2:05:12 Saturday 23 August 2025

Awards recognise quirky inventions

If you're a backyard inventor with a quirky invention for the agricultural community or an established business wanting to put your new idea out there, then you have until April 31 to enter the 2017 Fieldays Innovation Awards.

The awards seek to celebrate and support New Zealand's most innovative agricultural inventions and showcase emerging products and technology that will lead change in the rural sector.

Applicants in the awards will showcase their ideas, designs and products at the Fieldays Innovations Centre during NZ National Agricultural Fieldays, from June 14-17 at Mystery Creek Events Centre.

Since its inception, Fieldays has celebrated innovation, and the awards are an important platform for showcasing Kiwi agricultural innovation.

'The theme for Fieldays in 2017 is ‘leading change' and supporting innovation is vital to the future of agriculture in New Zealand,” says Fieldays Innovations event manager Gail Hendricks.

Significant interest

Awards are given across multiple categories and winners will receive thousands of dollars in business support and advice to help get their innovations to market. This support is of immense value, giving innovators access to NZ's top intellectual property and commercial lawyers, business advisors, product development and innovation consultants and others.

There is always significant public, business and agricultural industry interest in the Fieldays Innovation Awards. 'The Innovations Centre is probably the busiest space at Fieldays and always attracts a lot of attention.

'Every year there is always broad media interest and the television breakfast shows broadcast from the Innovations Centre during Fieldays. The place is just buzzing.”
The Innovation Awards are a great opportunity for people to test their products in the market. With 130,684 visitors through the gates in 2016, Fieldays provides an opportunity to talk to future or potential customers and conduct valuable market research.

Development consultants

'Entrants' products and ideas will get exposure to the people who may use it once it's in the market, providing on the spot feedback.

'Fieldays also gives award entrants exposure to the judges, who are engineers, patent attorneys and people with exposure to the international market. A large number of companies come to see what's there, to see what the latest thing is to buy or invest in.”

During Fieldays the Innovations Lab, which is located inside the Innovations Centre, will be set up as a dedicated space for award entrants to meet with experts such as lawyers, patent and trademark attorneys, product development consultants and other business experts for free advice and support. 'The idea is that The Lab is a space where innovators can come to thrash out ideas, seek advice or brainstorm,” says Gail.

And 2017 sees the return of the Innovations Capital Event, where a select group of innovators are invited to the Innovations Centre to mix and mingle with investors, make contacts, ask questions 'and hopefully find someone who will support their idea or business,” says Gail.

On average there's about 70 to 80 applicants for the Innovation Awards, and entries typically come from a variety of fields including dairy and drystock farming, horticulture, information and communication technology, cloud and mobile-based software, animal health and genetics, water and waste management, environment and clean-tech, animal and farm management, farm safety and leading research.

'We get all sorts of people entering the Fieldays Innovation Awards, including farmers, engineers, business people, tinkerers and people in the high-tech sector,” said Hendricks. 'The awards offer a great opportunity for start-up companies.”

0 comments

Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.