Follow the capability and capital will follow

New Zealand’s future prosperity will depend on how effectively we translate research into businesses that create jobs, generate exports, and foster global competitiveness. Our universities and public research organisations generate discoveries that could transform industries, from health technology and clean energy to digital innovation, but too often that potential remains unrealised.

The recently released Survey of Commercialisation Outcomes from Public Research offers a clear signal that this can change. When research, entrepreneurship, and professional capability align, the result is not just innovation, but economic growth.

The survey, compiled annually by Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia, is the most comprehensive measure of how publicly funded research translates into commercial and social outcomes across Australia and New Zealand. The 2024 report, covering 76 organisations, found that the University of Auckland and its commercialisation company, UniServices, led the region with equity in 45 active spinout companies, the third consecutive year Auckland has topped this metric.

Those ventures include deep-tech and health innovators such as Alimetry, Avasa, Zenno Astronautics, Kitea Health, and StretchSense. These companies have attracted international investment, forged global partnerships, and are exporting technology developed in New Zealand. Collectively, the 45 firms employ hundreds of high-skill workers and contribute significant high-value economic activity each year. They represent the kind of growth New Zealand needs: science-based enterprises that scale globally without the environmental footprint of traditional industries.

This success is not about size or luck. It reflects a system deliberately designed to translate research into outcomes by developing people, aligning incentives, and investing for the long term.

As academic director of the university’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, I see that system in action every day. UniServices manages the commercialisation process, protecting intellectual property, structuring deals, raising investment, and helping new companies navigate the precarious early stages. The centre focuses on the human side: building founder capability and teaching students and researchers how to test ideas, understand markets, and build ventures that can survive outside the university. Together, we demonstrate that commercialisation is a discipline that can be learned, practised, and scaled.

This focus on capability was echoed by the government-appointed Science System Advisory Group in its recent report A Pathway to the Future: New Zealand’s Science and Innovation System. The group identified the “IP-to-IPO” (intellectual property to initial public offering) as New Zealand’s weakest link. Its conclusion is straightforward: innovation policy must focus as much on people as on money. To build a high-value economy, we need more researchers fluent in markets and more entrepreneurs who understand science.

The survey data reinforces that conclusion. Across Australasia, the number of commercialisation professionals has grown far faster than research expenditure. That investment in people is paying off: more spinouts, deeper industry partnerships, and increasingly sophisticated deal structures. Licensing revenue may fluctuate from year to year, but the total number of active ventures continues to rise. This is what a maturing innovation system looks like: focused on long-term capability rather than short-term wins.

University-originated ventures in fields including biotech, AI, and advanced manufacturing are among the highest-productivity businesses in the economy, often generating several times the value-added per employee of conventional small and medium-sized enterprises. They diversify our export base, retain scientific talent, and anchor knowledge-intensive clusters. For investors, capability lowers risk. When they see sound governance, clear IP ownership, and credible founders, capital follows. Money chases competence.

Yet our national innovation debate still often revolves around funding. We argue about grant levels, R&D tax credits, and venture capital availability, when the real constraint is capability. Without skilled people to translate ideas into opportunities, more money simply produces a longer queue of under-commercialised research. With the right capability, capital becomes catalytic.

At the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, we focus on building that capability at scale. Each year, thousands of students and researchers take part in our programmes, learning to navigate uncertainty, lead teams, and turn insights into ventures. We ensure those founders have a clear pathway, whether toward a start-up, a licence, or a strategic partnership. This combination of entrepreneurial education and professional commercialisation strengthens New Zealand’s position as a credible source of investible innovation.

Every university and public research organisation needs to strengthen its commercialisation capabilities by investing more in developing individuals who can bridge the gap between science and business, and partner with industry to deliver tangible economic returns. Research impact is not a mystery to be solved, but a system to be scaled.

New Zealand often claims to punch above its weight. In research commercialisation, we are proving it. The University of Auckland’s results show what’s possible when capability is treated as infrastructure, not an afterthought. The next decade will belong to economies that can convert knowledge into value fast, reliably, and at scale. Capital will follow capability.