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Agro research yields security dividend The principal agricultural research institute in New Zealand, AgResearch, says that it has developed a technology that for the first time can precisely identify explosives concealed in aircraft luggage. According to AgResearch CEO Dr. Andrew West, this means improved security for air travellers. “This new technology has the capacity to screen check-in and carry-on aircraft baggage, and will offer improved security for airports and airlines the world over,” said West. In making the announcement, he added that AgResearch was close to spinning off a new company called 3GX Technologies Ltd., which will be responsible for marketing the new technology to the travel industry. The technology involves a series of complex mathematical formulae that handle electronic signals from a new generation of airport detectors. It still requires extensive development, which West says will require active collaboration with Oxford Instruments Analytical Oy of Finland and other scientific organizations in the U.K. and the U.S. 3GX Technologies will draw on funding from a New Zealand venture capital investor. The new technology was discovered by chance during work on improving the quality of cheese, which is one of AgResearch’s principal activities as a center for pastoral farming research. |
