The Influencers: Marian Johnson
It’s hard to say goodbye to that most wonderful of things – the Kiwi summer holiday. In between the pavs and beach cricket this year, it was hard to miss the horror of the human and ecological tragedy unfolding in Australia giving us all a window into the impact of climate change. With the […]
The Influencers: Marian Johnson
One of the best parts of my job is getting to meet talented entrepreneurs and helping them succeed. And that’s exactly what the whole team got to do last week at the Pressure Cooker final of FoodStarter 2019 – a national competition looking for the most innovative food and beverage startups in New Zealand. […]
Marian Johnson: The Influencers
If the theme of the last few months has been startup and innovation funding, then the theme of the last few weeks has been Celebration, with a capital “C”. This month the business community is celebrating twice, with two phenomenal black tie events: the Westpac Champion Awards and the Deloitte Fast 50 Awards. Both […]
Marian Johnson: The Influencers
If the last few months of winter 2019 had a theme for our city’s startup and innovation ecosystem, that theme would be startup funding. As you know, our government’s Wellness Budget allocates $300 million to a fund of funds for startup investment managed by NZ Venture Investment Fund. While our local startups have decent […]
Marian Johnson: The Influencers
July saw an impressive bump of activity in the city’s startup and innovation ecosystem, beginning with a visit from Minister Megan Woods at one of our city’s young tech companies, Orbica (orbica.co.nz). After checking out Orbica’s location-based data platform, Minister Woods took the opportunity to announce an important update to the government’s research and […]
Marian Johnson: The Influencers
In support of our Government’s undertaking to invest two percent of GDP into research and development (R&D) by 2027, some excellent initiatives have emerged. These include: a $300 million ‘fund of funds’ that will help New Zealand start-ups grow and scale; the research and development tax incentive scheme designed to reward innovation; and a […]
Marian Johnson: The Influencers
The last week of May was TechWeek 2019 and what a juggernaut of a week it was! From Monday’s ‘Canterbury Tech’ event showcasing our city’s world class heathtech/medtech sector through to the launch event for Te Ōhaka – Centre for Growth and Innovation, TechWeek 2019 really showed how quickly our tech sector is growing […]
Marian Johnson: The Influencers
At Ministry of Awesome, we support innovation and high growth startups because we know that a dynamic startup ecosystem will transform this city with future jobs, industries and global relevance. For NZ startups, it’s been challenging to access the capital required to scale global from NZ. But the fundraising landscape is changing quickly. Our […]
Marian Johnson: The Influencers
March was a month of total gratitude for our fellow citizens who, once again, pulled together and looked after one another. The whole world has taken note of the power love can wield against fear and hatred. Let’s hope humankind can carry on down this path. The team at Ministry of Awesome (MoA) celebrated […]
Marian Johnson: The Influencers
Last month, I borrowed from our Prime Minister’s recent remarks where she spoke of how important innovation is for NZ’s future as a thriving nation. In short, she said that innovation must be cultivated throughout the country. Ministry of Awesome (MoA) is working hard alongside everyone else in our Canterbury startup and innovation community […]