TIN Member Spotlight: ADInstruments

ADInstruments, ranked 62^nd on the TIN200 list, creates high-quality software and hardware solutions that enable life science researchers to record and analyse their data accurately and efficiently, along with interactive education platforms that maximise student engagement in science.

The company has leveraged its experience in research to extend into life science education. Its online and in-lab education solutions provide hardware, software, experiments, and the lesson content which educators need to create a stimulating and interactive learning environment that guides life science students to connect theory and practice.

ADInstruments is headquartered in Dunedin and has offices in the USA, UK, China, Australia, India, and Brazil, as well as a broad global distribution network.

We caught up with the team to learn more about their priorities for 2023 as well as their views on Dunedin as a tech hub.

ADInstruments works across a large geography in developed and emerging markets. What are the key challenges/opportunities working across vastly different economies?

One of the biggest challenges working across vastly different economies and geographies is the complexity it adds to business. Each region has different customer requirements, regulatory requirements, currencies, and ways of doing business. The added complexity can introduce drag on an organization and slow decision making and delivery down, for example an IT systems project that needs to support multiple languages, currencies, and tax rules is considerably more complex to that one that is specifically designed for a single region. Another complex area is differences in customer requirements, gathering requirements from customers in all the regions we operate in is logistically challenging but also results in a very long and detailed requirements list. We now try to focus on regional roll outs of products where an initial launch of a product could be in a small group of countries and is then rolled out to other regions over a longer period.

However, one of the benefits of being a global organization is the fact that we see a range of opportunities and we do design our products and services for a global market. I think we see opportunities that other organisations might not see, for instance, Lt, our online learning platform for scientific education has been very successful in South America, being used in 74 universities across the continent. We would not have recognised this opportunity if it wasn’t for our fantastic team on the ground there who are working with customers could see a very real need for the product in medical education.

You mentioned the following key business priorities in August last year:

1. Expand the usage of your online learning platform Lt through investing in sales, marketing, and business development.
2. Grow the sales of your cardiovascular research product range and release new products in this area.
3. Further develop the feature sets of your two software platformsLt and LabChart 

Could you elaborate on these and/or do you have additional focus areas this year?

1. Our online learning platform Lt which has been specifically designed for hands on learning for scientific subjects at Universities is one of the only online learning platforms in the world where students can record data from scientific instruments in a laboratory and have that data automatically saved into the cloud to analyze later, answer questions, and submit assignments. It’s a product that has been in the market for seven years now and is used by 400 universities around the world which have proven the benefits to student outcomes and engagement through using the platform. Over the next three years we want to more than double the number of students using Lt at university and we plan to do that by expanding out of our core area of medical education into other scientific subjects such as Biology and Chemistry education, as well as growing our existing accounts.
   
   
2. Just over two years ago we acquired a company in Auckland called Kaha sciences which makes a range of implantable devices that wirelessly record blood pressure and biopotential (ECG, EEG, EMG) data over very long periods of time and are used for biomedical research purposes. Since acquiring that business we’ve seen very strong demand for those products and are currently working on expanding the range of devices within that product portfolio as well as scaling up production.
   
   
3. We are also continuing to expand out the feature sets of our core software platforms Lt for scientific education, and LabChart Lightning for research. These features are focused on making these products more powerful and easy-to-use.   

ADInstruments is a global company with customers and teams spread across the globe. What keeps you headquartered in Dunedin?

Dunedin is a great place to be headquartered for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we have access to great talent who have studied at the University of Otago and have strong backgrounds in computer science, education, and science both at the graduate and post graduate levels. Secondly, Dunedin is a great place to live. Over the past three years I think we’ve all learnt the value of work life balance and spending time with our families, and Dunedin is a place which makes that easier. It’s a 15-minute drive from one side of the city to the other, there’s a good mix of outdoor activities such as walking, hiking, surfing, mountain biking, and rock climbing on your doorstep as well as the benefits of a city such as music concerts with international acts, theatre, shops, restaurants, cafes, and bars. There are also good schools and education opportunities in Dunedin for our team members with kids and the cost of living in Dunedin is not as high as other cities in New Zealand.

Tell us a bit about the tech eco-system in Otago – how does the region support its tech businesses and what more could the city/region do to attract large tech businesses?

Dunedin has many tech companies, and some of a significant size and scale. One of the things I like most about the tech community in Otago is that everyone’s door is always open, and businesses are very supportive of one another. It is very easy for me to phone up another business in Dunedin and ask to have a catch up with one of their leaders, to ask advice about something or see how they are tackling a similar problem or challenge to us. We recently held a senior leadership team meeting in New Zealand with our executives from around the world and as part of that we visited and received presentations from other successful tech businesses to get inspiration.  It was extremely valuable.

We could attract other large tech companies to Dunedin by hosting more business events in Dunedin and showcasing what the region has to offer. I think we also need to do a better job of retaining graduates from the University of Otago and Te Pūkenga, by showcasing that Dunedin is not just a place to study but a place to work with interesting companies and job opportunities.

In your experience, how does Dunedin compare to other global manufacturing/electronics hubs in the US or Asia?

Dunedin is obviously a lot smaller than many of the global electronics or software hubs around the world and that brings its challenges but also opportunities such as work life balance and a more supportive business community. There are very few comparisons that I can draw between somewhere like Shenzhen in China and Dunedin but I think there are other smaller tech hubs around the world that have some similarities to Dunedin, particularly ones that focus on innovation, values, and the environment. Our office in the US is based in Colorado Springs which is a beautiful part of the world that is closely connected to nature and there is a growing community of tech companies, and New Zealand tech companies in Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs. Dunedin also has a quirky, arty, and academic culture that I think comes from it’s history as an education hub.