Mānuka Performance and BSI / AgResearch have the opportunity to position our existing Cultural Life Cycle Assessment and Kete Rāraunga work as the foundation for a globally novel bilateral pilot: an indigenous bioactive governance framework developed in partnership with Indian counterpart institutions, activated through the NZ–India Free Trade Agreement's explicit traditional knowledge and AYUSH cooperation provisions, and fundable through multiple NZ government instruments.
This is not a market access proposal. It is a research and governance innovation proposal — the kind of programme that governments fund, that research institutions publish, and that positions Mānuka Performance not as a participant in the indigenous bioeconomy conversation, but as its architect.
The NZ–India FTA, signed on 27 April 2026, is freshly concluded and entering ratification. Its Chapter on Culture, Traditional Knowledge and Economic Cooperation — and dedicated AYUSH provisions — create an explicit mandate for the kind of bilateral indigenous knowledge exchange this pilot proposes. The window to position early is narrow and immediate.
Extends C-LCA, Kete Rāraunga and PolySure™ from domestic proof-of-concept into internationally deployable, publishable research infrastructure.
The NZ–India FTA explicitly enables traditional knowledge and AYUSH cooperation. This pilot is precisely the kind of activity those provisions are designed to activate.
A bilateral indigenous bioactive data governance protocol would be world-first research — publishable, licensable, and deployable beyond New Zealand.
The pilot structure aligns with MBIE Catalyst: Strategic, MPI, MFAT, and Te Puni Kōkiri funding streams simultaneously.
The 2024 WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge — and ongoing 2026 negotiations around Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions — has fundamentally repositioned origin, consent, and benefit-sharing as commercial and legal infrastructure, not soft ethics.
For MPL, whose commercial model sits at the intersection of taonga species, Māori knowledge systems, place-based provenance, environmental datasets, phytochemical profiling and bioactive commercialisation, this shift creates stacked rights layers that most competitors have not yet recognised or protected.
The NZ–India FTA was signed 27 April 2026 and is now in ratification. Prime Minister Modi is visiting New Zealand in July 2026 — the highest-profile bilateral engagement moment in years. Both governments are actively looking for flagship programmes that give substance to the FTA's cooperation chapters.
The FTA explicitly includes: cooperation on traditional medicines, AYUSH, Māori cultural exchange, knowledge sharing, biodiversity, and traditional cultural expressions. A pilot of this nature is precisely what those provisions are designed to activate — and the political window is open right now.
MPL is currently a co-design partner in AgResearch's BSI SSIF Flagship 2 programme — one of just four New Zealand businesses selected. Our existing C-LCA co-design sessions (January–May 2026), Kete Rāraunga governance framework, and PolySure™ AI-enabled validation platform constitute a domestic proof-of-concept that is ready to be internationalised.
The July 2026 in-person wānanga at Te Kōtuku represents a natural inflection point from which to scope an international extension.
India is one of the world's most sophisticated traditional knowledge jurisdictions. Its Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) was built specifically to prevent biopiracy — making India uniquely primed to understand and value what MPL is building. India's AYUSH Ministry, FSSAI, and CSIR are established counterpart institutions with genuine mandates for bilateral cooperation of exactly this nature.
The structural complementarity between mātauranga Māori and Ayurveda — not competitive, genuinely parallel — creates conditions for reciprocal legitimacy that are rare in international research partnerships.
Most companies protect only the finished product. MPL has the opportunity — through its existing BSI co-design work — to protect five distinct and stacked layers of rights. Each layer independently carries commercial and legal value. Together, they constitute a moat that no competitor can replicate after the fact.
Explicitly affirms WIPO treaty provisions and defensive protection mechanisms, including India's TKDL and New Zealand's Māori Cultural and Intellectual Property Committees. Cooperation activities include exchanges, training and research on traditional medicines and health standards. Implemented consistent with Treaty of Waitangi obligations.
New Zealand is the first developed country to formally recognise and facilitate trade in India's AYUSH traditional medicine systems (Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Homoeopathy). This creates an explicit bilateral mandate for mātauranga Māori ↔ Ayurveda knowledge exchange — exactly what the research pilot proposes.
The FTA specifically includes apiculture within its sectoral cooperation agenda — directly relevant to MPL's core commercial activity. Mānuka honey tariff reductions are among the explicit NZ-side gains. This creates commercial legitimacy for MPL's involvement in FTA-linked research programmes.
The FTA includes a Treaty of Waitangi exception preserving the NZ Government's ability to take measures honouring its commitments to Māori — and explicitly names Māori-owned businesses as expected beneficiaries. This provides structural protection for MPL's Māori-led positioning within FTA frameworks.
The proposed pilot is not about extracting Indian knowledge or exporting New Zealand knowledge into India. It is about developing mutual literacy, reciprocal legitimacy, and shared governance frameworks that neither system could produce alone. This framing is what makes the proposal politically attractive to both governments and fundable by multiple agencies simultaneously.
| Concept Domain | Mātauranga Māori | Ayurveda / Indian System | Research Opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Origin & Lineage | Whakapapa | Parampara (traditional lineage) | Comparative provenance governance models; dual-origin certification |
| Life Force / Vitality | Mauri | Prana | Indigenous bioactivity frameworks; vitality metrics in LCA indicators |
| Healing Knowledge | Rongoā | Ayurveda | Complementary therapeutic system mapping; co-formulation IP pathways |
| Environmental Guardianship | Kaitiakitanga | Dharma / ecological duty | C-LCA cross-validation; bilateral sustainability certification |
| Knowledge Protection | Kete Rāraunga / Māori data sovereignty | TKDL (Traditional Knowledge Digital Library) | Bilateral FPIC data governance protocol; IBDGP co-development |
| Sacred / Commercial Boundary | Tapu / Noa | Pavitra / Sadharana | Storytelling FPIC framework; narrative authorisation governance |
The bioactive comparison layer adds commercial immediacy. Mānuka, rewarewa and kānuka compared not as substitutes for ashwagandha, tulsi and amla — but as functional pairings — creates co-formulation IP potential, market-specific formulation pathways, and clinical hypotheses that neither system's science currently addresses. This is the workstream that generates commercial value fast enough to satisfy funding agencies requiring near-term impact.
The pilot is designed so that Phase 1 deliverables are independently valuable and immediately publishable — de-risking the investment case for funders from the outset. Phase 2 field pilot outputs generate the academic credibility and policy leverage that activate Phase 3 commercial translation. The three-phase structure also allows different funding instruments to be applied to each phase without requiring a single committed funder to underwrite the entire programme.
"A bilateral indigenous bioeconomic trade infrastructure pilot between Aotearoa New Zealand and India, using taonga species science, Cultural Life Cycle Assessment, FPIC governance and bioactive data sovereignty to develop next-generation ethical export systems — activated by the NZ–India Free Trade Agreement's traditional knowledge cooperation provisions."
This framing is sophisticated enough for government funders, academic institutions, and investors simultaneously. And critically: it positions Mānuka Performance not as a participant in someone else's programme — but as the architect and anchor entity of a new kind of indigenous bilateral research.