Idea2ImpactPŪKENGA KI PAINGA

The Spring25 cohort is now full! We’re now seeking expressions of interest for the Autumn26 cohort which will kick off in February/March 2026. Register your interest today.

Congratulations to the Autumn25 cohort on their triumphant Showcase event - the projects presented were of the highest calibre, but particular acknowledgement must be given to:

• $3000 Innovation Award winner, Federico Sarzi Braga for LandLend
• $2000 Innovation Award winner, Stephanie Wagner for Soul Sip
• $2000 JW Legal Award winner, Boyuan Qian for Qior
• $300 Ignite Award winner, Jasper Xu

Recent PhD graduate Dr Balakrishnan Nair is now CEO of PreventS-MD, a company implementing life-saving stroke risk assessment tools in clinical settings. PhD candidate Tanuj Wadhi won the 2023 Innovation Challenge with his athlete monitoring technology #EliteVu. And Dr. Sandra Grau-Bartual turned her PhD research on humidifying ‘smart fabrics’ into a company called RespirAq, which recently secured $3 million in venture capital.

AUT Ventures has played a part in each of these success stories. We are responsible for turning university research and expertise into opportunities for real world impact and commercialisation is a key part of our pathways to impact. We’re proud to partner with Ignite Innovation to present a cohort-based commercialisation programme designed to educate and inspire postgrad students to consider commercialisation.

Results from the first cohort include 100% of participants saying they’d recommend the programme to their peers, giving it an average 4.7/5 rating and facilitator Sabrina Nagel received a 5-star rating.

This introductory programme with four modules runs over eight weeks (approximately 30 hours).