Pre-launch versus ‘in market’
The Ārohia Innovation Trailblazer Grant supports innovation that you haven’t already taken to market, i.e. it’s pre-launch and not yet generating sales in your target market.
Pre-sales aimed at generating initial sales leads before the innovation is fully available in the market will not be considered as actual sales, given they occur at the pre-launch phase.
We acknowledge that beta trialling and early adopter testing are key to successfully getting an innovation to market. As these are part of pre-launch activity, we won’t assume your innovation is in the market, simply because you’re conducting a beta trial or early adopter test.
If your innovation is already being sold at its intended full price and being delivered in its final form (i.e. it’s essentially 'on the shelf') then we would consider it to be ‘in the market’ and therefore ineligible for this grant.
If your product is launched locally but you’re looking to take it international, this would be ineligible for the Ārohia Innovation Trailblazer Grant, but do check out the funding and support available via NZTE.
Be clear about pre-launch activity in your application
If you reference pre-launch activities such as those outlined above in your application, please tell us that they are pre-launch activities, to avoid any risk of confusion as to whether your innovation is in market or not.
Business model or process innovation
To determine if a business model or process innovation is in market, we would look at whether the new model/process has been fully implemented, not whether the product that your model/process relates to is already in market.
Example - business model innovation*
An example of this would be the advent of scooters hireable via smartphone. In this instance, electric scooters already existed - however, the business model innovation was to make them available on an ‘as a service’ basis. This means the innovation was the business model, not the product (the scooter) which was already in market.
Example - process innovation*
If, say, a process innovation allowed the manufacture of electric scooters at a substantially faster rate and to a better level of quality, then that could be an eligible innovation - even though, as with the above example, the product (the scooter) is already in market.
*Examples are illustrative only, and can't be used to infer the outcome of an actual application.
Updated: 3 July 2023