In Kind Sponsors

The Challenge is also supported by a diverse network of organisations with specialist skills, tools, research, and intellectual expertise to assist The Challenge finalists in commercialising their idea in the United States.

Legal

Hesketh Henry

Hesketh Henry is an Auckland based full-service law firm with an extensive and diverse national and international client base. We are proud to be sponsors for the NZ Focus on Health Challenge.

If you are looking to take new technology or another type of new product to market, whether in New Zealand or off-shore, there are many things to consider, and getting the right legal advice is an essential part of the equation. You will need to ensure that you:

• have the appropriate corporate structures in place;
• protect and maximise the value of your intellectual property and other assets;
• have clear and effective licensing, sales, agency or distribution agreements in place;
• have secured the funding you need; and
• have appropriate employment contracts in place,

to name a few of the legal issues you will need to consider.

As one of New Zealand’s most established law firms, Hesketh Henry has assisted many businesses over time, both within and outside the healthcare sector, with these and other legal issues. For further information go to: www.heskethhenry.co.nz or contact Sean Lynch, Partner: DDI +64 9 375 8722; email; sean.lynch@heskethhenry.co.nz

Wilson Marshall & Taylor

The law firm of Wilson Marshall & Taylor was founded in 1995 to provide creative, high quality, timely and cost effective legal counsel to businesses and individuals in Silicon Valley as well as nationally and internationally. The firm focuses on advising clients in the areas of business formation, corporate structuring, financings, acquisitions and mergers, intellectual property counselling, securities, technology transactions, and related matters such as employment and real estate. Through changing economic climates, the firm has remained committed to its founding values and its lawyers are characterized by unwavering dedication to the success of their clients.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's broad range of services and legal disciplines is focused on serving the principal challenges faced by the management and boards of directors of business enterprises. The firm is nationally recognized as a leader in the fields of corporate governance and finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, securities class action litigation, employment law, intellectual property, and antitrust, among many other areas of law. With long-standing roots in Silicon Valley, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has offices in Austin, New York, Palo Alto, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, and Washington, D.C. For additional information, please visit www.wsgr.com.

Consulting

The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology

The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology invests more than $460 million each year on behalf of the New Zealand government, in innovation and fostering the creation of new knowledge to enhance the wealth and well being of New Zealanders. Up to $50 million is available for businesses to help fund research and development projects, build capacity and capability and reduce technological barriers. Targeted sectors include food and beverage, biotechnology, specialized manufacturing and information and communication technologies. Through its Global Expert service, the Foundation also locates, pre-screens and qualifies international experts to help New Zealand companies solve their challenging problems.

TechNZ is the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology’s business investment program which invests more than $50 million each year in businesses to help fund research and development projects. Global Expert is a unique search service, provided by the Foundation, and can be used to locate, pre-screen and qualifies international experts to help New Zealand companies solve their challenging problems. TechNZ funding and Global Expert are used to help companies build capability and reduce technological barriers. Targeted sectors include food and beverage, biotechnology, specialized manufacturing and information and communication technologies.

Acceleration Partners

Acceleration Partners assists companies to achieve market success and profitable bottom line performance through delivering valued products and services in innovative healthcare, biopharma, clean technology, renewable energy, green building, smart transport and responsible finance. We quickly identify new opportunities and offer innovative solutions to address market opportunities, mitigate risks, and deliver to evolving stakeholder expectations. We deliver measurable results in business, market and product insight, innovation, and growth, and climate change and corporate responsibility strategies. We facilitate organization capacity for authentic leadership, whole systems thinking and adaptive learning.

Bruce Wong & Associates Inc

Bruce Wong & Associates Inc. are consultants in Pharmaceutical Market access. Experts in the design of product market access strategies, execution of those strategies to produce data packages which when communicated to the right targets will result in Market access. Market Access is very market specific and Dependant on the health care services process of each market. Our Principals and Associates are expert in Market dynamics, health technology assessment, Research Design, Medicine, Programming and Statistics, Modeling. We have experience in creating the value proposition logic for many of todays most successful pharmaceuticals. We have experience in Neurosciences, Cardiovascular medicine, Diabetes, Virology, Oncology, Immunology and Hematology. We have filed over 400 re-reimbursement dossiers with over 90% success in geographies all over the world.

Cantox Health Sciences International

Cantox is the leading international scientific and regulatory consulting firm with specialized expertise in the areas of Food & Nutrition, Pharmaceutical & Healthcare, Chemicals, and Agri, Biotech & Consumer Products. For the past 30 years, we have been helping clients resolve complex scientific and toxicology issues, develop scientific and strategic regulatory and compliance plans, and facilitate timely regulatory global approvals. We optimize success and minimize client risk through broad expertise and knowledge.

Ceres Consulting

Ceres Consulting provides management expertise and strategic direction to companies operating or interested in the human nutrition, functional food and dietary supplement sectors. Based in Canada, Ceres Consulting offers a unique perspective on market and product development in the health and nutrition sector. Whether targeting the investment community, government regulatory authorities, food and pharmaceutical industries or the retail market, Ceres has proven expertise in product development and a solid track record in formulating successful business and marketing plans. Innovation and professionalism are at the foundation of the company's solid work ethic.

The Degge Group, Ltd

The Degge Group, Ltd. has been consulting in clinical drug and other medical product safety, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoepidemiology and risk management since 1988. Their experts will help you optimize your drug and other medical product safety programs through regulatory support, innovative epidemiology research, and education.
For more information visit: www.deggegroup.com

Ellicott Group

Lav Gandhi is a Management Consultant who specializes in integrating complex healthcare processes and Health IT that deliver solutions to ambulatory practices. He has over 20 years of experience in Project Management, Process/ Work Mapping, Training, Quality Assurance, Software Engineering, and Electrical Engineering. He is a specialist in developing strategic and operational solutions to complex business process problems. Lav has a wide range of expertise in the Automotive, Healthcare, Telecommunications, Information Technology, and Service sectors. Lav holds a BS in Electrical Engineering (ETA Kappa Nu Honorary) from the University of Maryland College Park. He is a member of the IEEE, ASQ, MD-HIMSS, and MD-MGMA.

EverEdge IP

EverEdge IP is the critical link between innovation and wealth creation. We help Australasia's leading organisations and innovators to actively commercialise and manage their valuable intellectual property assets.

EverEdge IP’s unique blend of experience in research and development, technology marketing and intellectual property law enables us to provide our clients with the understanding they need to make business-critical decisions regarding their intellectual property. We are committed to helping our clients capture the full value of innovative thinking.

ICEHOUSE

The ICEHOUSE is a business growth centre that includes: business growth programmes for owner managers and entrepreneurs; a business incubator for start‐up businesses; and New Zealand's largest group of angel investors. It is a collaborative partnership between the University of Auckland Business School, the Boston Consulting Group, Telecom, BNZ, Ernst & Young, HP, Microsoft and Minter Ellison Rudd Watts. It was established in 2001 in recognition of the importance of SMEs to the New Zealand economy. The ICEHOUSE's purpose is to take responsibility for delivering 300 of the 3000 firms needed to get New Zealand into the top half of the OECD by 2013. We work with a range of SMEs, from start‐ups to established multi‐million dollar enterprises. Our vision is to be the place for turning entrepreneurial companies into international successes. Our mission is get alongside people who want to transform their companies, helping to grow both their talent and our country's prosperity. Over 2000 entrepreneurs and business owners have already experienced The ICEHOUSE growth difference - new expertise and skills, valuable global network connections and investment pathways.

IDC

Health Industry Insights, an IDC company, provides health and life sciences industry executives, and the suppliers who serve them, with market research and advisory services. The company's integrated coverage spans the entire health industry value chain and closely follows the payer, provider and life sciences markets with special emphasis on developing and employing strategies that leverage IT investments to maximize organizational performance. Staffed by expert analysts and consultants with extensive industry experience, Health Industry Insights delivers a portfolio of offerings that are relevant to both IT and business needs. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research and events company.

Invetech

For more than 30 years Invetech has been at the forefront of breakthrough product development and automation, helping companies get new products to market through innovation, design, engineering and manufacturing. With experience drawn from over 5,000 projects we have the specialist capability to develop and manufacture devices, instruments, consumables and custom automation systems. Our integrated approach and breadth of skills provide an effective turnkey development and manufacturing service. Our strength is our range of skills across the product life cycle - from concept development through to manufacture - ensuring you can be confident of achieving a successful commercial outcome for your project. Working with clinical diagnostics, medical devices, life sciences, drug discovery and pharmaceutical companies, we deliver contract development services for:

• Instruments for Laboratory and Point-of-Care
• Medical Devices for on-patient use
• Custom automation for research and production
• Contract manufacturing

Our team of more than 200 engineers and scientists, across Australia and North America, combine high-calibre technical and business consulting skills, with a practical, results-focused approach to deliver your commercial success.

Lance Manning

Lance Manning, MBA is a business development and technology commercialization professional experienced in promoting health IT and medical innovations. In the last 6 years, he assisted military and CEO clients in these areas: EMR/EHR/PHR, point-of-care diagnostics, telemedicine, surgical robotics, regenerative medicine, geriatric syndrome screening, and predictive informatics. Support was rendered through market analysis for emerging technologies, partnership and alliance creation, and public policy. Also, he led consulting activities for the advanced biomedical technology program manager at the U.S. Department of Defense (DARPA) with research projects funded at $40M. Fifty researchers on three project teams were tasked with the challenge of making soldiers' injuries more survivable through robotic, surgical, and diagnostic technologies. Technology transfer milestones resulted in improved military medical care and national healthcare standards that are more personal, preventive, and predictive.

Pharmaceutical Education & Research Institute, Inc. (PERI)

PERI is a not-for-profit organization that has been serving the pharmaceutical and other medical products industry since 1989. PERI's operations revolve around providing pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device students and professionals with the highest quality education to assist them in their current positions, and provide them with educational opportunities to enhance their long-term learning. The PERI staff, Board of Directors, Advisory Committees, and expert industry Faculty are training today's professionals to develop tomorrow's cures.
For more information visit: peri.org

PricewaterhouseCoopers

PricewaterhouseCoopers provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for our clients and their stakeholders. More than 163,000 people in 151 countries across our network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice. For more information, visit www.pwc.com/nz

WHK Business Growth

Established in 1999, WHK Business Growth is a specialist division of WHK Gosling Chapman - a division of WHK (NZ) Ltd. WHK Business Growth offer a range of delivery methods and an affordable range of training, facilitation and consultancy options around business and strategic planning, finance, accounting and office systems, sales and marketing, branding, people and resource management, raising capital and exporting. The WHK Group is one of the largest accounting and consulting practices in Australasia but unlike other large firms, WHK Business Growth specialises in providing Business and Financial solutions to privately owned businesses. This provides our clients the significant advantage of combining the flexible personal characteristics and knowledge of a local practice, with the specific expertise, and strength of an international network. We focus on providing holistic business solutions. Our services are delivered by a multi-disciplinary team who collaborate and combine their specialist knowledge and expertise, to encourage and assist clients in addressing their business challenges. We understand the language, visions, demands, and strategic needs of New Zealand's privately owned businesses.

Tools

iRise

iRise is the market leading supplier of visualization software for business applications. Visualization is a proven strategy to accelerate delivery, cut project cost, improve customer experience and enable global sourcing at a whole new level. iRise products are being used today by thousands of business analysts, project managers and user experience professionals at companies like General Motors, UPS, Wachovia, Manpower, and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center to quickly visualize complex business applications that are virtually indistinguishable from the final product.

University of Victoria - School of Health Information Science

The objective of the University of Victoria EHR Educational Portal project is to create a Web-accessible virtual test bed and platform for hosting working electronic health records (and related health information technologies). The portal can be accessed remotely to allow students to interact with a variety of electronic health records. The objective is to integrate EHRs into health professional (e.g. nursing, medical, and allied professional) education as well as training of health informatics students. We have applied the approach we have developed in several pilot projects in Canada and internationally for both medical and nursing education and we are interested in collaborating with educational institutions and organizations around the world. The portal was developed by Dr. Elizabeth Borcyki, Dr. Andre Kushniruk and Brian Armstrong at the School of Health Information Science, the University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada. The Portal website is http://www.cehrnet.com.

Recruiting

Christian & Timbers (CT) Partners

Established in 1980, CTPartners is a premier-quality executive search firm that is results-oriented, nimble, and committed to exceeding client expectations.
They deliver exceptional results through searches that feature world-class candidates, industry- best service, in-depth intelligence, and proprietary technology and communication tools.

Kerridge and Partners

Kerridge & Partners is a New Zealand based executive search and coaching firm with an international reputation. They appoint top leaders for New Zealand and Australian organisations and have placed candidates in New Zealand, Australia and Europe. Kerridge & Partners was the first New Zealand search firm to introduce executive coaching as an integral part of the offering to clients. Kerridge & Partners is also the first firm in the region to invite a global CA firm to audit its performance with respect to placement rates, time to place and, most importantly, the stickability of its placed candidates in client organisations. www.kerridgepartners.com.

Media

Swaytech

Swaytech is a specialist communications and marketing company for technology companies. Swaytech offers a full range of services covering public relations and communications, through print and digital media design and full web development. The Swaytech team have decades of experience in technology communications, advertising, public relations, event management, web design and publishing.