A cross-government partnership is on a mission to turn New Zealand into a centre of global CleanTech excellence, solving pressing environmental problems. 

Callaghan Innovation, New Zealand Growth Capital Partners, the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge, Auckland Unlimited and UniServices have established the NZ CleanTech Mission partnership to convert local CleanTech into thriving and profitable businesses.

The joint mission follows the freshly launched New Zealand Climate Tech for The World, a deep-dive report into NZ’s CleanTech opportunities, the most in-depth research to date in this area. Among the report’s key recommendations is to increase collaboration among government organisations.

“We need to support climate innovation as a step towards achieving the national and global carbon targets, set by the Climate Commission. Through creating technologies to address these targets, New Zealand can also build a high-value export sector, and new employment opportunities,” says James Muir, CleanTech Lead at Callaghan Innovation.

Solving commercialisation challenges

The partnership statement outlines a number of key actions:  Developing a five-year roadmap, supercharging local and international connections, scoping initiatives to boost commercialisation and, ultimately, a targeted approach to CleanTech clusters.

“It’s not easy for innovators to navigate the challenging commercialisation stages of R&D and investment to translate their ideas into globally successful businesses. The New Zealand Climate Tech for The World report, for example, reveals that NZ? innovators are raising 95% less investment than other comparable small, advanced economies,” Mr Muir explains.

“The NZ CleanTech Mission will ensure that CleanTech is flagged as a critical priority, on a nationwide and coordinated level. The aim is to ensure CleanTech innovators, whether out of businesses, labs or garages, have a responsive, connected, and easy-to-navigate ecosystem of support.”

New Zealand’s CleanTech opportunities

Callaghan Innovation’s recent review of NZ’s early- and growth-phase businesses identified up to 300 CleanTech innovators working on technologies, including novel apps, plastic alternatives, new energy sources, and industrial waste processing. In Financial Year 2020, 98 CleanTech businesses funded by Callaghan Innovation generated $334m revenue, supported 1,860 jobs and invested $95m in R&D with 680 high-value R&D jobs specifically.

To help ClimateTech innovators and stakeholders navigate this crucial economic and social area, Callaghan Innovation has also developed a New Zealand ClimateTech Mission hub online, which will house the Partnership Statement, NZ ClimateTech for the World report, and additional tools and resources, such as inspiring case studies, industry insights, and an ecosystem map.

The goal now is to take the findings and insights from these resources and support innovators to apply them to their own environmental products and processes. This will help them maximise commercial opportunities and, importantly, drive critical solutions to environmental problems.