Featuring in Series 2, Episode 16 – Friday 25th June 2010, 10.30pm on Maori Television.

Bioengineering is application of mathematical and engineering sciences to biology and human physiology.  Think mathematical models for genes, organs, cells and tissues.  Complicated stuff.  And right here in Aotearoa scientists have used bio-engineering to develop technology that could save the lives of thousands of heart patients around the world.  We checked out Auckland’s Bioengineering Institute to find out more about this world of sciences…

For more information check out:

Bioengineering Institute http://www.bioeng.auckland.ac.nz/

Featuring in Series 2, Episode 16 – Friday 25th June 2010, 10.30pm on Maori Television.

With fifteen years in the business and a portfolio of over thirty titles on most major platforms, Tantalus is one of the world’s leading independent development studios. Renowned for handheld work on franchises such as SpongeBob, MX vs ATV, Cars and the million-unit-selling Pony Friends, Tantalus also develops for the current generation of consoles. Tantalus employs over 80 developers at its Melbourne and Brisbane studios and its head also happens to be President of the Australian Gaming Association. We caught up with him to find out what’s happen in the Australian Gaming industry…

For more information check out:

Tantalus http://www.tantalus.com.au/

Featuring in Series 2, Episode 16 – Friday 25th June 2010, 10.30pm on Maori Television.

Back in the 90s, rock legend Alex Van Halen’s ears suddenly went dead in the middle of a concert. Van Halen’s monitor engineer Jerry Harvey created a custom molded earpiece for him and that was the beginning of Ultimate Ears.  15 years on and these custom in-ear monitors are now used by most world’s top touring musicians.  We caught up with one of Aotearoa’s own rock bands, Midnight Youth to find out just what difference Van Halen’s innovation has made for them…

For more information check out:

Ultimate Ears http://www.ultimateears.com/

Featuring in Series 2, Episode 15 – Friday 18th June 2010, 10.30pm on Maori Television.

Founded over 70 years ago, and one of Aotearoa’s biggest success stories, Fisher & Paykel is renowned for its innovation in technology.  Its founders encouraged a culture that challenged conventional appliance and as a result they have developed world leading technologies used in appliances like the DishDrawer dishwasher and SmartLoad, the world’s first big top-loading dryer.

We took a look behind the scenes at Fisher & Paykel to find out how innovation plays a role from the drawing board right through to the factory…

For more information check out:

Fisher & Paykel http://www.fisherpaykel.co.nz/

Featuring in Series 2, Episode 15 – Friday 18th June 2010, 10.30pm on Maori Television.

Imagine having your car parked by a robot.  That’s exactly what new building development Ironbank can do with its fully automatic car stacking system – said to be the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.  But that’s not all that’s innovative about this Ecologically Sustainably Designed building.  We caught up with the team behind the design of Ironbank to find out what else this award-winning building has going on…

For more information check out:

Ironbank http://www.ironbank.co.nz/

RTA Studio http://www.rtastudio.co.nz/

Olympia Group www.olympiagroup.co.nz

Featuring in Series 2, Episode 15 – Friday 18th June 2010, 10.30pm on Maori Television.

Since Galileo’s ground-breaking discoveries about the Universe back in the 1600s there has been much learnt about the solar system and huge advances in astronomical technology each decade.  And right here in Aotearoa, the Stardome Observatory has taken a giant leap forward in technology with its newly installed Digistar digital projection system – the only one of its kind in Aotearoa.  We navigated our way along to Stardome to find out more about this new high-tech system and what astronomers are up to…

For more information check out:

Stardome Observatory http://www.stardome.org.nz/

Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand http://www.rasnz.org.nz/

Featuring in Series 2, Episode 14 – Friday 11th June 2010, 10.30pm on Maori Television.

Advanced manufacturing is one of Australia’s most dynamic areas of business. From aerospace and defence to bio-technology, machinery and tooling, advanced manufacturing makes up half of Australia’s manufacturing output, and is the country’s fastest growing export category. The Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing acts like a ‘portal’ for this industry, linking up businesses with research institutions to help accelerate innovation.  We went along to check out some of their latest innovative research…

For more information check out:
Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing http://www.vcamm.com.au/

Featuring in Series 2, Episode 14 – Friday 11th June 2010, 10.30pm on Maori Television.

2009 was the 5th year of RoboCup Junior New Zealand – a national robotics competition for schools.  This year there are 80 teams in the final – the biggest final yet – and we saw some pretty amazing creations from these budding young innovators…

For more information check out:

Robocup Junior New Zealand www.robocupjunior.org.nz

Featuring in Series 2, Episode 14 – Friday 11th June 2010, 10.30pm on Maori Television.

Global sales of consol hardware and games software are expected to hit a record US$49.9 billion dollars in 2009.  Only 200 models of the first ever PlayStation console were manufactured but in 2005 it went on to become the first video game console to reach 100 million unit sales.  It’s been 20 years on since development of the first ever console, and in that time PlayStation has been a key driver in the evolution of gaming.  We caught up with one of their team to see the change over that time and what’s in store for gamers in the future…

For more information check out:
PlayStation NZ http://www.nz.playstation.com/

Featuring in Series 2, Episode 13 – Friday 4th June 2010, 10.30pm on Maori Television.

What was in the past a male-dominated industry is now seeing a growing community of females taking part, and kicking butt.  2009 was the first time Aotearoa’s eBlacks included a female player and research says that almost 50% of all gamers are now female.  From developers to gamers to critics, kiwi women are getting involved in Aotearoa’s rapidly growing gaming industry.  We caught up with a few of them to find out how things have changed…

For more information check out:

Metia Interactive http://www.metia.co.nz/

RVB http://www.rvb.co.nz/