Research to Innovation Hatchery wins national entrepreneurship award

The University of Auckland’s Research to Innovation Hatchery has won Academic Initiative of the Year at the 2026 GEN NZ Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Awards, with UniServices and Te Kōara also recognised, as runners-up in their categories.

The awards were held at Rutherford House, Victoria University of Wellington, as part of GEN NZ’s annual Unconference and Workshops. The gathering brings together people working across entrepreneurship in Aotearoa, creating an opportunity to share learning, make connections and recognise work happening across the country.

UniServices was runner-up for Investor of the Year, while Te Kōara, a programme within The Lighthouse, was runner-up for Māori Initiative of the Year. Together, the three results recognise different parts of the University’s wider innovation ecosystem, from developing entrepreneurial capability among researchers to investment, commercialisation and Māori-led pathways.

Delivered by the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) in partnership with the Research and Innovation Office and UniServices, the Research to Innovation Hatchery was launched in 2023 to help researchers explore how their work could create economic, social or environmental value.

Rather than focusing solely on commercialisation, the programme gives researchers practical experience identifying opportunities, engaging with potential end users, testing assumptions and validating ideas. It runs twice a year and brings researchers from different disciplines together with entrepreneurs, investors, mentors and commercialisation specialists.

Across its first five cohorts, Hatchery alumni have progressed innovations in areas including antimicrobial resistance, vision science and marine safety. In 2025 alone, 43 researchers took part across two cohorts, more than double the previous year’s participation.

Among the researchers to progress through the programme is Kristi Biswas, who founded OleQuat and received Return On Science investment approval to develop antimicrobials targeting resistant infection. Hatchery participants Dr Hooman Misaghi and Dr Lynsey Cree also went on to win the 2025 Velocity $100k Challenge while working on an AI-supported IVF decision-making tool.

The Hatchery is one part of a wider University effort to connect research with entrepreneurial capability and pathways for translating ideas into practical applications. The University’s strategic plan identifies becoming a global powerhouse of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship as one of its research and innovation priorities.

The recognition of UniServices and Te Kōara reflects other parts of this ecosystem. UniServices works alongside research founders, universities, investors and industry, combining investment with practical support, commercialisation expertise and access to networks. Its GEN NZ nomination highlighted its role in supporting founders at challenging stages of venture development and collaborating with partners throughout Aotearoa.

Te Kōara is part of The Lighthouse, a national set of commercialisation programmes that also includes Return On Science and Momentum and works with Universities across Aotearoa. Te Kōara focuses on Māori commercialisation, providing a pathway grounded in Ao Māori and new approaches to commercialisation

For CIE Director Darsel Keane, the awards are also an opportunity to acknowledge the collective effort involved in supporting entrepreneurship around the country.

“GEN NZ creates an important opportunity to recognise the mahi happening right across Aotearoa and, just as importantly, to bring the people doing that work together,” says Keane.

“A strong entrepreneurship ecosystem is built through connection, shared learning and people supporting each other across organisations and regions. Creating space for that national community is incredibly valuable.”