Announcing the finalists of the New Zealand Aerospace Challenge 2019
Disruptive technology features in finalists’ solutions to New Zealand Aerospace Challenge 2019
Robotics, satellite data, remote sensing and solar power are just some of the technology featuring in the top eight
solutions for the New Zealand Aerospace Challenge 2019.
Entrants to the Challenge were asked to design solutions to identify, monitor or measure water or soil pollution using
satellite data and unmanned aircraft technology. Submissions from all around New Zealand were considered as part of the
judging process.
The eight finalists are:
• Christ’s College
• Drones Technologies NZ Ltd
• Kea Aerospace
• Landpro
• Lincoln University
• NIWA
• Samplair
• Seequent
The finalists will take part in a demo and ‘pitchfest’ in Christchurch and the winner will be announced by
Marie-Frederique Romain, Airbus Director of Sales Pacific and Hon Dr Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and
Innovation at an awards event on Friday 18 October.
The winner will receive $30,000, Airbus data vouchers and six months of commercialisation support.
Entries were judged by Cyrille Schwob, Airbus Head of Technology Asia-Pacific, alongside New Zealand’s top space and
agritech industry leaders.
“Airbus has been impressed by the quality of the solutions submitted for the Challenge,” said Schwob.
“Narrowing down the list to the top eight was exceedingly challenging but it demonstrated that New Zealand is at the
forefront of leveraging new technology to address some of the world’s biggest issues.”
ChristchurchNZ is hosting and delivering the Challenge and Richard Sandford, General Manager Innovation & Business Growth, said the competition brought together sectors and skill sets that don’t always naturally intersect.
“Applications featured agritech, aerospace, data analysis, product design, engineering and business development skills,”
said Sandford.
“It’s this type of innovation that we want to foster here in Canterbury. Our region is one of the largest food bowls and
centres of advanced manufacturing in New Zealand and we have a rapidly growing hub of innovative aerospace and future
transport businesses.”
The Challenge is the first deliverable under the Letter of Intent signed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment’s Innovative Partnerships programme and Airbus in October 2018.
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