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  • Innovation
  • Disruption

In 2017, Techweek is challenging New Zealanders to find local answers to global questions - to use our unique position and ingenuity to tackle the biggest challenges the world faces. It’s an exciting prospect, and one we believe New Zealand innovators are perfectly equipped to take on. We may be on the edge of the world, but we love to punch above our weight globally in the fields of technology, design and innovation - a reputation Techweek is committed to cultivating.

Five content streams support our over-arching Techweek’17 theme, each targeting a specific global question. These five streams - Next Generation, The Future of Food, Environmental Shift, Equality, and Scaling Impact – are excellent starting points from which to dive into the Techweek’17 programme.

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Perhaps the most obscure and most exciting of these is Scaling Impact, featuring events about technologies and business models concerned with sustainable growth and global impact. This isn’t just about helping successful NZ business’ to expand globally, but about developing a wealth of great Kiwi ideas and exploring ways to make them a commercial reality.

Although New Zealand’s reputation for innovation precedes us, we know there could be more NZ organisations playing with the big guys in the global marketplace, and Scaling Impact is the forum in which to discuss ways we can encourage that kind of growth. We want to start conversations about attracting investors and exceptional engineering talent to New Zealand, and about encouraging local investors to take bigger and bolder risks. We want to infuse our innovation ecosystem with a deep commitment to collaboration. We want to help flourishing NZ businesses to set up satellite offices in their target markets.

A huge part of the success of a start-up hub like Silicon Valley is the spirit of collaboration that’s fostered there. It’s time to super-charge New Zealand’s collaboration and cross-pollination capability, and we’re making a start at Techweek‘17 by presenting events like the Access Granted roving podcast, when hosts Mike Riversdale and Raj Kushal will take their successful podcast on the road, meeting innovators, thinkers and tinkerers at recorded meet-ups across New Zealand. You can follow along online, or add your voice to the conversation in your area.

Another exciting Scaling Impact opportunity for NZ companies on the brink of going large is New Zealand Trade and Enterprise event, Around the States in 50 Days, which will take you on the journey of setting up and growing a business in the United States. You’ll learn the lessons of hundreds of Kiwi companies who have already made the leap, and leave with greater insight into the process of scaling your own impact on a global scale.

We can’t wait to tell you more about what’s in store at Techweek’17. Scaling Impact is a practical and inspiring stream of the programme, but there are so many inspiring, interesting and challenging events to come. Stay tuned.

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