Hamilton-based Quantec has been announced as the 2023 winner of the Cawthron Institute Innovation Award at the Natural Health Products New Zealand Industry Awards on Wednesday 25 May.
Cawthron Laboratories works closely with food and natural product industries to support them to meet food safety, health claims and export requirements, and has been a long-time supporter of innovators in the sector through the Natural Health Products Industry Awards.
Award winner Quantec specialises in extracting bioactive whey proteins from milk and creating ingredient solutions to support immunity and digestive health for consumers around the world. The unique patented combination of milk bioactives delivered by Quantec’s ingredients provides enhanced functional benefits.
Quantec’s main product and intellectual property portfolios are built around its proprietary bioactive whey protein fraction known as IDP®. The company needed a key point of difference from lactoferrin to have a sustainable sales proposition, and to have an independent quality mark that could inform consumers about the finished products’ strength and quality. To address these issues, Quantec developed a world-first activity index for bioactive whey proteins called EQI® (pronounced ‘ee chee’).
The test method has been patented and licensed to laboratories in New Zealand and China and is now forming the basis for a new testing standard for bioactive whey proteins.
The Cawthron Innovation Award recognises outstanding innovation demonstrated in any facet of business, and the judges saw this as a bold innovation, backed by patents, with early successes and lofty goals. The entry demonstrated a thorough approach to innovation, with clear objectives, defined success/failure points and the ability to pivot based on learnings.
Cawthron Laboratories Manager Paul Parker said Quantec demonstrated a thorough and systematic approach to innovation to bring their clinical, science-proven natural health products to the world. “We commend Quantec’s strong emphasis on science, which is essential to support health claims. Their world-first activity index for bioactive whey proteins demonstrated true innovation.”
Natural Health Products New Zealand is the industry body for Aotearoa New Zealand’s natural health and complementary products sector, representing the industry’s interests locally and abroad. Awards Head Judge Peter Lehrke, Natural Health Products NZ Director, says the high standard of entries resulted in some very tight battles for winners: “It was a great ‘problem’ to have and indicates the world class achievements across the industry and the skill levels and drive for excellence in the natural health products sector.”
“This year, more than ever, award winners demonstrated a positive, can-do attitude combined with continuing to push beyond boundaries with high-quality innovations that further enhanced New Zealand’s international reputation as a source of high-quality natural health products.”
For more information visit www.naturalhealthproducts.nz
Image: Cawthron Institute. Cawthron Laboratories Manager Paul Parker with Qauntec Co-Founder & Innovation Director Rod Claycomb.