Catalyst: Strategic – New Zealand-China joint research partnerships 2023

NZ wines have garnered global recognition for their exceptional quality and distinctive characteristics. However, the elevated reputation of NZ wine also renders it vulnerable to fraudulent practices, including counterfeiting and mislabelling. In response to this pressing concern, we are embarking on an innovative scientific endeavour to develop a portable and non-invasive analytical technique empowered by artificial intelligence (AI) for the authentication and traceability of wine.

Through the collaborative efforts of esteemed research institutions from NZ and China, the University of Otago, AgResearch and Sinolight Technology Innovation Center Co., Ltd., we aim to harness the collective expertise and resources to propel this project forward. The involvement of industry stakeholders ensures the practical application of our research findings, aligning our efforts with the real-world demands of the NZ wine industry. Our collaborative team will explore diverse analytical techniques and machine learning algorithms, striving to harmonise methodologies and devise an AI-based effective solution for verifying the authenticity and origin of NZ wines. This project aims to foster strong research relationships, facilitate knowledge transfer, enhance capacity building, and develop novel methods using cutting-edge digital technologies.

The implications of this novel and non-invasive technological development extend far beyond its scientific novelty. Its implementation promises substantial benefits for various stakeholders, including food producers, distributors, regulators, and consumers. This technology will innovate the auditing and validation of traceability systems along the supply chain, delivering transparency and accountability. Moreover, this innovation will enable swift responses to adulteration and food safety incidents, upholding the highest standards of quality and ensuring consumer well-being.

Overall, the successful implementation of this advanced technology will revolutionise traceability systems, strengthen the integrity of our wine industry, empower stakeholders to combat fraud and ensure product safety. Māori businesses will benefit from increased market demand, higher prices, and improved market access. This, in turn, will support economic empowerment, sustainable development, and job creation in Māori communities.

Modern societies rely on cheap fossil fuel energy for electricity generation, heating and transportation. Carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels for energy are the primary cause of global warming. With a view towards decarbonising the energy sector, the New Zealand Government has set ambitious goals to reach 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2035 and a carbon neutral economy by 2050 (c.f. China aims to be carbon-neutral by 2060).

To decarbonize, New Zealand needs to increase its capacity to generate electricity sustainably, then use this renewably-generated electricity efficiently in applications that would normally utilize fossil fuels. A potential bottleneck in the New Zealand Government’s plans to decarbonize is the need to store electrical energy at scale. Arguably the best way to achieve this is through the growth of a “Green Hydrogen Economy”, wherein hydrogen gas serves as the energy carrier. The growth of a “Green Hydrogen Economy” in Aotearoa New Zealand relies on low-cost electrolysers for water splitting into hydrogen and oxygen, as well as low-cost fuel cells for electricity generation from hydrogen.

Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) represent the state-of-the-art technology for hydrogen-to-electricity conversions. To operate efficiently, these devices use expensive platinum-nanoparticle electrocatalysts. The platinum electrocatalysts currently used in commercial PEMFCs represent around 25-30% of the total manufacturing cost of these devices, a bottleneck to technology adoption.

This New Zealand–China Strategic Research Alliance project aims to significantly lower the manufacturing cost of PEMFCs, by replacing expensive platinum-nanoparticles catalysts with cheaper yet equally efficient metal single atom catalysts (SACs). SACs are an emerging class of catalyst, comprising single metal atoms immobilized on a conductive support (typically carbon). A particularly attractive feature of SACs is their near 100% metal atom utilization, meaning that almost every metal atom in the catalyst participates in catalysis. Hence, by replacing platinum-nanoparticle catalysts currently used in PEMFCs with SACs, precious metal usage can be minimized or even eliminated (for example, by using earth abundant metals such as iron, cobalt or nickel in SACs instead of precious metals like platinum).

This project brings together some of New Zealand’s and China’s leading researchers in the field of nanocatalysis, with the goal of creating manufacturing opportunities for NZ businesses to produce low-cost catalysts and complete PEMFCs systems for the emerging "Green Hydrogen Economy”. Further, this project is closely aligned with the longer term decarbonization strategies of the governments of New Zealand and China.

Developing image-based sensors for real-time quality control of milk powder production aims to improve the quality and sustainability of the dairy industry in New Zealand and around the world.

Milk powder is an important export for New Zealand, but the production is tricky, and the fundamentals are not well understood, in part due to the difficulty in oband real-time quality control is essential for ensuring that milk powder meets the required standards for safety and quality. The proposed project aims to develop soft sensors based on image analysis that can be used to monitor key parameters in the milk powder production process, such as moisture content, particle size distribution, and color. By monitoring these parameters in real-time, it will be possible to make immediate adjustments to the production process, leading to better quality and more consistent products.

The development of soft sensors based on image analysis is a cutting-edge technology that has the potential to revolutionize the dairy industry. By using computer vision and machine learning techniques, it is possible to develop sensors that can monitor key quality variables in real-time, improving efficiency, reducing waste, and ultimately leading to better quality products.

The benefits of the proposed project are significant. By improving real-time quality control, it will be possible to reduce waste and increase product value, leading to economic benefits for the dairy industry. In addition, the project will promote digitalization in the dairy industry, improving efficiency and reducing costs. This will allow New Zealand milk powder plants to remain competitive in the global market.

Furthermore, the project will support New Zealand's circular economy goals by reducing waste and promoting sustainability in the dairy industry. By improving real-time quality control, it will be possible to reduce the amount of milk powder that is discarded due to quality issues, thereby reducing the environmental impact of the industry.

Overall, the proposed project is an important initiative that has the potential to significantly improve the quality and sustainability of the dairy industry. By developing cutting-edge technology and incorporating it into all dairy production, it will be possible to create a more efficient, sustainable, and profitable industry that benefits not only New Zealand, but also the world.

Globally, coastlines are becoming more and more vulnerable to the compound effects of rising sea level, increasingly severe oceanic hazards and changing coastal climates.  The coastal ocean supports a population density that is three times higher than the global average, and now 13% of people live below the 10 m elevation contour. Although dramatically different in population and size, both China and Aotearoa New Zealand have large coastlines to manage with substantial areas of low-lying land. While we have reasonably robust science, engineering and planning methods for ensuring a resilient future with respect to coastal adaptation, ecosystem functioning, carbon sequestration, these are often focused on a single end point: to maximize just one of these ecosystem services.  This project will use models to create a theoretical foundation for working across competing management targets, to provide a more holistic approach to managing the coast. Contrasting sites in Aotearoa New Zealand and China will be used to stress test the theoretical framework and understand the impediments to further building on the foundation thereby providing a pathway to holistic coastal zone management.

Our team of leading experts from China and Aotearoa New Zealand have individually worked on detailed aspects of these environments and services but have only managed to build very basic integrative models which are a challenge to use in a management context. Our work will define a new pathway for integrating ecology, coastal processes, geomorphology and data science, connecting disparate research components to the system-wide-scale needed by managers. 

The technological benefit to Aotearoa New Zealand of this novel collaboration are multiple– we will:

1. use remote sensing data streams to ground-truth and validate numerical modelling, showing how a well-grounded model can be used to vision decision pathways;
2. develop a prototype new generation of tools specific to Aotearoa New Zealand conditions that are able to work across the disciplinary boundaries of ecology and coastal dynamics; and,
3. provide guidance to planners, iwi and councils on how one might manage competing goals in implementing coastal adaptation plans.

The ultimate outcome is a scientific basis for wetland management that considers the whole ecosystem and the services provided: a mechanism for intelligently trading-off conflicting outcomes.