Commissioned research and consulting opportunities

This year, Wellington UniVentures is taking on an extended mandate for Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Endorsed by the Vice Chancellor and Senior Leadership Team, our team will be actively supporting academics to identify and secure commissioned research contract opportunities with private industry and government, both in Aotearoa New Zealand and offshore. While this is a new mandate for Wellington UniVentures, supporting the engagement of researchers with external organisations is something our team has been working on for some time and builds on our track record of supporting external engagement and business development activities to generate research income with well-known organisations.

Since the transfer of the Ferrier Research Institute to Te Herenga Waka, we’ve supported their long-standing relationship with Glycosyn, a Wellington-based manufacturer of pharmaceutical ingredients. Wellington UniVentures has played a key role in supporting the relationship between the University and Glycosyn, which has maintained a high-quality research service provision over many years for customers both in New Zealand and overseas.

More recently, we’ve supported Robinson Research Institute researcher Chris Bumby’s connection with a major industrial steel manufacturer, as both parties seek to accelerate research which uses hydrogen instead of coal during the steel making process. With a unified goal to produce safe and sustainable steel, the development of this research has the potential to eliminate CO₂ emissions arising from the manufacture of all steel consumed in NZ, and in future emissions globally. 

These are just two examples of the types of impactful external collaborations we will be supporting researchers to secure under our new mandate.

We will be hiring dedicated role to support our new commissioned research mandate and will be working closely with the University’s Research Office and Development Office to ensure that we are well integrated to provide a coordinated and strategic experience for academics. With our new mandate and a growing team, we are excited to continue to connect the University’s world class research with external opportunities, supporting research mobilisation and the creation of impact for Aotearoa New Zealand and the world.