Construction and demolition waste, detection of plant diseases and fitness tracking were just a few of the real-world concerns tackled by innovators and entrepreneurs as part of the 2023 Velocity $100k Challenge.

Formerly home to the iconic Lion Brewery, Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland purchased the 5.2-hectare Khyber Pass property in May 2013. Just over ten years later, many people are curious about what is happening inside the expansive facilities. Known as the Newmarket Campus, the area encompasses a wonderland of facilities, equipment and research capabilities to support the Faculties of Engineering and Science. The site also hosts the New Zealand Product Accelerator and is home to the University’s Newmarket Innovation Precinct (NIP), a multidisciplinary industry-facing research and development community.

An unprecedented number of students from different disciplines have been recognised as outstanding student innovators in the 2023 University of Auckland Blues Awards. Their innovations span everything from solutions to improve brain surgery to interventions to address social isolation in the elderly.

Polo Umali’s hunger for entrepreneurship was sparked at school and his appetite for learning and growing his entrepreneurial skills and mindset is still ravenous. To feed his ambition and curiosity Polo researched what the University of Auckland could offer during his time studying for a conjoint degree in design and business. He soon came across the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) and saw the Summer Lab programme as the perfect opportunity to help fuel his desire to pursue his entrepreneurial passion. Polo’s journey may only be in its early stages, but as he juggles his first year of university and managing his own business, he is adamant that entrepreneurship will be part of his future.

Bethanie Maples, Founder and CEO of Atypical AI, and one of the humans involved in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution, believes that education has been overdue for a shake-up and AI could be the necessary catalyst that accelerates its transformation.

The Vanguard Programme is about exposing a cohort of highly engaged, high-achieving student leaders to the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Empowering them to learn and grow as innovators and entrepreneurs, but more importantly, infuse their knowledge and experience back into Aotearoa’s own entrepreneurial ecosystem.

A recent Women in Entrepreneurship evening explored the highs and lows of founding a business, as experienced by the founders of two local companies. The importance of building yourself, your confidence and your networks were some key takeaways from the event.

Medtech-iQ Aotearoa is a national collaboration of innovation with the purpose of accelerating the success of the New Zealand MedTech sector. It is a virtual national innovation hub that is linked to a backbone of four physical regional hubs in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland, Poneke Wellington, Otautahi Christchurch and Otepoti Dunedin. According to a recent Deloitte report, Medtech-iQ Aotearoa is a “world-first” initiative that aims to capitalise on the global medical device and digital health market estimated to have a value of US$815 billion. A strategic, coordinated approach helps leverage a significant opportunity for New Zealand, which will have a positive impact on the economic and physical health outcomes of all New Zealanders.

The inaugural biennial Pūtaiao symposium for 2023 was hosted by Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Science earlier this month. Pūtaiao can be loosely thought of as “science” although it also incorporates Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge systems). The symposium centred around acknowledging the past to inspire future pathways for Māori in STEAMx3 (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Medicine, Math, Maatauranga Māori). Academic and professional staff from across the University were invited to speak and connect, including Matt Broughton (Ngāpuhi), Programme Coordinator at the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE).

Robogals is a global volunteer student-led organisation founded in 2008 with the goal of inspiring, engaging and empowering young women into engineering and related fields. The University of Auckland’s Robogals is an active chapter of this global network, and this year ran the annual Science and Engineering Day (SED) with great success at Kura Matahuna – Unleash Space, one of the innovation hubs managed by the University of Auckland Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE).