ION e-Letter March/April 2009

GeniusNet is proud to host the ION e-Letter. ION is New Zealand’s leading virtual community for innovators, entrepreneurs, mentors and investors.

 EGLRevera

XMediaLab Sails into Auckland

The wonderful XMediaLab returns to New Zealand with a three day event in Auckland this year. After last years tremendous success it is encouraging to see XMediaLab returning to host another event focussed on commercialisation of ideas. With the support of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Friday 22nd May sees a full day seminar open to anyone interested in high tech entrepreneurship, followed by a weekend coaching session for selected start-up ventures. In terms of relationship building and knowledge sharing, quite possibly the most valuable annual event on the innovation and entrepreneurship seminar calendar.

Internet Must Encapsulate Social Values

Technology is not neutral and web designers cannot afford to sit on the fence when it comes to building socio-technical systems says Massey University researcher Brian Whitworth. Designers must “enable virtue” in a web context because the Internet relies on trust and technology devoid of values will otherwise run rampant. Dr Whitworth has published a handbook of social-technical design for web designers working in the area of social networking systems.

New .TEL Domains Perfect for Small Business

Thousands of small businesses are currently missing out on the benefits of an Internet presence because they don’t want the hassle and cost of developing and maintaining a website. But the new .TEL domains changes all that with a global virtual telephone book. Each of the new domains comes with a free and secure website upon which the domain owner can publish a short profile plus keep any contact information such as phone number, social networking pages and related links fully updated. Wellington based registrar iWantMyName is currently the only New Zealand provider of .TEL domains.

UP3D

Unlimited Potential, Wellington’s leading provider of networking events to the ICT community, is hosting UP3D on Friday 24th April. UP3D will feature Gavin Lennox, CEO of Nextspace and Dr Steven Mills from the Geospatial Research Centre who will show off some of their toys and talk about how they are engaging with the local technology industry to facilitate new ventures and collaborations. Please register for this event as places are limited.

Adept Offers Prize for Inventors

Auckland plastics and medical device manufacturer Adept has embraced crowd-sourcing of innovation and is offering its resources to the winner of a competition for a new humanitarian product. The winning idea will get $50,000 worth of help, including design, development and regulatory expertise. A medical and plastics-based product would best suit Adept’s expertise, says managing director Murray Fenton, but other products would be considered. Find out more on Bizchat.

[We also hear that a separate but major initiative is in the pipeline to support emerging technology businesses specifically involved in the health sector. Keep an eye on the GeniusNet blog for more details coming very soon.]

ION Spotlight – Learning Source

Petone based Learning Source is rapidly gaining attention as a provider of service management software for the training sector. The company provides the Software-as-a-Service application to trainers, industry bodies and other software companies. Microsoft were so impressed by the technology that they have included Learning Source in their BizSpark programme which assists developers to connect with customers and grow their market. Learning Source is embarking on a road tour around New Zealand to demo the application to potential users and connect with industry in general. More details can be found on the Learning Source blog.

Got an enterprising Kiwi tech story to share? I want your name! ION Spotlight is kindly supported by iWantMyName.

Hi-Tech Start-Ups Brewing at the Distiller

Dunedin’s tech network The Distiller has been named as a finalist in this year’s PWC Hitech Awards. Established by local tech entrepreneurs the Distiller was set up to bust the myth that failure is the quickest road to learning, says PocketSmith co-founder and Distiller advocate Francois Bondiguel. By providing a focus point it is hoped that tech company founders can share knowledge assist one another to overcome hurdles as they work towards launching their products on the world stage.

IONise Yourself

Don’t forget to check out the ION forum. Join the conversation on NZ’s original social network for innovators, entrepreneurs, mentors and investors.

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