MoA event focuses on Ara’s R&D capability
19 February, 2025
Startup workshop hears how Ara supports innovators
Coffee and Jam underway for 2025
Ōtautahi’s Ministry of Awesome (MoA) has kicked off 2025 with a Coffee and Jam session focused on research and development at Ara Institute of Canterbury.
Those joining the regular networking event for startups at the Te Ōhaka Centre for Growth and Innovation on Ara’s City campus got to hear first-hand how research is the institute’s jam.
Guest speaker, Ara Applied Sciences senior academic staff member Grant Bennett, outlined Ara’s history of supporting those wanting to transform society through entrepreneurship.
Grant Bennett provided insights into Ara’s R&D capability
“As an academic institution we share your values of wanting to make things better,” Bennett said. “We want to accommodate you by providing workspace to grow your ideas, academics to solve your problems and students ready to gain valuable experience contributing to your work."
Bennett, a microbiologist, noted that Ara was legally required to have its academics doing research that is relevant and authentic. “Research is supposed to transform society so if we connect with startups needing expertise, that’s an immediate win for us too.”
The Coffee and Jam session also heard from Roger Johnson, co-founder of Āmua (an enterprise revolutionising sustainable farming by turning waste into resource) and serial entrepreneur Ron Park, founder and CEO of Natural Extraction Technologies.
Sharing his latest innovation to commercialisation story, Park acknowledged Ara’s role in the development of his technology to extract natural compounds for dietary supplements.
Founder Ron Park shared his experience of working with Ara
“Partnership is the most important thing you can have, Park said. “We've accessed a range of resources through Ara, from borrowing a chemistry lab and having our own workspace to working with the engineering department to build our extraction machine prototype.”
“My message is you can’t do it all. We’ve leaned into experts to get us from idea to lab to pilots and into commercial. You must find the right partners because you don’t know it all and you can't do it all.”
Bennett said Ara had the agility and contacts to help.
“We are relatively small, so it’s easy for us to pull interdisciplinary teams together, be it from business, science, maths, computing or beyond. We have experts on tap.
“Our academics are also industry-facing and well equipped to find solutions across a broad range of sectors. From sports science to project management and molecular gastronomy to social work, our unfair advantage is our ability to connect people quickly.”
MoA head of marketing and community Ben Erskine said having Ara’s student body on hand was also a massive asset. “Our startups have created opportunities for, leveraged off and gone on to hire Ara students in recent years,” he said.
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