13 March 2007

The Canterbury Geospatial Research Centre (GRC) in Christchurch, New Zealand is a complementary blend of New Zealand and United Kingdom (UK) capability and talent that is enhancing New Zealand's international research and development potential for innovative solutions.

The GRC is a collaborative effort between New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE, incorporating Investment New Zealand), the Canterbury Economic Development Fund and the Universities of Nottingham (UK) and Canterbury (New Zealand) and is helping New Zealand companies and organisations to secure a competitive advantage in the international marketplace.

Founded in late 2006, the GRC is led by Dr David Park, who brought with him a team of five from the University of Nottingham to undertake the project.

It has received NZ$2 million in funding from NZTE to use its intellectual strengths to help both private and public organisations to transform innovative ideas into commercial realities.

Dr Park says the team from Nottingham University, one of the top geospatial research institutes in the world, is equipped with a knowledge of technologies that directly and indirectly impact on the lives of millions of people every day.

“That technology can be practically applied in almost any sector. Its uses range from GPS positioning to defence and communications technology applications and environmental monitoring. It has the potential to increase revenues and cut costs, all while improving productivity.

“It enables great things to be done cheaply, faster or perhaps in a politically more acceptable way. For example, the use of positioning technology in agriculture could result in cheaper or more environmentally friendly farming practices,” says Dr Park.

Dr Park says the GRC has already formed working relationships with a number of leading New Zealand companies and has managed to help a Christchurch company save tens of thousands of dollars in information and communications technology (ICT) spend by identifying a simpler solution to a software requirement problem.

The GRC was set up with a company structure, with the Canterbury Development Corporation, both universities and Dr Park as shareholders. As a company the GRC is expected to grow and become financially successful by helping other organisations to achieve their goals.

Felicity Merrington, Investment New Zealand Business Development Consultant, says more than a year’s planning work went into getting the GRC up and running after the opportunity to work with the University of Nottingham was spotted.

“We identified this as an area where New Zealand already had a significant amount of capability as well as an unofficial cluster of geospatial research companies in Christchurch,” she says.

Christchurch is considered to be a leading ICT region in New Zealand, with more than 500 software and electronics companies calling it home.

The GRC team is helping to find solutions that would – without its knowledge and expertise – be more expensive and take a lot longer to find.

“They are helping to commercialise intellectual property by assisting other companies to develop and deploy their products,” Felicity says. “That translates into more jobs – both better paid and highly skilled. The resulting higher incomes inject more money into both the regional and national economies, which is good for everybody.”

In addition to the potential commercial successes, the relationship with the University of Nottingham provides the GRC with access to international funding programmes and helps to open doors for New Zealand companies into other international projects, companies and organisations.

For more information, please contact:

felicity.merrington@investmentnz.govt.nz

+64 4 816 8204

david.park@grcnz.com

+64 3 364 3831