A 2023 KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards finalist has come up with an innovative new technology that can spot road problems before they happen
TDRI – Lincoln Agritech is on a mission to extend pavement life and reduce roading costs globally. Its breakthrough sensing technology born out of Lincoln Agritech can measure subsurface moisture across road networks and generate significant long-term benefits for New Zealand.
Increased subsurface moisture can accelerate road deterioration by 2.5x. However, the sector has lacked a good way to measure it across networks with previous methods being inefficient or impractical in delivering quality moisture data at scale. As such, root causes for road deterioration are often missed in maintenance approaches that predominantly treat surface level symptoms or failures. This leads to unnecessary rework and waste of resources in the short term.
In 2018, TDRI was incubated and commercialised through a unique partnership with WNT Ventures. This has allowed Lincoln Agritech’s interests to be maintained while progress and changes to TDRI’s business model have been accommodated throughout phases of the venture development.
Generating over $300,000 in the past year working with some of NZ’s leading roading stakeholders, TDRI’s breakthrough sensing technology enables asset managers to transition from a reactive maintenance approach to one that incorporates preventative drainage and sealing treatments informed by proactive subsurface moisture surveys. Following this success, WNT Ventures has ramped up operations in 2023 by hiring the startup’s first key leadership hires, including its CEO, Matt McNeill.
The collaboration between WNT Ventures and Lincoln Agritech has found and validated a solution fit for a large, global problem. TDRI’s technology has the potential to generate significant positive impact to the lifetime cost, sustainability and safety of our roads, and ultimately increase export earnings for New Zealand.
KiwiNet Awards winners for 2023 will be announced at an evening reception on 28 September in Auckland.
