Advanced materials and nanotechnology to fuel the energy transition and Aotearoa’s future

The 10th International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology (AMN10) brings together material scientists, chemists, physicists, biologists, and engineers to discuss a broad variety of topics in nanotechnology and materials science, ranging from building electronic devices to the study of protein structures.

Professor Dave Harper, Deputy PVC of SHEADI, says SHEADI is very excited to be sponsoring this year’s conference, which will be held from February 7 – 10 in Rotorua.

“We see this conference as a great opportunity to bring together the best minds in this area to facilitatemulti-disciplinary collaborations and partnerships to address global challenges through the development of advanced new technology and materials.

“As part of a capital city university known for ambitious research with transformative impact, SHEADI is dedicated to ensuring our research can deliver innovative and sustainable solutions to heal, feed, fuel, and shape Aotearoa New Zealand and the world.

“AMN showcases the high impact work being led by Victoria University of Wellington and MacDiarmid Institute students and research groups. These researchers are playing a central role in New Zealand’s energy and materials transition, as well as developing new IP and solutions alongside government, Māori, industry, and technology investors.

“These solutions not only help us reduce emissions; they are the basis ​for new export industries, high-value jobs, and community wellbeing across ​New Zealand.”

The conference features plenary and keynote presentations as well as invited and contributed presentations from those at the forefront of their fields. Two of these speakers come from companies whose technology was developed at Te Herenga Waka and the MacDiarmid Institute.

Professor Justin Hodgkiss, co-director at the MacDiarmid Institute, will be delivering a keynote presentation on the photoprotection mechanism in the black-brown pigment eumelanin. Professor Hodgkiss is the Chief Scientific Officer at Advemto, a new deep-tech spinout from Wellington UniVentures based on technology developed by Professor Hodgkiss and Dr Kai Chen at Te Herenga Waka and the MacDiarmid Institute.

The company develops ultrafast spectroscopy tools that give greater insights into a world that’s beyond the reach of even the strongest microscopes. Launched to the academic market in March, Advemto attracted NZ$1.05m capital in its pre-seed investment round. It’s already powering novel insights, including helping researchers better understand how skin cancer develops.

Dr Franck Natali, the Chief Technology Officer and founding director of clean-tech spin-out Liquium, will be giving a talk entitled ‘The facile dissociation of molecular nitrogen using lanthanide surfaces: towards ambient temperature ammonia synthesis’.

Liquium was spun-out by Wellington UniVentures in 2022, when it successfully closed its NZ$1.5m seed venture investment round. Using technology developed at Te Herenga Waka and the MacDiarmid Institute, the company’s promise to revolutionise the largest and most polluting chemical process on earth—ammonia production—has inspired many backers, including the Bill Gates’ funded Breakthrough Energy Fellow programme, who awarded Dr Franck Natali a fellowship for his work on Liquium in 2021. Liquium’s tech can make ammonia production more environmentally friendly and economically feasible—and potentially help develop an affordable, sustainable, hydrogen economy in Aotearoa.

Wellington UniVentures—the University subsidiary responsible for launching new ventures from academic research—will host a breakfast panel at the AMN conference, on the topic of investing in NZ deep-tech research, now and in the future. The panel will be hosted by Jane Evans, Head of Environment and Engineering at Wellington UniVentures. Jane will be joined by a panel of experts including Dr Sean Simpson from Lanzatech, a company developed in Aotearoa which uses microbial technology to convert industrial pollution into fuel and which was listed on the Nasdaq for US$2.2bn in 2022, Kiri Lenagh-Glue from Matū, and Dr Ashwath Sundaresan from Pacific Channel.

“We are very much looking forward to the conference. It’s a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with friends in the ecosystem and inspire researchers to consider entrepreneurship as a pathway to creating impact through their work,” Jane says.

“We’re lucky to share a campus and a close partnership with the MacDiarmid Institute. In fact, seven of our 16 deep-tech Wellington UniVentures’ spin-outs have been affiliated with MacDiarmid. This includes two of our latest spin-outs in the past year, Advemto and Liquium, who are both showcasing exciting technologies originating from SHEADI,” Jane adds.

SHEADI and Wellington UniVentures are the Platinum Sponsors of the event, organised by the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology and a committee featuring participants from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, University of Canterbury, the University of Auckland, Massey University, Auckland University of Technology, and GNS Science.