ION e-Letter March/April 2010

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

ION is kindly supported by EGL, Revera and iWantMyName.

During 2010 we are moving to an opt-in newsletter format. Through our relationship with Silicon Valley based theStartupDigest.com we can now offer you a weekly digest update of tech/biz/startup events across New Zealand. To check out the latest NZ digest, follow this short link:

http://eepurl.com/oky5

Follow the subscription button within the digest to get a weekly update of events in New Zealand and please let us know if you have a technology, innovation or startup event or a cool product launch that you wish to promote. Also, if you are heading offshore on company business, don’t forget to check out other regional Startup Digest event listings.

Why are we doing this? This is ION’s 8th year and it has never been more important to share knowledge and connect. Small businesses (especially knowledge based ventures) are leading the world out of recession. Connectors such as ION play an important role.

You can follow ION on Twitter now too!

Keep in touch and please share this with others.

Fraud Cases Reveal a Rotten Core

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There were two fraud cases before the Courts in New Zealand last month, both involving high flying women executives. The different ways in which each offender was dealt with says a lot about our civic institutions and soundly illustrates the suffocating effects of an engrained regimen of political correctness that ensures style succeeds over substance.

Lynn Fiebig was a socialite and failed restauranteur who was appointed fundraising manager at IHC, an organisation that advocates for and provides care to people with intellectual disabilities. During her tenure she stole $500,000 to fund her own lifestyle. She was sentenced to three years imprisonment for this crime. Mary Anne Thompson was a senior civil servant who fooled her peers into believing she had a PhD when she did not. Thompson’s only defence was that she thought the qualification had been awarded. She must have had a memory lapse because walking up on stage to collect your scroll is not something you forget in a hurry, I can assure you.

Thompson’s offence may seem trivial in the context of her 15 years of sterling service in our fine public sector, especially in light of the glowing epithets from figures such as the State Services head. But her offending resurfaced after another investigation into how she improperly handled an immigration application from a Kiribati based family member, whilst employed as head of the Immigration Service. Why did nobody smell the stench?

Thompson must have seemed like a god-send to the middle class, white, male elite that make up Wellington’s most senior mandarins and who were eager to promote diversity within the public service. They desperately wanted to believe, but unfortunately she led them on a merry dance, despite warnings from a human resources consultant who had twigged to the fraud early on. During the course of her employment under false pretences as a senior public servant, I estimate Thompson must have collected well over $2 million in salary. Last week she received a trivial fine of $10,000 after pleading guilty. Neither of the two women are likely to be in a position to repay what they owe to society; in fact there is every chance that Thompson will manage to resurrect her career eventually.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of these two cases is that it will make it just that much harder for genuinely qualified, intelligent and commited women to ascend to positions of responsibility in the public sector. It also reminds us how entirely subjective the justice system is when it comes to addressing white collar and non-violent crime.

Dazzle Shines at Telco Industry Gig

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Dazzle Tickets co-founders Christopher Smith and Nicolas Schembri have had a big couple of weeks. Not only did they steal the show at the Creative HQ showcase party recently but they also scooped the launchpad prize at Planet 2010 a telecommunications and technology industry event. I’m predicting big things from Dazzle in the future.

Dazzle provide online ticketing services to the entertainment industry. The company are part of a new wave of companies emerging from Wellington’s Creative HQ incubator and which mark a new found appetite for technology plays as the business incubator carves out a different strategic direction. The incubator assists a wide range of business types, but there has been a few lean years without much focus on high tech. This was in part due to the fact that the regional economic development plan largely ignores the contribution of ICT as an enabler. But with Wellington being the home of well known companies such as TradeMe and Xero, it was becoming embarrassing that technology was not a major focus.

Unlimited Potential has been working hard to rectify that situation. Through promoting technology entrepreneurship as a winner and by working closely with other stakeholders such as Victoria University, we have been able to focus attention on ICT as a key aspect in regional economic development. So it is tremendously gratifying to see some smart companies emerging from what is now a rapidly strengthening ecosystem. To their credit, economic development agency Grow Wellington have seized the moment and have big plans for cultivating even more Bright Ideas.

Ideas alone are not enough however. In fact what I like most of all about Dazzle Tickets is that they present well and look like a great team. The fact that they already executed on their idea and went out and made some sales of their service says a lot about the potential as well. The real key to success will be identifying a model that can allow them to scale up globally. That next step will be an exciting one, but will require fresh capital and some well connected advice. That’s where an entrepreneurial ecosystem for bright technology kicks in.

More CRI Babies Needed

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The government’s recent report examining funding and strategic governance of New Zealand’s Crown Research Institutes (CRI) echoes what has been known for years by most participants in the nation’s technology innovation system. The existing funding model is broken and there are too many stakeholders, resulting in inefficiencies. But restructuring the bureaucracy alone will not be sufficient to ensure better returns from State investment in science.

The CRIs are tasked with a variety of social and economic objectives that range from enhancing and protecting the value of our primary sector through to identifying and managing environmental risks. A profit based model and traditional business metrics clearly does not work. The convoluted bidding process for funding of limited duration also does not ensure good science gets done; in some cases it actually impedes the process.

 There is certainly no shortage of excellent scientific research being done within these institutions right now and there remains potential to spin off more baby companies in the future. Here’s a few examples.

  • There are two existing spin-offs involved in high temperature semi-conductors and cable technology, an area that has huge economic returns and is largely untapped.
  • Last year’s New Zealand young scientist of the year (and W2W event  speaker) John Watt is working with CRI staff to look at the commercial applications of nano-particles in reducing motor vehicle emissions.
  • Government owned companies are sitting on huge amounts of seismic data that has the potential to attract oil and mineral prospecting, with comcomitant economic benefits.

But the CRIs encountered problems in the past through attempting to self fund the commercialisation of new science. Attracting smart money and building linkages offshore  must surely be the key to growing our knowledge based companies faster. The CRIs will have to find a new business model that reaches out globally, whilst balancing the need to retain some control of intellectual property and return value to NZ. They also need to make this process happen a lot quicker than in the past.

You can follow us on Twitter @GeniusNet

Why Would Welly?

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I’ve never been particularly fond of the “Welly” moniker. But to have it plastered all over a local hillside on the approach to Wellington Airport smacks of a complete lack of imagination.

I generally try to avoid getting too deeply mired in political debate and I don’t want to start a rant about why we don’t need to be aping American culture; but there remains something rather disturbing about the prospect of a Hollywood style sign being plonked on my front doorstep. I have friends and family over in Hataitai and there is certainly no great enthusiasm for the idea amongst local residents.

For me personally, the overriding image attached to the original Hollywood sign is one of tacky fakery and gross self-indulgence. Yes, Wellington has benefitted economically through partnerships that reach deep into the L.A. film industry. But that doesn’t mean we need to emulate it entirely. In fact our strength is that we differ from it.

I would also question whether a creative city, such as Wellington, needs to brand itself by ripping off someone else’s intellectual property. This seems entirely counter-intuitive when we have a vast richness of other iconology available from amongst our collective Maori, Pacifica, Asian and European peoples. I hope the airport company will sniff the wind and quietly retire the concept. As one commentator suggested, they would gain a lot more respect by simply replanting the hillside in native trees.

Is “Productivity” the Wrong Goalpost?

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A recent research report1, looking at the reasons for New Zealand’s relatively poor economic performance, has some fascinating theories as to why we have paradoxically lagged behind other developed nations despite many structural advantages. It also raise questions about whether aiming for “productivity” parity with Australia is the right goal for New Zealand.

The report, authored by Professor Philip McCann, observes that New Zealand has struggled to compete on the OECD ladder since the economic reforms of the mid-1980s, despite its notable status as a free economy. In fact GDP per capita has been eroding steadily for over 40 years, a trend that shows little sign of abating. Few now doubt that this reduction in income has increasingly serious implications in regards to the affordabiity of the lifestyle currently enjoyed by New Zealanders.

In a world where human and financial capital are highly mobile, McCann theorises that economic geography, rather than macro-economic settings, constrains New Zealand from achieving its full economic potential. McCann says that focusing on a “productivity” gap with Australia is entirely the wrong approach, when in fact we should be looking at how we can leverage regional advantages. Only through regional cooperation can we hope to position for better growth.

He says that New Zealand has been constrained in adapting fully to the era of globalisation because of its small scale and distance to global markets. He also observes that worldwide economic growth is now being concentrated within larger cities and hyper connected regions. Such regions attract creative people and are increasingly associated with knowledge-based, high value economic activities, according to work by other researchers.

Because of the intense competition for talent and capital from power-house “global cities” on the Pacific Rim such as Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney, second tier cities (like Auckland or Adelaide for example) have no choice but to actively strengthen the existing web of interrelationships that bind them together on a sub-regional basis, suggests Professor McCann. Unfortunately, enormous reductions in capital flows during the recession have only added urgency to addressing the challenge of regionalisation.

The World Bank reported2 that from a peak of $296 billion (U.S. dollars) in foreign direct investment (FDI) into Asia during 2007, the figure had dropped to around $88 billion in 2009 as European and American institutions reviewed their investment strategies. Despite a forecast investment rebound to about $120 billion in 2010, the refinancing needs of the region have been estimated in the order of $200 billion per annum, leaving a substantial deficit to be covered by borrowing. This situation is likely to have considerable flow-on effects to neighbouring countries and trading partner nations across the Asia-Pacific rim.

So where does this leave New Zealand? A 2009 survey by Financial Times subsidiary publication FDI Magazine placed both Auckland and Wellington in the top ten of 133 Asia-Pacific cities in terms of quality of lifestyle. Auckland also surpassed many others by ranking an impressive number 10 with its FDI attraction strategy. But New Zealand cities ranked poorly in terms of infrastructure, education and the ability to create jobs through foreign investment or by leveraging technology and intellectual property. So whilst we can attract people for lifestyle reasons, our conversion rate is somewhat less impressive in respect of wealth creation.

MacDiarmid Institute physicist Shaun Hendy has been looking at patent data from the OECD. His study3 showed that Australia was well ahead of New Zealand on numbers of patents filed per capita, but that this was to be expected because data also suggested that larger cities produced more patents anyway. However he found that individual inventor productivity did not increase markedly with city size. This suggests that there are quite likely other influences such as quality of educational institutions, existence of research networks and availability of funding. Interestingly, the role of social effects and “knowledge spillover” on science researcher productivity has yet to be fully explored in this context.

Might the government’s well intentioned but controversial efforts to bridge the perceived “productivity gap” with Australia possibly be aiming at the wrong set of goal posts? Unless we fully acknowledge the importance of attracting and connecting people and capital on a regional basis we risk having to compete in isolation with much more powerful players throughout Asia-Pacific. A joint Australia-New Zealand investment showcase planned for March seems like the perfect opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to regional cooperation. But the government will have to ensure that the talk is followed up with decisive and timely actions as well as a leadership vision.

Bibliography:

  1. McCann, Philip. (2009). Economic geography, globalisation and New Zealand’s productivity paradox. Motu Research Group Public PolicyPaper
  2. Seward, J. (2009). Would a regional fund help get Asia through the financial crisis? World Bank weblog – East Asia and Pacific on the Rise.
  3. http://sciblogs.co.nz/a-measure-of-science/2009/12/16/the-productivity-of-inventors-in-cities/

A bullet point summary of the McCann report can be found here:

http://www.motu.org.nz/files/docs/McCann_seminar_slides.pdf

Photo Credit: Luke Appleby

ION e-Letter Jan/Feb 2010

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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.

Kiwi iWantMyName Continues Product Evolution

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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.

Plug ‘n Play in the USA

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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.

A Big Week for Edgy ICT

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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!