Brian Russell

The Nelson Artificial Intelligence Institute exists to help NZ and global organizations apply AI in their operations. Our projects are focused around a more sustainable future, particularly in the aquaculture space.

PlantTech is a New Zealand-based research and development organisation specialising in addressing scientific challenges in New Zealand’s horticulture industry with cutting-edge technology solutions that produce competitive advantage.

Founded 2016, OPUM is a venture backed FDA cleared medical device and AI company formed off the foundation of a decade of world-leading medical device research at the University of Auckland. OPUM’s key differentiators are (1) proprietary knee hinge sensor, which adds a new level of personalisation by virtue of gait data skeletal angle inputs and is activity specific; and (2) Predictive AI models in OPUM Lab which work alongside Digital Knee® proprietary sensor platform, to understand how an individual patient will recover and flow through the care pathway. The output is longitudinal actionable data insights which can add value to multiple stakeholders and is currently industry leading. Some examples include: insights can enable identification of at risk patients, can trigger when surgery should be delayed/performed, increase patient volume and reduce patient leakage, bridge the gap between surgery and PT, enable payers to optimise risk adjusted costs and outcomes…. OPUM’s reason to be, is to empower patients, providers and payers to conquer musculoskeletal health by surfacing actionable insights that enable better decision making. OPUM’s AI-driven platform enables optimal care to be delivered in a scalable way right through the care continuum from early onset OA or initial injury to revision surgery and beyond. The company recently announced a partnership with Thuasne (knee brace manufacturer) and has developed a global rollout of our integrated Digital Knee®. Our vision is to become the world's largest and most trusted orthopedic knowledge base, to automate clinical decision-making, with the ultimate goal of delaying aging.

Formus Labs provides a cloud-platform that brings together surgeons and engineers with cutting edge computational biomechanics to streamline the custom prosthesis design process.

Everything we do, we do to help people lead healthier, happier lives. Building communities and platforms for positive behaviour change. Melon helps people to manage their own health by improving their knowledge and providing behaviour change tools, peer and professional support. We help people tackle tough personal challenges such as smoking cessation, drinking less alcohol, getting fit, overcoming depression, adhering to medication, rehab after an injury and eating well. Currently working with a range of health providers both private and public to ensure our applications follow medical best practice.

Plexure was founded in 2010 and has grown to power mobile engagement for 323 million users in 66 countries and 40 languages. At our core, Plexure is a customer engagement solution for consumer brands. Our data-driven approach helps brands customize and elevate their customer experience. Our partner brands report higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, increased customer volume, along with improved average transaction values and larger share of wallet. Built for scale, Plexure can handle the volume of large-enterprise organizations with ease.

DN3010 Ltd is a Computer and Network Security company located in Victoria Street West,, Auckland, Auckland Region, New Zealand.

PitchItLab is an AI-powered venture development platform that helps founders turn early ideas into clear, credible, investor-ready business plans. Many founders start with strong insight, deep expertise, or a promising technology, but struggle to translate that into the language investors, accelerators, universities, and commercialisation teams expect. They may understand the product or science, but still need help defining the customer, sizing the market, explaining the business model, identifying risks, and building a compelling investment story. PitchItLab is designed to close that gap. Instead of asking founders to start with a blank pitch deck or generic AI prompt, PitchIt guides them through a structured, adaptive interview. It asks the questions an experienced investor, mentor, commercialisation manager, or venture advisor would ask: What problem are you solving? Who is the customer? Why now? How big is the market? What makes the solution defensible? How will you reach customers? What evidence supports the opportunity? What will investors ask next? From those answers, PitchIt helps generate practical venture-building outputs including pitch decks, business plans, market analysis, competitor analysis, IP and patent analysis, investor Q&A preparation, venture evaluation, and founder learning guides. PitchItLab is built for first-time founders, technical founders, university startups, researchers, incubators, accelerators, venture studios, and startup-support organisations that need a more scalable way to help ideas become investable ventures. Our goal is not simply to generate documents. Our goal is to help more people become capable founders. From idea to investor-ready.

Mars Bioimaging Ltd (MBI) was formed in 2007 to commercialise the ground-breaking the MARS imaging system for its applications in medical diagnosis. The MARS imaging system is based on the new generation Medipix chip licensed out of CERN, Switzerland and technology developed by the University of Canterbury (UC) and partners. It has established itself as the world’s leading spectral (multi-energy ‘true colour’) imaging technology. It is the first commercially available spectral, high definition computed tomography (CT) system and has already demonstrated exciting applications.

The Nelson Artificial Intelligence Institute exists to help NZ and global organizations apply AI in their operations. Our projects are focused around a more sustainable future, particularly in the aquaculture space.

The loudspeaker is reinvented. The acousticWing® delivers the world’s purest sound. It looks like no other, moves like no other, sounds like no other. Silencing 100 years of audio distortion, it is the future of sound.

PlantTech is a New Zealand-based research and development organisation specialising in addressing scientific challenges in New Zealand’s horticulture industry with cutting-edge technology solutions that produce competitive advantage.