| Communications and Development |  |
Published by Communications and Development
Team Thinking Cactus is the inaugural winner of the University of Canterbury's Entrepreneurship Challenge (entré).
Billy Chang, Tony Chang and Chang Liu conceived the idea of a line of USB driven desktop companions that interact with computer users in a humorous and user-friendly way.
CyKiK, a moving robot, salutes when the computer starts, informs the user of newly arrived emails and dances to tell the operator to take a break after a two-hour working stint.
Team Thinking Cactus has won $10,000 seed capital and another $20,000 of hands-on assistance from the Canterbury Innovation Incubator. Runner-up, Greenbird Systems (John Stowers, Hugo Vincent), has won $10,000 seed capital for their unpiloted aerial vehicle (UAV) known as TerraHawk.
TerraHawk is equipped with a digital imaging system suitable for general-purpose aerial photography, remote monitoring or surveillance and is targeted at the commercial market. The TerraHawk system eliminates the need for a skilled pilot.
Peter John, chairman of the selection panel, says Thinking Cactus and Greenbird Systems impressed with their ability to respond quickly and effectively to questioning across a wide range of business planning areas.
“They are also the two contestants that made the most noticeable improvements in their business plans between the selection and finals judging,” he says.
16 teams entered the contest. Six were selected to be finalists.
The judges were looking for ideas that were novel and likely to produce a high return on investment.
Chris Hartley, chief executive officer of entré, said he was delighted with the standard of entries and the diverse range of ideas.
“Our industry judges found it really hard to narrow the entrants down to just six but we needed to concentrate on the projects which offered something new and that we felt had the most commercial potential.
“Canterbury is regarded as a centre of innovation in New Zealand and I think these finalists underpin that reputation. It's a huge ask for students to juggle their own studies with the demands of putting together a viable business plan for their ideas.”
Hartley says entré topped its sponsorship target of $80,000 with backing from national and trans Tasman lawyers Duncan Cotterill; international business advisors PricewaterhouseCoopers; giant engineering consultancy GHD; and the Government's economic development agency, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.
“It's great to see how businesses of this calibre have got in behind entré . They have a lot to offer us, not just in terms of financial support, but advice and practical support.
“The whole idea of entré is to put what we've learnt at varsity as students into practice. entré gives real relevance to our studies.”
For further information please contact:
Alexandra Taylor
PR Officer
pr@entre.canterbury.ac.nz
021 101 2750
(03) 364 3452