The 50-year-old National Poisons Centre in Dunedin is a finalist in the inaugural KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards.
Otago company Toxinz Success, which runs the poisons database, is with Otago Innovation Ltd, the commercialisation subsidiary of the University of OtagoToxinz Success is a finalist in the Commercial Deal Award category, along with WaikatoLink's Aduro Biopolymers, which makes a bioplastic from waste protein, and Grasslanz Technology Ltd, for innovative plant technologies.
The Toxinz Success database, developed at the University of Otago, began about 50 years ago and now contains more than 190,000 documents with up-to-date information on poisonous chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plants and animals, operating 24/7. Subscriptions to Toxinz are being sold to poison centres, hospitals, state governments and health boards.
KiwiNet general manager Bram Smith said the awards celebrated the
work which goes on behind the scenes to turn research ideas into commercial value.
In other categories, there are four finalists for the Commercialisation Collaboration Award, three for the Researcher Entrepreneur Award and three in the Research and Business Partnership Award.
The awards includes finalists presenting at an event on June 19 at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland, before the winners are announced at a function later that evening.
KiwiNet is a group of New Zealand universities and crown research institutes collaborating on research commercialisation.
