Genius Net

GeniusNet is proud to host the ION e-Letter. ION is New Zealand’s original virtual community for innovators, entrepreneurs, mentors and investors. ION is kindly supported by EGL and Revera.

Lots of stuff happening early in 2010, so here goes…

LCA2010 and Multicore Computing Miniconf

LCA2010 is a fun and informal technical conference for Linux and open source fans. If you are interested in multicore and parallel computing then come along to the MiniConf at the Linux conference. Registrations close in a few days for the event which kicks off in Wellington on 18th January.

Summer of Code Tech Start-Up Panel

If you are in the Capital for LCA2010, why not take your lunch break at the TechTalks panel session, also on the 18th January. This one hour seminar will feature a number of local speakers closely involved in funding and building new ventures.

Bloggers Predictions to the Fore

Unlimited Potential once again brings you the Bloggers PredICT event from the glittering starlight lounge at the Wellington Chamber. StrICTly tongue-in-cheek this event promises to enrage, enthrall and entertain. See last years players defend the indefensible and this years seers gaze into their murky crystal balls to predict developments on the information technology scene.

Registrations are essential for this 28th January event.

Accelerate 2010 Already A Winner

Rod Drury makes no apologies for the fact that he likes to surround himself with sharp players that operate at the highest levels in business. Accelerate 2010 is a one day event in Hawkes Bay covering marketing, strategy and funding for high growth technology businesses, whilst entertaining guests with the best in Kiwi wine, food and music.

The fact that the event sold out early illustrates just how under-served this market is currently. Entrepreneurs are in need of some inspiration right now! But we hear that organisers are still holding a small number of places, if you can make a good case. Let’s hope 0-to-60 becomes a regular (and larger) event on the technology calendar.

A Decade of New Media

If they can’t squeeze you into Accelerate and you are into digital media marketing and advertising, you might like to head across the Tasman to this special event from the outstanding XMediaLab team. Media2010 looks at building marketing strategies and digital communities around brands.

Ries and Rose Top Stellar Webstock Cast

The February 15-19 event in Wellington is pulling out all the stops to provide a stunning gallery of web design and development superstars. Webstock will feature three days of workshops followed by two days of conference proper. Over twenty international speakers will be involved including famed Silicon Valley start-up advisor Eric Ries, Kevin Rose – founder of Digg, Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva and John Resig, creator of the jQuery.

NZ/Australia Investment Forum

Investment New Zealand and AusTrade are tasked with attracting foreign direct investment into their respective nations. They are jointly facilitating a two day forum in Auckland commencing 10th March, which will provide an overview of opportunities to investors interested in the Australia-New Zealand region. The conference brings together companies seeking investment, corporate and government leaders and academic researchers.

Kiwi to Organise Regional CloudCamps

Canterbury based technology entrepreneur and blogger Ben Kepes has recently been appointed CloudCamp organiser for the Australia/New Zealand region. CloudCamp is a rapidly growing movement that provides events for I.T. professionals and vendors interested in the business of providing “cloud based” computing services. We hear that a major regional event is planned for Sydney on the 4th of March.

W2W Goes Nationwide in 2010

Unlimited Potential’s annual technology showcase is aimed at cultivating the entrepreneurial ecosystem for emerging tech ventures. Included in this year’s stellar speaker line-up was Read Write Web founder Richard MacManus, McDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year John Watt and Ben Young author, entrepreneur and social media guru.

The event revolves around pitches from local tech entrepreneurs and presentations from the cutting edge of ICT research and then promoting those pitches to a global audience through a video channel with the help of KEA.

In 2010 W2W will be opened up to selected tech companies from throughout New Zealand. Watch this space.

ION Spotlight – Amberdms

Amberdms is an open source billing software solution provider aiming at professionals and small enterprises that need to take care of billing, time-keeping and client invoicing. The company, which also does software development and Linux consulting was recently featured in this detailed article.

Got an enterprising Kiwi tech story to share? I want your name! ION Spotlight is kindly supported by iWantMyName New Zealand’s most innovative global domain registrar.

GeniusNet is proud to host the ION e-Letter. ION is New Zealand’s original virtual community for innovators, entrepreneurs, mentors and investors. ION is kindly supported by EGL and Revera.

WordPress Founder to Visit

Local WordCamp organisers are delighted that WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg will be keynote speaker at their mini-conference on 8th-9th August in Wellington. Matt launched the WP parent company at the tender age of 21. WordPress powers some of the world’s most influential blog sites and his Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur success story is a fascinating one. Event updates can be found on Twitter @wordcampnz.

http://wordcamp.org.nz/

Virtual Expo Matchmakes ICT Jobs with Employees

Demand for  high end technical staff seems to be continuing in New Zealand despite the recession according to VirtualExpoNZ, who promoted their virtual showcase environment with a free expo to assist technology sector firms identify employees from around the globe. New Zealand technology success stories Endace and CatalystIT and recruiter 920 were amongst the participants. The online event was held on Thursday July 16th but short presentations from industry insiders are still available on the expo site. And if you need a global showcase for your product range, get in touch with the VirtualExpoNZ team to see how they can help.

http://www.virtualdemo.co.nz/exponz/

ION Spotlight – PocketSmith

Basic budgeting and financial management is not that hard, says PocketSmith co-founder Jason Leong, but the tools that are currently available are just not that easy to use. With this in mind, his Dunedin based developer team set out to create an online application that could help people sort out their finances. Pocketsmith recently got a very positive review in Lifehacker a well known gadget lovers blog and continues to build on their success in attracting users. The service looks particularly valuable for small businesses that need to pay close attention to cashflow forecasting.

Got an enterprising Kiwi tech story to share? I want your name! ION Spotlight is kindly supported by iWantMyName New Zealand’s most innovative global domain registrar.

Geeks Gather for Games and Gadgets Fest

Unlimited Potential will present the annual Gadgets, Games and Geeks festival on Monday 24th August. The event especially welcomes start-up companies who wish to show off their new games or gadgets. A special guest speaker will be announced shortly. For updates follow @upnz on Twitter. Details on how to participate as an exhibitor or attendee are available here:

http://www.up.org.nz/ggg-09/

The Best Ideas Are Free

Marketing entrepreneur and self-styled digital optimist Ben Young has launched his first book. Described as a series of inspirational rants, Ben has many anecdotes and words of advice for folks looking to launch the next big thing.

http://www.bwagy.com/books/

ICEHOUSE Open Days

Auckland incubator the ICEHOUSE are running an open day jam packed full of useful business seminars and presentations aimed at assisting new ventures to the next level. If you can spare the afternoon of 29th July you won’t be disappointed. Learn about what an incubator can offer your business and hear some war stories from those who went before. All activities are free including a networking session in the evening.

http://www.theicehouse.co.nz/

ION Member Profile – Aaron Davidson

Aaron was one of our very first sign-ups way back when. He is CEO of Simworks  an Auckland company established in 2001 and specialising in the development of innovative applications for mobile devices. Notably the company built and successfully distributed an early Symbian anti-virus application. There are now about 1.5 million users of Simworks anti-virus software across a number of platforms. Another Kiwi tech success story.

ION Homepage

You may have noticed that the ION homepage has had a change of venue. Due to a server being decommissioned at Auckland University we needed to quickly move our front page to a temporary Wordpress site. All of the current forum and login links are available on the new page in the meantime however.

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

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.

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

Making Sense of Social Media

We think 2009 will be the year of communities, so businesses need good advice when it comes to devising social media strategy. Navigating corporate blogs, twittering and online community development are rapidly becoming core activities for marketers in both small and larger businesses. But there seems to be an explosion of “social media consultants” bursting onto the scene. Who can you trust? ION member Simon Young offers advice through his company iJump and has loads of free resources available on the iJump TV site. Well worth a look.

BizChat Offers Sound Advice to SMEs

Speaking of community sites – serial entrepreneur and technology columnist/blogger Ben Kepes has launched a free online community that provides advice and knowledge sharing for New Zealand’s small and medium enterprises. Got a question about GST? Need help with your export documentation? Struggling with a curly HR problem? Chances are you can get an answer to your question on the BizChat forum from resident experts or from other forum users.

Your Shiny New Online Business

Do you have a brilliant idea for a new online business in 2009 but not sure how to get started? Get in touch with GeniusNet and we will help you formulate your idea. We’ve got access to skilled web developers, social media experts, data hosting suppliers and project management people. And if we can’t help, we will probably know someone in our network who can.

Kiwi Tech Appraises Video Evangelism

Last year’s W2W event saw local tech firms promoting themselves at a live demo session and through videos exported onto YouTube. With talks from both entrepreneurs and technology researchers, the half day event attracted media and investor interest. Organisers hope to repeat W2W again in November this year and are looking for cutting edge tech firms to audition and project partners/supporters. Presenters must be able to clearly articulate a value proposition that entails a globally scalable, NZ owned and built technology opportunity.

iPhone innovation impresses

An iPhone application that allows users to search for and register domains on the go has had thousands of downloads from Apple’s App Store. Wellington based web technology developer ideegeo Group Limited launched the iPhone app to promote its new domain registrar site iWantMyName. The iPhone tool not only differentiates the registrar in a competitive marketplace, but also demonstrates Kiwi expertise in translating e-commerce applications into a mobile setting. The company is also launching an Erlang user group because of its success in rolling out very high volume, low latency e-commerce solutions using this emerging programming language.

Real Life Networks Important Too

Virtual communities are spreading like wildfire and we are proud to say that ION was one of the earliest in NZ. But it’s important to get out from behind your PC or laptop sometimes and go meet real people. That’s how you build trust. Wellington ICT network Unlimited Potential has loads of networking events planned for 2009. If you want to promote your tech venture or a networking event through ION, please log in and post on the ION forum or let us know by reply with a comment below. Happy to help.

www.ion.net.nz

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

The ION e-Letter is kindly supported by Revera

- High Integrity I.T. Infrastructure -

NZ Angels Reach for the Stars

Angel investing is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance in New Zealand as cashed up entrepreneurs look to the marketplace for their next project. NZAngels.com has emerged as an informal discussion space and deal brokerage site whilst business incubators in both Auckland and Wellington have established their own angel networks.

Angel investors generally bring both cash and expertise to early stage ventures prior to the business trading profitably. The networks themselves are not investment funds or advisors and usually only admit experienced, high net worth individuals. Whilst many angel investors are looking for high technology business opportunities, this is not exclusively the case. The chief problem is finding quality deal flow for the investors. That is partly why we are developing the Tech ConnexION event.

TechConnexION Event for Wellington

New Zealand is rich with talent in the gaming, CGI and online /mobile business applications arena. ION and GeniusNet are currently in discussions with several parties around developing a live event  for Wellington later in the year, aiming to bring investors and entrepreneurs together. The proposed theme is “Connecting Through Virtuality” and the format will be along the lines of a half day of seminars on new venture development followed by a demo session and networking drinks for entrepreneurs and serious investors. Confidential expressions of interest from technology entrepreneurs, investors, speakers and potential sponsors are welcome at this time.

Please email: ion [at] genius [dot] net [dot] nz

Or call: +64 27 47 373 14

PlanHQ Hits Business Planning Sweet Spot

Tim Norton and the team at PlanHQ have developed a unique service offering that allows any business to easily create, action, track and achieve business planning objectives. The secure web-based application gets your entire team focused on execution, completing actions, achieving goals and tracking progress against financial projections. With Tim’s boundless energy driving the project, PlanHQ have moved mountains in a very short space of time. In 2007 they launched the product, began signing up dozens of paying customers, presented at DEMO, hired a US VP Marketing and connected to VC and business coaching client companies globally. They’ve also received $300K in angel funding to date and are currently engaged in a second funding round to assist with moving into the U.S. market. Business coaches and advisors are now being invited to become PlanHQ affiliates. 

Webfund Gets You Going

Speaking of innovative web-based businesses – have you ever had a brilliant idea for a web based business of your own, but didn’t know where to begin? Maybe Webfund can help. Established by Stefan Korn, himself an experienced serial e-commerce guru and entrepreneur, Webfund is like a one stop shop for virtual enterprises. The company evaluates and develops your business proposal, helps to find investors and then goes about setting up the technology.

Webfund chairman Dave Moskovitz says he’s thrilled to be working with and backing web-centric innovators in developing new and disruptive online technologies. Webfund has already launched an impressive array of clientele such as Bookhabit, DIYFather.com and Celsias.com.

SimDeck Motors Ahead

Auckland firm SimDeck is finding that its Formula One racing car simulator is a hit whenever it goes out for a spin in public. SimDeck deploys a huge digital daytime screen to project racetrack images to patrons who drive a real scale model, custom built Formula One car. The simulator is being marketed to global franchisees and as a corporate promotional events attraction. SimDeck is close to replicating its F1 success with a highly detailed F16 jet simulator that is sure to set pulses racing when it goes live.

Connecting with Cockatoo

Cockatoo is the mouthpiece for an international group of consultants, think-tanks and business advisors. The indefatigible, Canberra based Rod Brown edits this rich report that deals with global best practice in regional economic development, clusters and investment attraction.

April/May Events

The NZ Wireless and Broadband Forum have a couple of great events coming up later in April.

The Angel Connect Network across the ditch are holding their annual event on 17th of April in Melbourne.

Online games and simulation developers may be interested in this 21st April talk at Auckland University on developing software agents that play games as humans would.

24th April sees the Auckland ICT Cluster’s networking event at which Prof. Sylvie Chetty, will speak about innovation, internationalisation and the role of networks. 

The GCC Small and Medium Business Conference will be held in Dubai on 29-30 April.

Unlimited Potential and 9-20 are hosting the IT Rockstar final on May 21st, 5.30pm @ Top Floor of the Majestic Centre (Wellington Chamber of Commerce).

Singapore’s Wirelesss & Broadband Week and GovTech are both on 27-28 May.

AngelHQ has an investment evening planned for 5th of June. To enquire about registration as an investor contact Marie-claire Andrews.

And if you are interested in global conferences and expos featuring “clean-tech” or green technologies, you might like to check out this listing.

ION Forum Activities

Don’t forget there is a wealth of information and support for innovators and entrepreneurs still available on the ION Forum site. And if you need a place to hold a community forum discussion we’d be happy to make space on the forum available. Password controlled access can be made available if a private and secure area is required.

High Growth Hangs, Digital Forum Sprouts

Click here to read and contribute to an online discussION about the new ICT industry body. Can it implement the refreshed Digital Strategy and successfully build on the work of High Growth, despite industry politics? And now that the Digital Strategy v2.0 has been released, you can read about it and make submissions here.

More About ION

ION is a knowledge sharing community of New Zealand innovators, entrepreneurs, mentors and investors. Membership is FREE. If you want to find out more or to share your projects and events - click HERE.

ION is an Ecosynergy Project