Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

« Older Entries

The Hills Are Alive

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

The hills of Wellington may not be alive with the sound of music as such, but they are home to some of New Zealand’s coolest emerging technology sector companies.

Providing a network forum for entrepreneurs to connect with investors, future employees and other innovators is part of what we do at Unlimited Potential. This week IN-Business magazine published its fantabulous SmartNZ technology supplement and were kind enough to include an article penned by yours truly. In the article I talk about the resurgence of tech entrepreneurship and how we can enjoy New Zealand’s lifestyle whilst scaling our businesses globally.

The publication leans heavily on the people and events happening in the technology scene around the Greater Wellington region and is a beacon of light for those of us working within smaller tech companies. Being an entrepreneur has its ups and downs and we all need a little dose of inspiration at times. Tim Collins and the team at IN-Business have done an outstanding job with SmartNZ and I would highly recommend grabbing a hard copy or checking out the digital version of the magazine.

The article I wrote for SmartNZ also mentions Startup Digest, a weekly listing of startup, innovation and technology events. If you would like to subscribe to the New Zealand digest or find out how to get your tech event or product launch listed, you can find this week’s edition here.

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurship, ION, Innovation, Start-Ups, Technology | No Comments »

Mid Winter Mentors Offer X Factor

Monday, June 14th, 2010

At this time of year when it’s cold, grey and wet, it becomes all too easy to simply enter hibernation mode. But businesses don’t stop running just because the weather sucks and certainly nobody can afford to stop creating and implementing new ideas. Every so often we need to escape our local environs, go away and stimulate our brain cells by becoming totally absorbed in something completely different. That’s why I’m looking forward to my trip to X|Media|Lab Sydney later this week.

X|Media|Lab is a highly effective and affordable globally focussed event for businesses involved in the digital media innovation space. The event comprises a conference day plus a weekend workshop for selected project teams. There are also social events at which the organisers can facilitate introductions to potential partners, investors and international mentors. X|Media|Lab visited New Zealand in 2008 and 2009 and we’d love to see them back again. The events are organised at venues around the world, several times a year and attract a who’s who of speakers from the worlds of digital media, animation, games and mobile.

With ideegeo being essentially a business software developer, I wasn’t sure we would ever get the chance to attend the international mentoring workshops – but much to my delight, the opportunity has arisen. No, we haven’t started creating digital animated games or building social network sites, but we have begun conceptualising a product that will help such sites to monetise. So it was with much excitement that we found our project had been selected as one of a handful for mentoring from over 80 entries.

We’ve already been talking to some very smart people about the idea but there is more work to be done. Whether or not we can take the next step will largely hinge on securing some high level partnerships at a very early stage. Such relationships are difficult to secure without travelling outside of New Zealand. X|Media|Lab brings a bunch of influential movers and shakers to our front doorstep. It’s an opportunity we are relishing.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Investment, Start-Ups, Technology, Web 2.0, ideegeo | No Comments »

Research Week Brings Science Leaders Together

Monday, June 7th, 2010

A winter retreat for scientists interested in medical research and biotechnology is bringing some of the world’s finest science researchers together for a week long convocation.

Queenstown has for many years played host to a number of research meetings across a diverse range of topics from molecular biology to neuroscience. Now these meetings are being clustered into a knowledge fest being labelled as Queenstown Research Week. It’s an opportunity for local researchers to mingle with and learn from some of the world’s leading minds from within the medical and biotech arenas.

It is also an opportunity for investors to hear about opportunities within biotech and to promote science commercialisation in general. No doubt there will also be some quiet analysis during the coffee breaks on whether or not there is any substance to Craig Venter’s recent pronouncement that life had been created in a test-tube.

Irrespective of one’s position on that particular topic, one thing is certain. Medical and biotechnological science is advancing at a rapid rate and such fields create wonderful opportunities to improve human quality of life, address environmental problems and deliver economic gains – provided these technologies are viewed with a robust ethical overlay.

Posted in Economy, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Knowledge, Science, Technology | No Comments »

ION e-Letter Jan/Feb 2010

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

GeniusNet is proud to host the ION e-Letter. ION is New Zealand’s original virtual community forum for innovators, entrepreneurs, mentors and investors. February and March are looking like hot months for tech, business and innovation events all over New Zealand.

ION is kindly supported by EGL, Revera and iWantMyName.

Collaboration with Start-Up Digest

We are thrilled to announce that our New Zealand biz/tech event listings will be shouted out globally from this month.  TEDxSV social media strategist and Silicon Valley based entrepreneur Chris McCann also runs the highly acclaimed The StartUp Digest and has now included New Zealand event listings within his service offering. It’s more important than ever for New Zealand tech companies to connect offshore and especially in the U.S. market, so if you have an upcoming event or are a technology start-up with a launch announcement – please contact ION about it so we can share.

Don’t forget to sign up for The StartUp Digest to find out about global biz/tech events if you are heading offshore to promote your business.

Webstock – Wellington – 15-19 February

Design, development, mobile, usability, content, community, open data, innovation & inspiration. 5 full-on days. 13 hands-on workshops. 24 kickass international speakers. 24 must-see presentations including Kevin Rose (Digg) and Eric Ries (Lean StartUps guy).

http://www.webstock.org.nz/

Eric Ries Workshop – Webstock – Wellington – 15th February

The Lean Startup: a disciplined approach to imagining, designing, and building new products. Through case studies, exercises, and discussions, Eric Ries will guide entrepreneurs of all stripes through the key areas that determine success for startups: product, engineering, QA, marketing, and business strategy.

http://www.webstock.org.nz/10/programme/workshops.php#ries

NZICT Meeting – Wellington – 16th February

Andy Lark is a director of technology venture capital firm No 8 Ventures and sits on the board of Xero. He also chairs the NZTE technology beachhead in the U.S. market. Andy will speak about a number of themes covering ICT, marketing and communications.

http://www.ict.org.nz/index.php/02022010_wellington-members-meeting/

SKANZ 2010 Conference – Auckland 16-18 February

Reviews recent developments with the Square Kilometre Array, a next generation radio telescope project aimed at probing the universe with a much greater degree of resolution than before. 

http://www.aut.ac.nz/study-at-aut/study-areas/computing–mathematical-sciences/skanz-2010-conference

Accelerate 2010 – Hawkes Bay – 17th February

Interactive one day session for management, founders and investors of high growth New Zealand technology companies. Features ex-pat Kiwi Andy Lark (senior exec at Dell). Good food, wine and music plus workshops covering strategy, marketing and funding. [Sold out - but may consider individual late applications]

http://www.0to60.com/
 

Escalator – Power Pitching – Various venues from 18th February

Interactive workshop where you will learn what investors are looking for in an investor pitch. The course helps you to refine your company “pitch”.

http://angelassociation.trainingplatform.co.nz/courses/1-power-pitching

Mentors Needed for E-Day – Wellington – Tuesday 23 February  

The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) needs some mentors for an E-Day. The E-Day will kick off this year’s YES programme in the Wellington region. About 60 student companies are taking part and they need 30 mentors. YES in Wellington is managed by the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce.

1.30- 2.45pm. Venue: Lecture Theatre 1, Ground Floor, Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus, Victoria University.

Distiller Event – Dunedin – Thursday 25 February

Technology start-up incubator Distiller is holding a meetup with guest presenters at South Bar, Frederick Street, Dunedin.

http://thedistiller.org/

Activate Networking Event – Wellington – Thursday 25 February

Want to activate your business or idea? Activate’s mission is to find Wellington’s most talented entrepreneurs and give them the skills, know-how and networks to get their dreams off the ground and their businesses humming. Mingle with Wellington’s best and brightest entrepreneurs and hear from some amazing businesses already on the journey.

Venue: Smith the Grocer, Old Bank Arcade  RSVP: By Monday 22 February to: activate [at} growwellington (dot) co [dot) nz

2010 Shanghai Expo Workshop – Wellington – 26 February

The Wellington City Council invites interested parties to attend a workshop on the 2010 Shanghai Expo. The workshop is a chance to learn more about Wellington City Council’s ideas on sending a delegation to the Shanghai Expo – and the potential opportunities for your business. RSVP by 19th Feb.

More details here >>

Damsel’s Den – Wellington – 9th March

Unlimited Potential  and Angel HQ matchmake angel investors with technology geeks and cool startup founders. Special guest Bill Payne, engineer, entrepreneur and technology investor.

http://up.org.nz/damsels-den-201/

Planet 2010 Conference Launchpad – Auckland 12-13 March Telecommunications industry event offering 10 start-up companies the chance to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges. The winner will receive $70,000 worth of IT, marketing, legal and accounting services.

http://www.planet2010.co.nz/launchpad/

Spark 2010 Launch – Auckland – 18 March

The University of Auckland Business School Entrepreneurship Challenge kicks off with a launch event on 18th March 5.30pm. 

http://www.spark.auckland.ac.nz/


NZBio Conference – Auckland 22-24 March

The annual showcase for New Zealand’s life sciences sector. Attracting innovators, entrepreneurs and investors from across the agriculture, food, health and biofuel industries.

http://www.nzbio2010.co.nz/home

CloudCamp Wellington – 26th March

CloudCamp is an unconference where early adopters of Cloud Computing technologies exchange ideas.

http://www.cloudcamp.org/wellington

Want to add your tech/biz/startup event? Contact us @ Twitter or post a comment below.

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurship, ION, Innovation, Technology | 1 Comment »

Kiwi iWantMyName Continues Product Evolution

Monday, February 1st, 2010

ideegeo’s successful launch of iWantMyName as a global domain registrar site and the opening of sites for Germany and the Netherlands last year were exciting milestones in the evolution of iWantMyName into a highly scalable industry-wide platform solution and in the development of our company.

Although our focus was global from day one, we felt it was now time to turn our attention to home. We had many requests from our friends to establish in the New Zealand market, because of our unique service offering, friendly user interface and great customer support. Finally we just had to say yes and so we now have a dedicated Kiwi site offering fixed prices in New Zealand dollars.

The Kiwi iWantMyName has by far New Zealand’s widest range of domain extensions, many of which are unavailable from other local domain registrars. Examples of exclusive domains include the recently launched .TEL and .ME suffixes plus interesting country code top-level domains from all over the world such as .LI (Liechtenstein), .IO (British Indian Ocean Territory) and .FM (Federal States of Micronesia).

Customers from the existing site can use the same login details to access their accounts across the iWantMyName platform suite. We also offer the same free services on our Kiwi version so that you can hook up your own domain to customise a wide range of great web applications such as GMail, Blogger and Zoho. In the very near future we also plan to add some cool new Kiwi-made services that we really want to support.

We think it is appropriate that the launch of a new product should be celebrated with some special offers. So until the end of February we are offering new .COM, .NET, .ORG and .NAME domains for only $19.90 NZD plus .INFO for $9.90 NZD. We are also able to offer a FREE one year extension if you transfer your existing domains across to iWantMyName NZ. Transfers can be handled from your personal dashboard once you join up. Please note that all domain prices quoted on the Kiwi site are GST exclusive and that we provide full GST invoicing to all our valued customers.

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Management, Start-Ups, Technology, Web 2.0, domains, ideegeo | No Comments »

Plug ‘n Play in the USA

Monday, January 25th, 2010

The state government of Victoria in Australia has recently taken up space at Californian tech incubator the Plug and Play Tech Center. The Australian contingent brings the number of nations represented to a dozen or so. New Zealand is not amongst them.

Plug and Play operate a private full service technology incubator at a handful of physical locations on the West Coast. The incubator is deeply embedded in the Silicon Valley entrepreneur ecosystem with linkages to local universities, major corporations, angel investor groups and leading venture capital firms. In less than four years, companies involved with Plug and Play have raised an astounding total of $450 million in capital.

For technology firms that are serious about scaling up, engaging meaningfully in the North American market is a necessity and there is simply no better way to do this than being in the company of peers and mentors. To help firms connect offshore, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise runs an excellent global programme called Beachheads. The North American advisory board is headed by the very able and well connected Bridget Liddell and is a virtual offering rather than a physical incubator. But selection criteria are tight and they won’t look at any company doing less than $5 million revenue per annum.

So where does this leave early stage firms? Going it alone is simply not an option. The U.S. is a huge and complex market with many distinct sub-regions. Without proper advice, attacking the West Coast alone could burn up many years and a wad of capital. But testing the water with the assistance of a locally networked incubator is an affordable commonsense approach for smaller firms. Unfortunately, unlike our friends in Victoria, I don’t expect to see our government making this option available anytime soon. So it will be up to individuals to take the initiative.

Technology firms with global growth ambitions must be looking to engage within Asia-Pacific over the next few years.  Apart from the sheer size of this consumer audience, at least half of global capital market activity springs from the region. New Zealand also occupies a privileged position with its free trade status with China and likely eventual agreement with the U.S. We must find effective ways to plug New Zealand technology firms (of all sizes) into this space now.

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Investment, Start-Ups, Technology | 1 Comment »

A Big Week for Edgy ICT

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

TuxAfter a lazy summer break the technology event scene bursts into life next week as hundreds of Linux and Open Source exponents and some eminent speakers rock into Wellington for LCA 2010 the Australasian Linux Conference.

The fact that Wellington scored the big gig is very much a testament to the depth and breadth of the local technology community, the emerging potential for the government sector as an open source user and the fact that a number of key companies (including ideegeo) are keen supporters of the open source movement. Consequently you will see the iWantMyName logo (and our QR code stickers) around the halls during the conference, as we are timing the launch of our New Zealand domain registrar site and global affiliate program to capitalise on buzz around the event which runs from 18th to 23rd January.

Running in conjunction with the main conference are a number of “MiniConfs“. Our CTO at ideegeo Lenz Gschwendtner will be involved, speaking at the Multicore and Parallel Computing session on Tuesday 19th January. The programme aims to address the many challenges and opportunities posed by parallel computing especially in regards to open source. Also speaking at this event will be Intel Software Products evangelist James Reinders who as an engineer has been involved with processor development.

Reinders is also an author with notable publications and articles on parallel computing to his credit. For those who cannot make the Wellington Miniconf, there will also be an Auckland event at the Massey University campus on Monday afternoon 18th January. Reinders will be speaking on “Threading Building Blocks” and why Intel settled on an open sourcing model to accelerate its parallel computing initiative.

On a slightly different note, Summer of Code are hosting another tech talk session at lunchtime on Monday 18th January. Aimed at current or aspiring I.T. entrepreneurs, a highly esteemed panel of business experts will talk about their experiences starting-up, investing-in and growing technology businesses. Not to be missed. Registration essential, entry by donation. See you there!

Posted in Community, Innovation, Technology, ideegeo | No Comments »

2009 – A Year of Challenges

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

pohuIt’s fair to say that, in more ways than one, 2009 was a year full of challenges. But it was not without its rewards.

Perhaps the greatest personal satisfaction for me was the huge amount of progress we made with iWantMyName, our first (and by no means last) spin-off project from ideegeo. But during 2009 many establishment organisations simply ran out of good ideas and took short-sighted decisions to make layoffs, rather than use their existing human capital to innovate and prepare for the upturn.

So it was a great source of pride at ideegeo that we not only earned some export dollars this year, but we also added employees and extended our product offering. All this was achieved without needing to raise capital and under the dark clouds of the harshest global economic conditions that most of us have known.

Clearly, recovery from the recession in 2010 will not originate at the hands of tired, greedy old firms that treat their human assets like factory farmed cows. The recovery will come from small, agile, innovative new ventures that can grasp opportunities and quickly add value. The corporate model is dying a slow death as internal divisions, failure to innovate and lack of a sense of responsibility to the community eats away at its heart. 

This fact was illustrated powerfully in 2009 as traditional media corporations struggled to come to terms with the new environment and as morally corrupt financial institutions paid bonuses to managers, even as governments were bailing them out of irrecoverable losses. In short it was a sorry state of affairs for big business and hopefully we will see some better leadership on this front in 2010.

Another major theme for business in 2009 was the coming of age of hosted software. The “cloud” services scene was boosted by aggressive competition from Google, rapid improvements in the scalability and reliability of hardware and an enthusiastic user base. Fortunately, at iWantMyName we were able to leverage this sea change by offering free customisation for our customers across a wide range of popular applications. 2010 looks exciting too as we add more services and scale up through partnerships and organic growth.

All the very best for a safe and enjoyable festive season and thanks for reading @GeniusNet.

Posted in Economy, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Technology, ideegeo | No Comments »

Bookhabit Acquisition Strengthens Web Venture Value Proposition

Monday, December 14th, 2009

The reported acquisition of Wellington based Bookhabit by Los Gatos company Smashwords is an encouraging development. It demonstrates that we can incubate attractive, high value web-based ventures and get noticed globally.

About 18 months ago I was involved in some consulting at Bookhabit, working on building their user community. It was a great experience and a good lead in to my next project, which was of course, starting up ideegeo and then launching our domain registrar software platform iWantMyName. Perhaps the most useful lesson from that experience was observing just how much hard work is needed to to gain traction with a start-up business.

On that basis I’m tremendously pleased for Clare Tanner and her partners at Webfund, who I know put in a lot of hours to build their business. I’m also pleased to hear from Webfund that the company remains strongly committed to supporting the Wellington technology scene and that they are keen to work with Clare and others on future projects as they look to reinvest.

But, last week I was reading the painful story of a New Zealand biotech start-up that flushed tens of millions of dollars down the drain through mismanagement and bad luck. Why aren’t we playing to our strengths? The set-up cost for a web technology venture is a fraction of that for biotech and the innovation wavelength on the Web is a lot shorter. We can spread the risk by funding 50 Bookhabits for every single biotech punt. That is why ICT specifically needs to be back on the national economic development agenda.

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Start-Ups, Technology, Web 2.0, ideegeo | No Comments »

Social Web Could Drive RS&T Value

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

The New Zealand Prime Minister’s chief science advisor, Professor Peter Gluckman, recently released his report into the challenges facing the nation’s science innovation system. Addressing technology transfer is one of the most important tasks that lies ahead, he says.

For many years we’ve been hearing about the intellectual property that remains “locked up” within the Crown Research Institues (CRI) and universities. But precious little work has been done to actually identify and illuminate such material. Gluckman alludes to a dysfunctional national research environment in his report that pits researchers against one another and discourages collaboration.

But the pathway to real transformation will most likely arise from creating better business models early in the innovation process. That requires change agents with the skills to identify and extract marketable technologies and build sufficient value that will attract investment. It also requires strong linkages into the capital and consumer markets of the Northern Hemisphere, without which we cannot rapidly scale new technologies.

Intuitively these seem like very sensible ideas, so why do we appear to struggle to enact them? Until we recognise that building social capital is a critical part of the technology innovation and commercialisation process, it is likely that we will continue to fall short. Teens and online game junkies have highly resourced virtual spaces to connect and collaborate, surely we can do the same for scientists, entrepreneurs and investors.

Posted in Innovation, Science, Society, Technology | No Comments »

« Older Entries