20 March 2023

The Commercialisation and Construction Innovation groups from Callaghan Innovation visited Scion in Rotorua for a series of workshops over three days to explore impactful new collaboration opportunities that will create greater impact for Aotearoa.

The focus was on accelerating the development and commercialisation of technology in key areas like high-value wood product manufacturing, bioplastics, sustainable construction, forestry management, wood processing, biofuel and waste-to-value initiatives.

Nick Sterling, Callaghan Innovation's Head of Construction Innovation says the workshops were an  excellent opportunity to collaborate more closely on impactful and converging technologies that everyone is aware of today, and also build awareness and alignment on what technologies are coming over the horizon.

“This shared intel allows both organisations to build our capabilities to support businesses and ecosystem partners and better tackle their future challenges and opportunities.”

Richard Quin, Callaghan Innovation’s Group Leader, Commercialisation says it was a privilege to be welcomed into Scion’s stunning building, Te Whare Nui o Tuteata.

“We saw first-hand the important work that Scion is doing in areas of critical importance to Aotearoa

“We look forward to continuing the conversations and exploring how we can bring together the complementary expertise of our two organisations to accelerate the path from research to impact."

Partnerships across the New Zealand innovation system are critical to Scion’s mission and vision – Transitioning New Zealand to a Circular Bioeconomy.

Scion’s general manager for Forests to Biobased Products, Florian Graichen, says the personal interactions between Scion’s portfolio leaders and Callaghan’s commercialisation managers opened up several areas of impactful collaboration opportunities.

“While we are all experts in virtual meetings, you can’t replace the value of face-to-face meetings and discussions over a cup of coffee. Therefore, we appreciate the effort the Callaghan team made to spend three days in Rotorua and make so many productive exchanges possible.”

Welcoming Callaghan whānau to Te Whare Nui o Tuteata was particularly meaningful for Scion’s general manager for Te Ao Māori and Science Services, Hēmi Rolleston.

“Having worked at Callaghan Innovation I was aware of the capability and resources they had, as well as the passionate and skilled people, so to connect that to Scion who have significant alignment was pretty special.
“To do it in scale with key people from both organisations was huge. A real demonstration of commitment to working together and I’m really looking forward to the next steps.”
Opportunities ahead include work to maximise growth through the forestry value chain, focusing on precision forestry, timber processing and innovation for sustainable construction.

This collaboration will draw on the expertise of both parties to develop new technologies and products that can be used to create a more sustainable future.

Scion’s general manager for Forests to Timber Products, Henri Bailleres, says working together will drive positive change in the forestry sector. The partnership aims to find innovative solutions to increasing the efficiency of timber processing and creating sustainable building products and systems.

“We believe this partnership is an essential step towards finding innovative solutions to increasing the efficiency of timber processing and creating sustainable building products and systems.

“With our combined knowledge, we look forward to seeing positive outcomes.”