Category Archives: Community

Genius ReFi Relaunch

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Following a recent reorganisation of New Zealand’s science research institution structure, the government announced a mandated new pathway for commercialisation of publicly funded science and technology research, starting in 2026. Core funding for research has not increased however. So now is the perfect time to re-launch Genius ReFi our collaborative platform for researchers, investors, entrepreneurs and industry players. Genius ReFi is a new way to meet co-founders, test ideas, seek advice and secure investment for early stage science research based projects with commercial potential.

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Although proudly New Zealand based, we are also open to working with researchers, funders and partners in a catchment spanning Europe – Middle East – Indo-Pacific. These regions are particularly exciting thanks to notable research clusters in renewable energy, life sciences, agritech, fintech, as well as developing AI infrastructure to support all of the above. We also find some of our inspiration in the tales of explorers from the 18th Century who pioneered trade across the region of the world.

New Zealand science and technology Minister, Dr Shane Reti says that a more consistent national approach to intellectual property management is needed in order to reward scientist inventors directly and open up new opportunities for commercialisation. For a small, cash-strapped economy that currently achieves about half the average OECD investment rate into research, science and technology (RS&T), this move can only be beneficial.

The new policy is partially, modelled on the University of Waterloo, Canada approach to commercialisation. Key aspects include that university researchers will have the first right to commercialise their inventions with the option of operating independently or working with their institution for support. University equity in spin-outs will be capped at around 5-10%, so inventors retain the majority of benefits, whilst incentivizing external capital investments. However, public research organisations outside of universities will retain first rights to market discoveries. If they choose not to pursue, researcher inventors may then proceed in their own capacity. The policy marks a substantial change in New Zealand government expectations around achieving a better economic return on publicly funded science.

There are one or two other fish hooks. Unlike the “Waterloo model”, New Zealand’s (new) model gives researchers a first right to commercialise, but not automatic ownership. This is open to negotiation of course. Also, where research or inventions draw upon multiple grants, different parts of the same project may sit under different IP regimes. Ownership can only transfer after disclosure, negotiation and classification. Additional complexity such as this will require careful thinking through by researchers. Would this give typically slow moving research institutions and universities an opportunity to hinder progress? In which case, nothing has really changed.

In a highly dynamic global economy, New Zealand cannot continue to rely on earning a living predominantly from exporting largely unprocessed primary commodities. To secure our future, we must move up the value chain and convert more of our research ideas into global enterprises. Innovation cycles are increasingly shorter so research organisations must act quickly on new knowledge, With geopolitical tensions, climate change and a pending energy crisis – this is more important than ever.

Join the Genius ReFi community

Paul Spence is a commentator, researcher and a part-time university assistant lecturer in commerce and management. A previous co-founder of a successful New Zealand based global technology venture, co-founder and director of Creative Forest, principal at GeniusNet Research & GeniusReFi and a startup advisor. You can follow Paul on BlueSky @GeniusReFi or Twitter/X @GeniusNet

Binary Thinking Distorts Innovation Hub Debate

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Clos Luce AmboiseDuring our travels over the last few weeks I have been assiduously avoiding all New Zealand media and political commentary. We are such a binary thinking and inwards looking nation, it is nice to have a break from it. But I couldn’t avoid seeing the recent remarks from Mayor Brown and Peter Gluckman both alluding to Auckland’s greatness as a “centre for innovation” whilst lobbying (of course) for government support.

Yes the city is home to some amazing tech companies, clever people and is the closest thing we’ve got to a global city. Yes, innovation (in the form of patents) has traditionally been greatest in cities with large populations, agglomerations of industries and multiple high class education facilities. But the world is changing. Digital communications plus the rise of AI and technologies such as blockchain mean you can also build hugely valuable companies with a small distributed team. I think this is something that is often lost in the conversation because we tend to focus on tangible products like rockets or vegan ice-cream.

Here in Europe the EU is actively looking at how to get more innovation happening in the regions, away from noisy crowded cities. This is proving difficult because entrepreneurs tend to cluster where capital is more abundant, even if it means sacrificing lifestyle for a period of time. Paris, Barcelona, London and Berlin are currently the main foci. But will this change as distributed forms of capital raising become more established? Would a distributed innovation approach make more sense?

I mentioned binary thinking earlier. It’s something that holds us back. The concept that economic activity is a zero sum game for example. There always has to be a regional winner or loser. Or equity for one race or social group being at the expense of another. Outside of the current American administration warped mindset perhaps, it’s not how the real world actually operates.

Above is an image from Clos Luce, Amboise, France where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life. It was certainly a base for innovative thinking of the day. But even then, he succeeded through working with remote teams of talent on projects commissioned from all over Europe – with the enduring patronage of King Francois I. An early form of distributed innovation model.

[ This article was originally published on my LinkedIn channel ]

Paul Spence is a commentator, researcher and a part-time university commerce and management teaching assistant. A previous co-founder of a successful New Zealand based global technology venture, co-founder and director of Creative Forest, principal at GeniusNet Research & GeniusReFi and a startup advisor. You can follow Paul on Twitter/X @GeniusNet

It’s Alive!

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Alps1My apologies for the radio silence lately. It has been a huge year personally and professionally with a lot of change, many challenges and some big plans finally starting to coalesce. One aspect of this has been our efforts bringing Genius ReFi to life.

Genius Refi is a global collaboration space and news site for researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and industry, with a focus on new ventures deploying regenerative science.

Only around 20-30% of initial science research proposals in universities worldwide actually get funded and only a small proportion of this gets commercialised. Here in New Zealand, compared to other OECD nations, we are doing about half the typical public investment in research science and technology (RS&T) within our underfunded universities. A lot of research is not making it out of the lab at a time when we need to be delivering a great many more solutions for emissions reduction, food sufficiency, environmental regeneration, renewable energy, disease and much more.

So Genius ReFi was born to validate whether or not we could build a (global) community of interest and collaboration space around these needs. Phase 1 is simply a collection of short but inspirational global news stories from me about science research being translated into regenerative products and services. Sitting on our little islands in the South West Pacific, we sometimes forget that 99.8% of business actually takes place outside our shores. So it is good to get insights into what other economies are doing with their RS&T settings whilst receiving inspiration from tech ventures that are out there doing it!

There is another element to this. Increasing the convergence of researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and industry. Because most published science is closed source and researchers are often not entrepreneurs themselves, we don’t know how many commercial opportunities have been missed in the past. In the future some areas of science research are likely to become more open and decentralised. Imagine if we could leverage this and deliver double the amount of science research in the form of scalable, viable businesses that have a regenerative effect on our world. There’s never been a more important task for humanity.

Please join the Genius ReFi Discord channel and collaboration forum.

Paul Spence is a commentator, researcher and a part-time university commerce and management lecturer. A previous co-founder of a successful New Zealand based global technology venture, co-founder and director of Creative Forest, principal at GeniusNet Research & GeniusReFi and a startup advisor. You can follow Paul on Twitter/X @GeniusNet or sign up for a free weekly digest of startup, tech and innovation related events co-curated by him through New Zealand Startup Digest.

Bringing Change To The Top Table

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Lyttleton Harbour, Christchurch

Lyttleton Harbour, Christchurch

Recently I attended a public discussion delving into “Otautahi Christchurch as an Innovation Hub”. It’s no secret that the city has confronted numerous challenges over the last decade or so. From devastating earthquakes to wildfires and a mass shooting. One could be forgiven for thinking that the place was on its knees. But it’s not. As the central city was being rebuilt, a core group of activators played a pivotal role through charting a course with innovation and collaboration at its core. Now the city is thriving. What if we germinated that approach into central government?

A number of the aforementioned group were present at the recent discussion event. Not the least of these was Raj Manji, who convened the session. As a former Christchurch City Councillor and tireless advocate for the city, Manji is no stranger to the challenges of navigating government processes in difficult times. He’s also a global thinker who takes action and attracts smart people with fresh ideas into his sphere of influence.

These are attributes that seem sadly lacking in many of our current politicians, including those who are likely to be in charge once the face of government changes in October. As The Opportunities Party (TOP) leader, Manji has a real shot at securing the Ilam seat at the general election. This would be a game changer because, under MMP, successful electorate winners get to “tag and drag” along some of their party list candidates. Potentially this means TOP could play a huge part in shaping the next government.

Why is this significant? It’s pretty clear that our current government has run its course and the wheels are falling off the proverbial wagon. Not a week passes where there isn’t either a dramatic exit or a revelation of bad behaviour by Ministers or coalition partner MPs. The present incumbents performed admirably during the pandemic, but the world has now moved on. History has also shown that governing parties very rarely secure three consecutive terms in New Zealand. For its part, the Opposition, whilst more disciplined than before, seem unable to generate intelligent policy or outline a coherent plan. Political change of some form is undoubtedly on the way. The question is – how do we optimise that change?

By standing up and supporting TOP I’m putting a stake in the ground in an effort to facilitate an optimal outcome. We desperately need fresh thinking and evidence based policy driven by responsible adults. If TOP fails to win a place at the table, we face the possibility of an unstable coalition underwritten by dogma and driven by the smug, sneering faces of the more extremist minor parties. Parties that do not necessarily have the interests of ALL New Zealanders at heart. This would be disastrous at this pivotal moment in history when society must act collectively to confront significant global issues.

Paul Spence is a commentator, researcher and serial entrepreneur, a previous co-founder of a successful New Zealand based global technology venture, co-founder and director of Creative Forest, principal at GeniusNet Research & Genius Refi and previously an advisor at ThincLab Canterbury. You can follow Paul on Twitter @GeniusNet or sign up for a free weekly digest of startup, tech and innovation related events co-curated by him through New Zealand Startup Digest.

Bite Me!

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bite me I was in a community call today contributing to the good work of the NZ Startup Council. It wasn’t long before somebody popped the “diversity question” into the conversation, complaining that women, migrants and people of colour can’t get help with their startups and do not get a fair hearing from investors in New Zealand. If that is true, I want to do something about it!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been active in the NZ tech community for around 20 years and I’ve seen a lot of bullshitters come and go. I’ve started three companies. One was a great success that we bootstrapped and exited in 2019, another tanked during acceleration and another one ticks along and generates a bit of cash here and there. So I’ve been around the block a few times – as they say.

BITE ME! – Building In The Ecosystem for Migrant Entrepreneurs!

At present I’m a part-time advisor at University of Canterbury incubator ThincLab. I’ve worked with a huge diversity of founders. Young students, women founders, Maori. Founders from all over the world. Germany, Iran, Pakistan, India, Japan, Ukraine, China, United States, France… the list goes on. I’ve especially enjoyed working with founders who identify as neuro-diverse. We certainly have an amazingly diverse group of founders here in Canterbury. Perhaps it is not the case elsewhere?

In startup land it’s important to look beyond our tiny isolated little islands from the outset. A lot of Kiwi founders don’t get this. So diverse founders and especially skilled migrant entrepreneurs bring huge value to our ecosystem. I’ve even started companies with a few of them. So it grinds my gears when I hear people complaining about the “lack of diversity” in our startup ecosystem.

Supporting our skilled migrant entrepreneurs is the fastest way to grow an even more diverse ecosystem, whilst building high value, scalable startups that contribute tangible economic value.

Take a look at We Love Local for example, a corporate gift box provider founded by my friends from Mauritius and Germany. They’ve been growing fast and have received multi-award recognition for their business which was started from scratch only a few years ago. How about Swallowing Technologies. Migrant female founder from academia commercialising her research globally. Caterway, my friends from Japan and Ukraine serving the corporate catering market.

So I’m putting my money where my mouth is by offering a free advisory session.

If you are a New Zealand based e-commerce, cleantech, foodtech, edtech or fintech (especially fintech) migrant founder struggling to make connections, recently arrived or just need some objective feedback on your project. Pitch me! I don’t care if you have lizard skin and shoot purple streamers from your arse. I’ve seen it all, trust me! What I do care about is your ability to execute, sharp intelligence, that you have technical skills and have some kind of workable business model. Oh and a sense of humour and a willingness to listen would definitely be useful.

Let’s talk and see where it leads. Reach me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

If I can’t help – I will probably know someone else who can.

Paul Spence is a commentator and serial entrepreneur, a previous co-founder of a successful New Zealand based global technology venture, co-founder and director of Creative Forest, principal at GeniusNet Research & Genius ReFi and previously an advisor at ThincLab Canterbury. You can follow Paul on Twitter @GeniusNet or sign up for a free weekly digest of startup, tech and innovation related events co-curated by him through New Zealand Startup Digest.

Coster and Foster Failed Us All

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ronnies I will defend to my last breathe the right for New Zealanders to peacefully protest about issues they feel strongly about. But the mob camped on the lawn in Wellington have now gone too far. It’s bad enough that they have obstructed a public road, shut down a bus station and university campus and harassed innocent passers-by. Now the Police have allowed a vigilante “security” force to impede access of citizens to Parliament grounds, a public venue that belongs to all of us. It’s no joke that the Police, Wellington City Council and the two Andy’s have failed the people of New Zealand.

For a protest group ostensibly “protecting our freedoms”, this is beyond rational. But then there’s nothing rational at all about the melange of bizarre causes being promoted by these sheeple and their conspiracist puppet-masters. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with vaccine mandates and lockdowns, this is not the way to win hearts and minds. In fact it must only be a matter of time before an organised counter-protest arises, at which point we will indeed see the kind of direct conflict that was hoped to be avoided. No doubt the counter-protestors will be quickly arrested or dispersed, for their own safety of course.

If the disaffected filthy few wish to live like Orwellian farm animals together on the Parliament lawn to promote their cause, let them do so. However the moment that occupation spreads onto the surrounding streets and into peoples’ lives, it becomes domestic terrorism. The “freedom protesters” have ironically made it clear that they actually have no regard for the freedom of those outside of their own circle. Once the initial threat of a Capitol style storming receded, the Police strategy seems to have been to withdraw and allow the lunatics to take over the asylum. An entrenched mob will be very hard to remove at this point.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster and Mayor Andy Foster are complicit in this mess. Suspending the rule of law in the Molesworth Street precinct was an enormously foolish capitulation that has set back civic society immeasurably. Foster will be gone at this year’s local body election for sure, but Coster continues to enjoy the tacit support of the government, who wish not to be seen being involved in directing the response. But operational mismanagement of the situation has now led to a petition for Andrew Coster’s removal.

Appointed in March 2020, about the same time the pandemic began sweeping across the globe, it was clear from the outset that Coster’s tenure would be challenging. But his arrival signaled quite a shift in strategic direction for the New Zealand Police, with the much lauded “policing by consent” methodology being invoked. Armed patrol units were withdrawn from the streets of Auckland. Within months a young police officer and several civilians had been shot dead as Police lost control of the city to armed gangs. Softly, softly may have once been the motto of a fictional police television series, but that approach is clearly not working.

But the most concerning aspect of Coster’s appointment is that he represents the gentle, smiling face of a new generation of Cabinet appointed leadership within the public service. A leadership group that has become infiltrated by politically correct sycophants quietly “reforming” institutions, infrastructure and instruments of government without the permission of the electorate. Calls for his removal simply echo an increasing level of discomfort over the current direction of our public institutions. “Policing by consent” may be the flavour of the moment, but there’s nothing consensual about the direction our public service is heading in right now.

Stop The Grievance Virus

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covidqrThe number of pandemic “experts” seems to be growing by the day. Now with a former Prime Minister wading into the murk, it has opened the floodgates allowing a wave of discontent to infect the nation. But actively demonstrating a partnership approach with business could deliver better outcomes and bring some smart minds to bear on the gnarly problems that confront us.

In recent weeks a number of prominent New Zealanders have been expressing their impatience with the government’s approach to managing the pandemic crisis. Curiously the concern is not so much about the travails of extended lockdowns, but more to do with the impact of travel restrictions as a throttle on economic growth. Unsurprisingly, most of the complainants are absorbed with their own particular business predicaments. But rather than be labelled “whingers” (to their credit) some creative solutions have been proposed by them.

In 2020 our government urgently cobbled together an interim response to keep us safe. Controlling foreign arrivals, managing quarantine and rolling out the largest vaccination programme in our nation’s history have been huge, imperfect undertakings delivered under extraordinary and rapidly evolving circumstances. Without these initiatives, I am absolutely certain that several vulnerable members of my immediate family would not have made it through the last 18 months.

One only needs to look at the data from offshore to understand the dire situation we find ourselves in. But perhaps the most telling data point is that investing in snuffing out the virus does indeed result in a quicker and stronger economic rebound, at least in the medium term. Placing our trust in a benevolent State has paid off so far, but patience is waning as purveyors of a wide variety of grievances across the political spectrum become ever more vocal. So openly demonstrating a willingness to have business as part of the conversation would be reassuring to the public, whilst bringing a greater diversity of thinking to the top table. None of this should obviate the need to carefully balance social and economic considerations, of course.

Putting aside the fact that I find sports analogies rather tedious, some of the ideas for getting New Zealand business moving again have actually been good ones. We have a wealth of technical and management expertise in our business community and there are homemade solutions available for improving almost every aspect of the crisis response. I believe where the difficulty lies is that there is a public perception at least of a lack of engagement between government and business. That may not be entirely fair, but in politics perception matters.

Early in the crisis, the government appointed former Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe as a liaison person between the government and business. That was a good move, but very little has been heard since. The Cabinet wisely considers advice from the pandemic technical advisory group who are respected clinicians and academics. But from time to time self appointed media darlings from scientific fields outside of epidemiology have an annoying habit of confusing the public by contradicting the actual expert viewpoints. So we have to be discerning about where we get information. Similarly we should not simply cave in to loud voices from the business sector who manage to get their views published.

Preserving life is paramount. But at present, it’s not clear what the exit strategy will be. There is a strong sense that the business community has not been fully enrolled as a partner in this process. I might add that this includes a wholesale failure to engage the talent sitting in our research institutions and technology incubators. What is clear however is that we will have no choice but to open up again in 2022, because the present approach is economically unsustainable in the long term. Elimination may already be nonviable and everyone (including business) need to deal with the reality of the new normal. The best piece of advice anyone can follow right now – get ready, get vaccinated!

Paul Spence is a commentator and serial entrepreneur, a recently exited co-founder of a New Zealand based technology venture, a co-founder and director of Creative Forest, principal at GeniusNet Research and an advisor at ThincLab. You can follow Paul on Twitter @GeniusNet or sign up for a free weekly digest of startup, tech and innovation related events curated by him through New Zealand Startup Digest.

Frontier Firms Follow-On Funding Favoured

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frontier-firms

The recently published New Zealand Productivity Commission Report on the economic contribution of “frontier firms” predictably rated only a passing mention in local media. However recommendations in the publication could have far reaching impacts if implemented. But is the government listening?

Frontier firms are described as the most productive, profitable and innovative in an economy and generally have scale and global reach. But the report says that New Zealand’s frontier firms lag behind their global peers in terms of productivity. The OECD defines productivity as the ratio of economic output compared to inputs. Nations with highly productive frontier firms have greater competitiveness because of more efficient use of resources such as labour and capital. These nations also benefit from secondary “innovation and knowledge diffusion” within their economies.

Chairperson of the Commission Ganesh Nana, in an interview with Radio New Zealand says New Zealand is already well behind other small developed economies in the OECD in terms of productivity and the gap is growing every year. He says part of the reason is because we do not have many so-called frontier firms to which smaller innovation based companies can anchor. One of the key findings of the report is that the government must invest in developing a deeper innovation ecosystem, including supporting more commercialisation of research, science and technology.

But will the government take on board this message? Many of us currently working within the New Zealand innovation ecosystem have lobbied in the past for vastly increased resourcing and for setting greater aspirations as a nation. But such pleas have largely fallen upon deaf ears over the years. There are sadly also actors within our ecosystem that are philosophically opposed to any kind of government investment on the basis that only wealthy and well-connected players should be allowed in the game. This is despite the fact that our neighbours (and competitors) in places like Australia, South Korea and Singapore identified the value many years ago and have literally invested hundreds of millions of dollars into building out their own innovation ecosystems.

Developing more frontiers firms is not about growing more “unicorns” as some have mistakenly claimed. But it is about building a more interconnected economy that has research, science and technology at the heart of the beast. That’s a big ask for a small nation for which there are many competing priorities and challenges to face such as health, housing and climate change. But the key to motivating the decision-makers involves grasping the reality that having a powerful innovation ecosystem is actually part of the solution to those challenges.

Paul Spence is a commentator and serial entrepreneur, a recently exited co-founder of a New Zealand based technology venture, a co-founder and director of Creative Forest, advisor at ThincLab within the University of Canterbury Centre for Entrepreneurship and principal at GeniusNet Research. You can follow Paul on Twitter @GeniusNet or sign up for a free weekly digest of startup, tech and innovation related events curated by him through New Zealand Startup Digest. Paul is a co-author of the Entrepreneurship Manifesto 2020.

The Commercialisation Imperative

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Oxford

Blue Skies Thinking Needed

Competing and surviving in a highly technological, fast changing and globalised economy increasingly dictates that universities and institutes step up and generate economic returns on their research. But although there have been a few notable exceptions at New Zealand universities, we continue to underperform in the commercialisation of new scientific knowledge into value generating products and services that drive economic growth. So if disruptive innovation lies at the core of economic development, how can we better reconcile commercialisation with the core purpose of our institutions?

Firstly, there are some valid arguments in favour of the separation of commerce from academia. Normative, collectivist elements of academic science as a social system, along with the autonomous nature of university culture, seem to sit uncomfortably with the motivations of profit seeking firms that wish to take ownership of intellectual property. Claims of IP ownership can lead to fears of diminishing the scientific commons, which would be detrimental to the collegial and collaborative nature of science and therefore hinder the very process that will drive future discoveries.

Furthermore, commercialising technology research is risky and accommodating new and developing fields of commercially focused science takes up resources that might be used for other teaching and research, impacting the core mission of universities. We have already witnessed closures and staff reductions within arts and humanities faculties where commercial outcomes are less of a focus. There’s also a danger that high tech institutes established in emergent fields become impenetrable and elitist silos of specialist knowledge open to only a few, at a time when we should be striving for greater equity. Are there other societal factors at play that dampen success?

Patent filings data is sometimes quoted as an indicator of “innovativeness” in the context of economic development. New Zealand sits at the lower end of the table, but not because it is a small economy. Countries with relatively small populations such as Finland, Switzerland and Israel lead the pack. In New Zealand total expenditure on research and development as a proportion of GDP has been increasing in recent years, but continues to lag behind other developed countries. Investment rose to 1.37% in 2018. This compares to an average research intensity figure of 2.38% across all OECD countries, ranking New Zealand 21st out of 34 nations [Statistics NZ — 2018]. So whilst the size of an economy does not fully explain the innovativeness of a nation, the level of commitment to research and development investment certainly plays a part.

Approximately half of that R&D investment originates from publicly funded sources. With government investment comes an expectation that tax payer funded academic research will provide a “return on science” or economic and social benefits to society. The challenge then is to generate meaningful commercial outcomes, that do not undermine the core missions of teaching and research. There are a great many reasons to do so, not the least of which is our ability to fund future health, education and welfare needs. As a nation heavily reliant upon commodity based income we must gravitate towards higher added value goods and services to ensure the future economic wellbeing of our society. Developing an ecosystem approach to cultivating innovation is a key part of this journey.

For example, benefits in cultivating university-industry ties become amplified due to network effects and serendipitous conversations around the humble water cooler (or perhaps kombucha fridge these days). This “innovation ecosystem” approach has benefitted a number of scientific fields. For example the emergence of biotechnology as both a science and business from MIT and other institutions clustered within the Boston area. Commercialisation of new knowledge can also speed up solving complex social, health and environmental problems that might not otherwise be addressed, attracting both government and private sector funding into academia.

The global pandemic has also accelerated the need for scientific innovation. Previous hard won gains against poverty and improvements in social equity have been wiped out by pandemic related economic carnage. In addition, because of growing urgency in relation to addressing environmental challenges, there is forecast to be a vast migration of capital away from polluting industries over the next two or three decades. This green transition will create enormous opportunities for scientific organisations operating at the leading edge of cleantech, renewable energy, low carbon construction and regenerative agriculture, for example.

Embedded within entrepreneurship centres of research, university innovation labs such as ThincLab at the University of Canterbury are important intermediaries in the cycle of innovation and a key part of a vibrant ecosystem that engages with a wide array of supporting players to ensure the success of spin-off companies, whilst at the same time respecting the scholarship that underpins scientific discovery.

This article was first published on the ThincLab blog and formed the basis of my presentation to the Food, Fibre and Agritech Supernode Challenge 2021 cohort.

Paul Spence is a commentator and serial entrepreneur, a recently exited co-founder of a New Zealand based technology venture, a co-founder and director of Creative Forest, advisor at ThincLab within the University of Canterbury Centre for Entrepreneurship and principal at GeniusNet Research. You can follow Paul on Twitter @GeniusNet or sign up for a free weekly digest of startup, tech and innovation related events curated by him through New Zealand Startup Digest. Paul is a co-author of the Entrepreneurship Manifesto 2020.

Connecting Canterbury

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DandelionFountain1 After nearly a decade of rebuilding, much of the baseline physical infrastructure needed for the regeneration of Christchurch is now in place. There’s still a lot more to do of course, but there’s now some breathing space to think about working on social infrastructure as well. Developing a vibrant and better connected local ecosystem will be the key to unlocking a wider pipeline of innovation across Canterbury.

Building a more connected innovation community also demonstrably aligns with the city-wide Prosperity Framework established by economic development agency ChristchurchNZ in 2018. This framework underpins business attraction and capability building activities across the city for the following decade and is strongly informed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the New Zealand government Treasury Living Standards Framework. Environmental sustainability, inclusion, scalability and confidence are therefore viewed as pillars of a recovering and strengthening city economy and are encapsulated within the adjacent Supernodes Strategy.

The Supernodes Strategy, in its current form, has a focus on four designated areas of Food/Fibre/Agritech, Aerospace, HealthTech and High Tech services. All of these areas are obviously predicated upon a well connected ecosystem that is strongly underpinned by world class capabilities in software, high tech manufacturing and research. But it is less clear where important and enabling innovation infrastructure itself sits within the strategy. For example, platform based digital services and game offerings are amongst the highest value and fastest growing companies globally. Should we consider creating a local niche to include these sectors?

The Supernode strategy also speaks strongly about inclusion, especially in cultivating diversity of thinking and about better engaging young people with the business community. The strategy seeks to achieve progress through “a collaborative approach between education, industry and the government…to ensure a prosperous future for the city and the region”. So actively building these bridges is a mandated priority.

Resilient infrastructure and fostering sustainable and inclusive innovation incidentally also forms the basis of SDG Goal 9, a global commitment that central government signed us up to. Supporting small business growth and facilitating investments in research and development are fundamental to this goal. This is especially salient in the context of a post-quake, post-Covid economic rebuild in Christchurch. So there are many brilliant reasons to foster connectivity across the innovator community in Canterbury. One of the strongest arguments for doing so is that there is plenty of untapped capacity, unlike in some of our other main centre cities.

Pandemic related disruption has unfortunately hindered community-building activities throughout much of 2020, but has ironically amplified the need for it more than ever. Community minded responses have thus far averted a public health crisis. In the meantime people in education and business found ways to keep working together. Maintaining and building robust, collaborative communities is more important than ever in the disrupted, remote working and rapidly changing world to which we must adapt.

Paul Spence is a commentator and serial entrepreneur, a recently exited co-founder of a New Zealand based technology venture, a co-founder and director of Creative Forest and principal at GeniusNet Research. You can follow Paul on Twitter @GeniusNet or sign up for a free weekly digest of startup, tech and innovation related events curated by him through New Zealand Startup Digest. Paul is a co-author of the Entrepreneurship Manifesto 2020.

Image credit: Renea Mackie