The spark where
potential becomes
reality.

Every climber knows the feeling: no belay partner, no climb. Clip n' Climb wanted to change that, but the auto belays on the market just weren't good enough. So they asked us to create one that was.

We asked climbers what a "great climb" actually means: consistent speed, no jolts, the freedom to descend on their terms. The answer wasn't a better version of the old design. It was a new one entirely.

The result: the world's first TruBlue Auto Belay. TruBlue uses our patented self-regulating eddy current braking to bring climbers down at a safe, steady rate, whatever their weight and whenever they choose to descend. New tech. New performance. A new experience, built around what climbers actually want.

It’s super low maintenance and is one of the most affordable systems on the market. There have now been 50+ million successful descents worldwide.

Licensed globally to Head Rush Technologies, TruBlue has picked up IAAPA, Red Dot and NZ design awards. Head Rush president puts it best: "Their team possess many unique attributes that lend towards success in a complex product development effort.”

What if the next big construction innovation came from someone who'd never worked in construction? 

That's exactly how our mass timber connectors started: a fresh perspective, a cross-industry idea, and a team willing to back it. 

In 2020 we spotted a gap: a smarter concealed connector with rapid assembly, real-world tolerances, and full structural compliance for seismic and fire. We progressed rapidly from concept to prototype, engaged with the market for real world feedback.  We were tireless in the pursuit of our purpose, to make construction faster, cheaper, safer, and with more certainty. Years of detailed design, testing and in-house lab validation later, we partnered with Hilti Group to take it global. 

Today those connectors are live on projects worldwide, cutting build times, improving on-site safety, and changing how timber buildings are constructed. This is just the start. 

Mooring line snapback is one of the most dangerous hazards in ports and on vessels. When a line breaks under tension, it whips through the air with enough force to seriously injure or kill anyone in its path. The problem was well known. The solution wasn't.

BHP needed something they could implement fast, to keep workers safe without slowing down the work that had to get done. So, we rose to the challenge and built the world's first full-scale test centre to replicate mooring lines in use. Then we recreated a snapback event that almost nobody gets to see up close. 

The evidence from our testing became a series of protection barriers that keep workers safe without getting in the way of the job. We partnered with Geobrugg to refine it further, into a proven snapback protection. It's the same principle behind everything we test, from adventure rides to rockfall barriers. Full-scale testing proves a design works before anyone has to trust it with their life.

We love solving big problems, and we get asked to solve them all the time. One of our clients came to us with a big question:

How can we move through a city without interruption? 

Coming up with the answer started us on the journey of Whoosh® - a new transportation solution. Whoosh takes ride-hailing to a whole new level. It uses autonomous electric vehicles on a lightweight elevated network of cable and rail. This dedicated aerial guideway lets Whoosh create a better road, allowing riders to glide above gridlock for non-stop, on-demand trips. Taking advantage of unused vertical space lets us move freely, and safely, avoiding the hazards faced by robotaxis and AVs.

Whoosh® was invented, designed, and developed by Inition in New Zealand. Next stop, the rest of the world.

Like Surewerx, we take safety seriously and we don’t believe in comprises. Conventional fall protection products have a tricky trade-off: You either tune an SRL (Self-Retracting Lifeline) to be sensitive and lock up quickly so it’s safe but annoying to wear or tune it so workers move freely but risk dangerous falls. 

SureWerx asked us to step away from the constraints and solve it. We measured movements of 100’s of workers and compared them against real falls to find what actually separates quick movement from a stumble or fall. 

The result: the F.L.O. SRL, the first and only self-retracting lifeline with dual motion detection. It reads velocity and acceleration separately, so it locks up for a fall, not a fast walk. 

It meets ANSI standards, cuts nuisance lockups by over 30% versus the closest competitor, and delivers 30% better fall clearance, all without compromising safety. Clever technology to change the game in fall protection.

Some things can’t be proven by calculation and theory alone. This was one of them.

In 2016, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake triggered 50+ landslides onto State Highway 1 near Kaikoura, New Zealand, cutting off a critical route and putting rebuild crews at risk.

In response, NCTIR, with Fulton Hogan, Stahlton Engineered Concrete and Geofabrics NZ, developed a modular rockfall protection wall using locally available materials. But with no existing test standard for this type of structure, the design needed to be proven.

That’s where we came in. From road barriers to anti-terrorism bollards, we test complex life-safety systems to show how they perform when it matters most. For this project, we put the wall through a 750kJ impact test - roughly 25% more energy than a 36-tonne truck striking a barrier at 80 km/h - giving stakeholders confidence in its performance.

The result was a proven solution that could be installed quickly along the highway and help keep people safer on NZ roads.

How can we create a rollercoaster experience that can be built almost anywhere?

In answering that question, we invented a whole new class of amusement ride experience. Switchback® offers the thrills of a coaster combined with the feeling of flying. The trick is in the transitions, switching seamlessly between cable and rail sections of the ride at speed. The combination of cable and rail does more than captivate riders, it also allows the system to be implemented in the most unexpected places. Switchback® shapes the experience of each ride at the touch of a button - creating unique, individualised experiences for every thrill level.

Switchback® is redefining what's possible in the amusement industry. It's where pure imagination meets precision engineering. We can’t wait to see where the journey goes.

Ōtautahi Christchurch recently got an incredible new stadium, and we played a part in bringing it to life. 

Te Kaha Stadium (AKA One Stadium) needed buckling restrained braces (BRBs), some of the largest ever used in Aotearoa New Zealand. Parts this size are normally shipped to Asia for testing, which means weeks of waiting, a hefty carbon bill, and tricky integration and coordination with the manufacturing team. 

We had a better idea: build the capability here. So we upgraded our horizontal test machine to 900 tonnes of push-pull power, big enough to prove these braces without them leaving the country.  How big is that? Let’s just say it could bench-press two A380s aircraft with ease.

Shorter timelines, less shipping, more Kiwi capability, and partnering with our clients to get the testing right. Watch the video to see the machine in action. 

How do we test roadside safety barriers?

We love solving problems, and problems don’t get much bigger than this. Can we create a fully autonomous 36 tonne truck and trailer unit that we can crash into a bridge barrier? Of course we can.  

With insight and technical precision, we supported Austroads government agencies, and the national transport research organisation, on this landmark roadside safety project. Our team customised the vehicle control system, created a test protocol, and then built the new bridge barrier. We ran three full scale crash tests, culminating in our autonomous 36 tonne truck impacting the barrier at 90 km/hr. 

Reaching a world-first 754 kJ of impact energy, 26% above the MASH requirement, the tests showed the barrier performed exceptionally well, giving agencies confidence to update Bridge Barrier Design Guidelines.  

We love projects like this, technically challenging but with a real positive impact.

AJ Hackett Bungy, the people who made bungy jumping a global phenomenon, came to us with a challenge: what’s next? 

Our answer was a giant catapult for people.

We brainstormed the concepts, calculated ride forces, ran hazard analysis, and tested everything, before it ever launched a paying customer.

That's how "what's next?" becomes a 100kph yes that people queue for.

Back in 2011 cricket bats were having a moment. Cricketers were smashing more runs, faster than ever, and everyone from commentators to bowlers had a theory why.

Some said it was better technique. Others said it was bat design. Cricket greats like Michael Atherton, Ian Smith, and Shane Warne all weighed in. But nobody had actually tested it.

So, as cricket fans with a lab, we figured that was our job. We pulled together old bats and new bats, ran them through controlled testing, and teamed up with The Crowd Goes Wild to find out once and for all: was it really the bat?

It turns out modern bats outperform vintage bats.

Turns out, science loves a good sledge too.

Crashing cars is one of our specialties.

We're remembering Nigel Latta, whose curiosity for answers to real-world science questions brought this project our way.

His show Nigel Latta Blows Stuff Up asked: which is safer in a head-on collision, an old heavy station wagon or a modern lightweight hatchback with a 5-star rating? The only way to know was to crash them, so Nigel's team came to us.

As one of the world's few ISO-approved impact test facilities, we launched a 1500kg wagon and a 1000kg hatchback at each other at 65km/h and captured the output on 14 high-speed cameras.

The verdict: the 5-star hatchback was clearly safer, with modern crumple zones and airbags sparing occupants the force that intruded into the wagon's cabin.

A win for science, and for Nigel's endless curiosity.