New Zealand’s public health sector is full of creative problem solvers who are brimming with ideas on how to make things better for our patients and clinicians.
At New Zealand Health Ventures (NZHV) we are all about helping to develop, accelerate and scale their ideas for the benefit of everyone in New Zealand (and potentially also overseas).
Since we started, we have helped to roll out projects as diverse as a
new Hepatitis B test, a new shared electronic medical records system and a new vital signs simulation system.
We welcome ideas from anyone working in Te Whatu Ora as well as private sector entrepreneurs needing health sector input to develop their innovation. We also welcome innovators from universities and Crown Research Institutes who come to us through their own technology transfer office.
If it’s capable of improving health outcomes, is easy to use and reduces the cost of care - then no idea is too big, too small or too obscure for us to consider.
We know how challenging it can be to turn new ideas into reality, and that’s why we’re here to help. We provide advice on how to bring your product or service innovation to reality. We can also give you funding advice, connect you to funders and, in some cases, can also provide funding.
NZHV is the only Ministry of Health approved funding vehicle for the commercialisation of innovations that improve health outcomes, and which originate from the public health system.
NZHV is owned by Te Whatu Ora and is supported by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. We’re here for all New Zealanders, so we don’t mind where good ideas come from, we just want to make sure they get put to good use by as many people as possible.
If this means a product can be commercialised outside New Zealand’s public health sector and even be used internationally – then that means generating a return that can be invested in more innovative products and services to help the health outcomes of Kiwis.
People working in our health sector know better than anyone else the problems and challenges faced in their everyday work. Identifying a problem or an opportunity is the first step towards creating a solution, and that solution may have potential to help many New Zealanders.
But it can be difficult to fully develop that solution when you are also trying to do your everyday job, and maybe you need to bring in additional skills and resources to develop or test your ideas. It’s hard to know what support is available and whether you are eligible for that support.
That’s where we come in at New Zealand Health Ventures (NZHV).
Our sole reason for existing is to help develop and accelerate your product or service innovation and to help get it rolled out and scaled up for the benefit of the New Zealand health system.
NZHV has its own board and management structure. We are owned by Te Whatu Ora and are supported by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. We are the only Ministry of Health approved entity for national commercialisation of public health innovations from district health boards.
As part of the health and disability system, NZHV is committed to fulfilling the special relationship between Māori and the Crown under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
We consider Mātauranga Māori is important in health, equity, and the economy, to not only incentivise and encourage more Māori innovators in health (and the need for more Māori-by-Māori solutions) to build broader capacity and capability in the system, but also to educate and encourage non-Māori innovators to take a more active role in ensuring equity when designing new innovations.
We warmly welcome approaches from health innovators working in our public system.
Our Getting Started section is a good way for you to start a conversation with us. We will ask you to give us some basic information about who and where you are, what your idea or project is, what sort of help you need at this stage, and how you think we might be able to help you.
We’ll acknowledge your approach and have an initial conversation at our end about how we might be able to support you, before coming back to you about next steps.
There’s no set path from that point, it will depend very much on where you’re at and what you need.
We’re here to help you with our innovation expertise to maximise the likelihood of your project becoming a reality.
We can provide advice and support, connecting you with experts on things like:
Our partnerships are vital to our success and we are ready to connect you to partner organisations that can help to advance and scale your project.
Our partnerships include:
We have our own board and management structure, but we keep it lean and call on our partners expertise wherever possible.
You are likely to deal directly with at least one of our directors, all of whom were hand-picked because of their commitment and passion for public health and for innovation. They are all hands-on and take a personal interest in each project we work on.
Steve’s other directorships include Foodstuffs South Island, EVNEX, Cookie Time Group, HealthOne, Streamliners NZ, Paenga Kupenga Limited and Swallowing Technologies Ltd. Steve is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Directors (CFInstD) and a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of ANZ (FCA).
Geoff Todd was the Innovation Fund Manager at Booster, and before that was Managing Director at VicLink, the Technology Transfer Office of Victoria University of Wellington.
He has had significant experience with the early-stage science and tech commercialisation space, including working in start-up companies.
He also has governance experience as Director or Chair of several start-ups and CreativeHQ and is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Mātu Fund.
Roger is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) with 47 years’ experience in the Engineering, Construction and Health sectors. This includes roles as CFO in Construction and Health.
Roger has current roles including as Trustee for Auckland Hospitals Research and Endowment Fund (AHREF Charitable Trust), Director for Canterbury Linen Services Limited, Contractor for Fletcher Building/Fletcher Construction, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for the Health Research Council, Advisor, Deputy Director General and the Monitoring team for Manatū Hauora Ministry of Health, Advisor to the Board and Manatū Haoura for the New Zealand Blood and Organ Service.
Roger is also assisting with the review of Te Whatu Ora subsidiaries establishment of the Procurement and Supply Chain team in Te Whatu Ora.
As a Commercialisation Manager at Wellington UniVentures, Emily works closely with researchers to identify commercialisation opportunities and help guide the research towards commercial ends. She works closely with Ela on NZ Health Venture projects, as well as supporting reporting for the NZ Health Ventures board.
Originally from Leicester, she gained a Master of Chemistry from Lancaster University before moving to New Zealand to undertake her PhD in Chemistry at the Ferrier Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington. After this she started her career in commercialisation as a programme manager for Return on Science and Momentum, before joining the team at Wellington UniVentures mid-2024 to help cover the Health Portfolio.
As Senior Commercialisation Manager for Wellington UniVentures, Ela is responsible for facilitating the commercialisation of research outputs – IP - across a range of research activities which include engineering, data science and artificial intelligence, medical devices and design.
For NZ Health Ventures, she helps with screening new innovation and supports project management of KiwiNet supported projects. Ela holds a Master's degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Pretoria. Ela is a Registered Technology Transfer Professional and has over 20 years' experience working in deep tech research and commercialisation, including investment, start-ups, incubation and deal structuring. She enjoys supporting the development journeys of entrepreneurial researchers, fund managers and other commercialisation professionals.
