Introducing Innovation
We live in a fast-changing world. We often hear that innovation is what’s needed to address the global challenges and local issues that we’re facing, to seize new and unexpected opportunities as they arise and to make our world a better place. A key role of schools is to prepare students for this changing world. Skills such as creativity and the ability to be innovative are often quoted as important for 21st century school leavers. These skills, often difficult to teach explicitly and to assess, are important to recognise and foster in our young people.
We have a collection of resources on Innovation for teachers to help support young people in developing an ability to recognise how innovation happens, to understand the value it can bring and, in doing so, to develop skills, attitudes and values that better prepare them for contributing to our fast-changing world.
Why is innovation important?
Hear people working in the innovation sector discuss why innovation is important.
Why innovation is important: Alistair Mowat
Alistair Mowat of ZESPRI explains how New Zealand’s unique location in the world presents significant challenges for industry. Our distance from global markets makes it more difficult to interact with consumers and respond to changing needs and opportunities. Innovation is necessary to be able to create products and services that are globally relevant and sought after.
Innovation is based on contemporary stories of New Zealand innovators and innovations. All our of our innovation content illustrate the value in having or developing a deep knowledge base in science or technology or both – but innovation is much more than just science or technology.
Innovators discuss innovation
Hear people working in the innovation sector discuss what innovation means to them.
Innovation definition: Alistair Mowat
Alistair Mowat of ZESPRI perceives innovation as a process of developing solutions to address needs and opportunities of consumers. Alistair discusses how the role of an innovator differs from that of an inventor.
Jargon alert
End user: The consumer who will ultimately use the product or process that is being developed.
Follow-up activities
To further explore the difference between inventions and innovations, try the activity Invention or innovation?
Explore a range of innovation stories and discuss whether each one fits the description of an invention or an innovation. Do any of the products or processes described have components of both an invention and an innovation? Discuss why.
Important from a teacher’s point of view is that the telling of an innovation story is inspiring! Innovation is all about new ideas, new ways of thinking, working with others and trying to make our world a better place. It’s all about seeing opportunities, solving problems, being creative, thinking outside the square, not giving up, being resourceful. These are skills, attitudes and behaviours needed for living and working in our fast-changing world. They can be explored and demonstrated through telling the stories of New Zealand innovators and their innovations.
We also see a lot of potential in these innovation stories being used to illustrate the relevance of what students are learning at school (as we know this can be tricky!). Their classroom learning can be made meaningful by connecting it to cutting-edge careers and businesses in New Zealand.
Could I be an innovator?
Skills for innovation: biospife
Innovation draws on a broad range of skills. People involved in innovation need to be able to communicate and work with a range of people who may have different thinking styles. Dr Martin Markotsis of Scion and Alistair Mowat of ZESPRI discuss how teamwork helps innovation and the importance of recognising and fostering the different skills of individual students.
Jargon alert
Optimise: Improve a product or process to achieve the best possible functioning outcome in terms of efficiency, performance properties, cost and so on.
Thinking deeper
Several skills that are important for working effectively as part of a team are mentioned in the video. Discuss why these skills are important and what additional skills students consider are also important for working effectively in a team.
Alistair mentions opportunities that help foster skills for working in a team. Have students identify other opportunities young people may be involved in either at school or outside of school that may also foster these skills. Discuss examples of how these skills can be developed or fostered through these opportunities.
Meet an innovator
More innovators:
Meet an innovator: Iain Hosie
Iain Hosie, Technical Director, Revolution Fibres, discusses his career path and working in the innovation sector. He describes himself as a businessman in a science space or an entrepreneur in an innovation space.
UPDATE: In May 2021, Revolution Fibres rebranded to NanoLayr.
Our innovation resources show variety in the process of innovation and the people involved. This will be helpful in illustrating to students how they, too, might spot an opportunity, look at a problem differently, respond creatively to a challenge, work with others, come up with a solution and so on.
How does innovation happen?
Watch these ‘innovation in action’ video clips to hear what our innovators have to say.
WaikatoLink – Aldera Animal Health
Aldera Animal Health is a start-up company that aims to address key animal and plant health problems worldwide. The company’s vision is to bring together the collective expertise of New Zealand’s research community to develop new solutions for prominent animal diseases – such as skin conditions, inflammatory conditions and obesity.
In this video clip, Duncan Mackintosh and Bill te Brake (founders, Aldera) explain their vision for Aldera and describe how the company is forging collaborations between research organisations in New Zealand and overseas. Duncan also emphasises the interconnectedness of animal and human health, describing how solutions for animal disease can have a positive impact on humans’ lives.
Jargon alert
‘Corridor’ is used in this clip to mean a research hub or a group of research organisations brought together with a common goal.
Teaching point
Students could learn more about the One Health Initiative (referred to by Duncan Mackintosh) by visiting the Initiative’s website: www.onehealthinitiative.com/index.php
Knowledge domains: biospife
While innovation draws on diverse skills and thinking styles, in-depth knowledge in relevant domains is also critical. Alistair Mowat of ZESPRI and Dr Martin Markotsis of Scion highlight some of the areas of indepth knowledge that were important in the development of the new compostable biospife.
Jargon alert
Domain knowledge: The sum of what has been perceived, discovered or learned in a particular field of study or endeavour.
Life cycle assessment: A process of assessing and quantifying all the environmental impacts of a product throughout all stages of its life cycle, including sourcing and processing the raw material, manufacture, transportation to markets, use, maintenance and disposal or recycling.
Stories of innovation
The innovation stories below introduce a concise collection of resources for each one based on contemporary New Zealand innovations. Featuring inspiring interviews with the innovators and articles explaining the science and technology, these can be used as stand-alone resources or to form part of a bigger picture of innovation.
Aeronavics – innovative robotic aerial solutions. see how, in solving a challenge for their 3D environments and ‘walk through’ photography business, Linda Bulk and Rob Brouwer adapted and developed a product that has become a global business. Aeronavics produces a variety of robotic aerial vehicles for a variety of applications.
The FOODBOWL – Learn about the unique challenges for New Zealand food companies developing products for export. Discover how The FOODBOWL, as part of a wider innovation network in New Zealand, can support and enable companies to develop new products and create new niche market opportunities.
Kindling Cracker – introduces a new safe way to chop kindling and its teenager inventor, Ayla Hutchinson. The Kindling Craker is a device for safely chopping kindling, and is now selling across the world. Ayla developed the first prototypes as part of a Science Fair project.
Revolution Fibres – discover how Iain Hosie and Simon Feasey found a gap in the market for the commercial production of electropsun nanofibres. We learn about Revolution Fibres, their high-tech manufacturing business, and find out why scale and size are important concepts for understanding the nanoworld. Note in 2021, Revolution Fibres rebranded to NanoLayr.
YikeBike – find out about Grant Ryan’s radical redesign of the traditional bicycle, the YikeBike. We see how important composite materials have been in making it light, strong and compact. We look at its unique safety features and see why having an electric motor makes it ideal for commuters in an urban environment.
Zealong – learn how Vincent Chen, the co-founder of Zealong, began the lengthy development process of growing tea plants, establishing a tea plantation and processing oolong tea in New Zealand. We look at the unique qualities of Zealong tea that differentiate it from other teas and find out how these contribute to its success in international markets.
The ZESPRI biospife – learn about a compostable bioplastic material that incorporates kiwifruit residues and the importance of collaboration in the development of the biospife. Its success represents a significant step in bioplastic development. We see how the knowledge gained may be applied to other products and waste streams, addressing increasing demand for sustainable materials.
Innovation in your classroom
We see real value in our innovation resources being used in a range of learning areas, from science to technology to social science, and over a range of levels, from primary to NCEA. At a broader level, they can be used to support and promote the vision, values and key competencies defined in the New Zealand Curriculum. Our innovation resources have multiple entry points, allowing you to tailor these resources to your needs, whether it’s the innovation, the science or technology, the people, the behaviours, attitudes or skills, the business or the careers that are your focus. Teachers now have a resource for developing innovation literacy in their students.
Use these three activities to start innovative thinking in the classroom:
About innovation is a short video that can provide an introductory provocation or thought piece during a unit of learning.
In Innovation – an integrated approach to science and technology be inspired by this year 3 case study developed with St Francis Xavier Catholic Schools.
Contact us
We’d love to hear from you if you’re using or interested in using our innovation resources in your classroom. We’re always keen to work with teachers to improve, further develop and target our resources. Please contact us via email: enquiries@sciencelearn.org.nz.
Related content
The annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards recognise the commercial success of scientific and technological ideas in New Zealand. Check out the winners from 2013 to 2018.
Read about some of the amazing innovators in the rural sector. The stories range from robots to medical-grade mānuka honey.
Useful links
Innovation models and processes
Explore our Pinterest board to find a collection of different innovation models and process.
Overcoming psychological barriers to innovative products
This article from The Conversation explains how – and why – innovative products fail. Sometimes it is not due to design or engineering, but that people get anxious when products are too radically atypical.
Innovation in New Zealand
Visit the Callaghan Innovation website to learn more about how they support innovation and commercialisation in New Zealand.
