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Connected for Innovation: SfTI's Innovation Story

In this short documentary and series of video shorts you'll meet just a few of SfTI's research super stars as they realise impact through their work.

SfTI Innovation Stories  

The documentary above is the culmination of our SfTI innovation video series which over the final 18 months of the Challenge has captured the stories of our science and our researchers in vastly diverse fields. These stories have consistently demonstrated the importance of authentic relationships with industry, Māori and users to lift the research up to the next level of impact. We hope these networks continue to nurture innovation and generate value for Aotearoa.  

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Robots in the Wild 

Meet Chaz, Jamie, and Katerina, from our Biosecurity Technology Spearhead team as they trial their autonomous predator-seeking robot in the remote wilderness of Te Urewera. In this episode of the SfTI Innovation series we see the importance of relationships between people in place and how that informs technology and transformational innovation. 

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If you go down to the woods today... 

In this episode of our Innovation series, we see SfTI’s Ending with Impact Digital Twin Robots team successfully demonstrate their self-navigating forest track mulching robot in a Whanganui forest. Those who attended including SfTI leadership and industry saw a self-navigating machine mulching its way along a forest track. This EWIP project took a component from SfTI’s Adaptive learning Robots Spearhead Research Project and developed it further in order to commercialise. Responding directly to industry feedback identifying a pain point with forestry track maintenance, the team developed technology to bolt onto an existing machine enabling it to autonomously conduct track maintenance in a resource-saving way.

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Ātea: Weaving tikanga through digital realities.

Meet the research team who have worked to combine novel technology and tikanga to create future-proofed virtual spaces. In this short video, we reflect on and honour the important work of this SfTI Spearhead project, which is weaving tikanga through digital realities including virtual and augmented reality, to ensure these spaces are safe for Māori into the future.

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Super Sustainable Surfactants 

Meet Dr Jack Chen and his team who are developing technology to disrupt the massive surfactant market. When you are creating an alternative to something used so widely, the potential impact is always going to be mind-boggling. 

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Unleashing underwater robots for Aquaculture  

Find out how researcher, Richard Green's SfTI experience enabled early conversations with industry, that have helped carve out a commercial pathway for his team and their underwater aquaculture robots.

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The Kaitiaki, the Sensor & the Scientist

Meet Leonie Jones  (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa) and Millan Ruka (Te Urioroi, Te Parawhau, Te Mahurehure), who have worked together to develop a real-time water sensor that takes the technology out of the hands of the scientists and into the hands of the people who are caring for our rivers every day. 

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Better diabetes care for whanau

Join Grace Walker (Ngati Kahungunu, Ngāruahine) and Jake Campbell (Te Rawara) and their team as they take their technology into the community to connect with the end users, who also happen to be Grace's whanau. Hear how diabetes affects their lives and how Grace and Jake are deeply motivated to improve things with their low-cost insulin pump. 

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Turning phones into mixed reality devices for Matariki

Hear from SfTI Vision Mātauranga (VM) Theme Leader and expert on Māori astronomy, Pauline Harris, who shares her knowledge with the SfTI team turning phones into mixed reality devices for Matariki. 

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