorescent carpets