Over the past four months the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship has provided an opportunity for five Business School students to volunteer their time and expertise to help five early stage startups. This unique experience will support their growth and development through being part of a small team tackling large, global problems. It’s an opportunity that will be ultimately beneficial for both the student and the startup.

The neglected mental health of New Zealand can no longer be ignored. We are in crisis. The New Zealand government announced $1.9 billion in funding in its Wellbeing Budget. But could a contributing factor to New Zealand’s metal wellbeing come from an innovative grassroots organisation?
Angela Lim is the co-founder and CEO of Clearhead - a free, online mental health platform that utilises AI chatbot technology to mimic a GP consult, referring users to an appropriate next step in their quest to improve mental wellness. It is New Zealand’s first AI-driven diagnostic and triage tool for mental health.
As well as being an experienced healthcare practitioner, Angela is a serial entrepreneur. She started her first venture as a medical student while participating in the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Velocity programme in 2015 and participated in our Startup School in 2018. Clearhead is her latest venture.

No one would have anticipated a lawn bowls tournament to be the next venture success story to emerge from the University of Auckland.
Except, that is, for PhD student Rebecca Jelley. While she is studying Chemistry, she is also a long-time lawn bowls enthusiast.
Her involvement in the development of a new format of the game was assisted by participating in a number of programmes delivered by the University’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The trans-Tasman Ultimate Bowls Championship competition, or UBC, is now a televised event, its first event attracting more than one million viewers.

The University of Auckland opened its innovation hub and maker space in February 2018, created for the benefit of all students and staff. Located in the space formerly occupied by the Engineering Library, it comprises of offices, a large space for events and a maker space. Within the maker space is a suite of technology managed by a team of student Creative Technologists who run free create and make workshops and trainings to teach and empower others to use laser and vinyl cutters, 3D printers and scanners, electronics, vacuum formers, CNC routers and sewing machines.
But why have an innovation hub and maker space?

Unleash Space is where University of Auckland students go to create what they can imagine. For Tommy Leigh, a Bachelor of Engineering and Music student, this meant creating his very own electronic bike.
Having access to Unleash Space’s state of the art equipment has allowed him to advance his project to the next stage by prototyping and testing his assumptions and measurements. In particular Tommy has used the 3D printer to create parts to help him attach the battery to his bike such as brackets and drive parts.

The use of oak barrels is one of the oldest traditions in winemaking. Wine - particularly chardonnay and red varietals such as cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir — aged in oak becomes softer and takes on delicious flavours. The porous nature of the oak also allows slow oxygenation of the wine without spoiling. However, investing in oak barrels is costly, especially for smaller wineries. Managing the barrels is also labour-intensive.

University of Auckland students have placed in a prestigious international competition that aims to solve the world’s most pressing problems, winning $15,000 CAD to pursue their solution.
The World’s Challenge Challenge (WCC) encourages students from around the globe to work collaboratively on innovative solutions to global problems and helps them develop their academic, oral presentation, and entrepreneurial skills. The challenges are based on the Sustainable Development Goals put forward by the United Nations in 2015 - 17 important targets for issues such as poverty, food sustainability, clean energy, climate action, education, technology and infrastructure. The competition finals took place at Western University in Ontario, Canada.

A student’s venture which uses maggots to process waste into fertiliser and chicken feed has set up its first treatment plant in India.
Hexacycle is the brainchild of University of Auckland PhD student Neil Birrell, an entomologist who is studying insects for human consumption in the Faculty of Science. His idea to use the larvae from the Black Soldier Fly to reduce organic waste in landfill was first developed when he participated in the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Summer Lab programme. Buoyed by his experience, Neil continued to develop and validate his venture concept through participating in the Centre’s Velocity programme. Neil went on to win the social entrepreneurship category of the University’s Velocity $100k Challenge.

The Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship thrives in part due to the professionals who lend their time and expertise to our programmes, helping to connect our students to current industry practice. We are thankful to the DesignThinkers Group, who recently supported our Get Good Done weekend hackathon through facilitating a design thinking tutorial run within the programme.

Business partners Martin Sawbridge and Darryl McClay discuss the discipline of Design Thinking with Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programme Manager Sinead Watson.

Connor Talbot, a final-year electrical engineering student, is the co-founder of Prosthet-X, a start-up that aims to make prosthetics with recyclable materials that are cheaper, faster and more comfortable than existing options. Prosthet-X recently won the TechWeek competition ON:Futures in Tech and have been receiving mentorship through our Founders Hatchery. Connor discusses the start of his entrepreneurial journey, what it has taken to get this far and where he is headed next.