RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO
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TAKEOUTS
University of Waikato Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori
and Dean of the School of Māori and Pacific
Development Professor Linda Smith has been
appointed by the Government to the Māori
Economic Development Advisory Board.
The board, established in May 2013, monitors
and evaluates the implementation of He Kai Kei
Aku Ringa, the Crown-Māori Economic Growth
Partnership. Announcing her appointment,
Minister for Māori Affairs and Associate Minister
of Education Dr Pita Sharples said He Kai Kei
Aku Ringa was a blueprint for a productive and
innovative Māori economy that will support
better paying jobs and higher standards of
living for Māori.
“Professor Smith is an expert at linking
education and research to Māori development
and will add an important dimension to the work
of the Advisory Board,” he said.
A professor of education, Professor Smith is
also a member of the Health Research Council,
the Marsden Fund Council and sits on the Council
of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Professor of Population Economics at the National
Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis
(NIDEA) Jacques Poot has been selected to be a
NZ-UK Link Foundation Visiting Professor to the
UK for 2015. Professor Poot will be primarily
working in London.
NIDEA is a research institute under the
Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at Waikato
University. It undertakes research at the interface
of population and economics to help inform
choices and responses to the demographic, social
and economic interactions that are shaping
New Zealand's future.
Professor Poot's research interests include all
aspects of the economics of population (such as
migration, fertility, labour force, and ageing) and
especially the geographical dimension of these
topics. He currently co-leads a large research
project on regional population change and
socio-economic consequences. The project is
called Nga Tangata Oho Mairangi and is carried
out by researchers at NIDEA, Massey University
and Motu.
The NZ-UK Link Foundation visiting
professorships were established in 2010, and the
first one was awarded toWaikato Professor of Law
and Public Policy Margaret Wilson.
A statement of intent to establish a new coastal
biotechnology research centre with bases in Tauranga
and China has been signed by the University of
Waikato andYantal Institute of Coastal Zone Research,
Chinese Academy of Sciences. The two institutions
intend to establish the China-New Zealand Coastal
Biotechnology Joint Research Centre, which would
aim to integrate China and New Zealand's coastal
biotechnology research experts. It would also aim
to align more effectively administration sections,
investors, industry and international businesses
especially in China and New Zealand.
The relationship between the University of
Waikato and the Yantai Institute of Ocean Resources
began in 2010 during the Tenth International Marine
Biotechnology Symposium in Qin Dao, China,
convened by Professor Song Qin.
Professor Song and Professor Chris Battershill,
chair of Coastal Science at the University of Waikato,
are heading the fledgling development between China
and New Zealand.
New position on Māori Economic Development
Advisory Board
Population economist off to London
New coastal research centre agreement signed
INTHE Bay of Plenty there are many people
with money to invest in business and plenty
of people with good business ideas – they’re
just not pairing up as often or as quickly as
they should.
Enter Tina Jennen. Her vision is to set
up a vibrant innovative regional innovation
centre, an entrepreneurial ecosystem, similar
to Silicon Valley but focusing on ventures
that fit in with the Bay of Plenty economy
and infrastructure.
“When I was studying for my MBA at
Waikato, working with lecturer Dr Colleen
Rigby, we organised a survey – it was part
of a team action learning project – where
we consulted entrepreneurs and investors,
business owners, students, employees, and
sought to find out the barriers to business
start-up and what needed to change.” Ms
Jennen received 1600 responses.
As a result of the research, one team
member set up the Venture Centre, a
website designed to boost the success of
innovative and entrepreneurial enterprises
by connecting people and resources in
the Bay, and Ms Jennen helped local
angel investor group Enterprise Angels
launch their entrepreneurial arm, Plenty of
Innovation, which encourages and prepares
local entrepreneurs to take advantage of
investment funds available in the region.
“The Bay of Plenty has been through
some tough times, first the Global Financial
Crisis, PSA and then Rena. We’re resilient
and there’s a lot of talent here, we just need
to bring the right people together and learn
how to do business better,” says Ms Jennen.
To that end, she has been running
entrepreneur boot camps across the Bay of
Plenty – in Rotorua, Taupo and Tauranga.
The American, who has worked in large
and small businesses, in the corporate and
not-profit sectors, says people can have
good ideas, but don’t always know how
those ideas can transform into a sustainable
business. Others might have ideas that just
need tweaking to make them fly. They
also need to know how to price products,
especially when there are long production
and sales cycles, she says. “The other thing
Better business in the Bay
people in start-ups do is wear too many hats,
trying to keep costs down when in fact they
need to bring in more capability. Nobody
has all the skills required to run a business;
it makes sense to bring in people with the
necessary expertise.”
Ms Jennen says bringing potential
investors together also gets them thinking
bigger. “They get talking and realise that if
they band together they will have a bigger
package of money and be able to finance
bigger projects. It’s about developing an
improvisational culture. You have to be
creative in your problem solving and
break down barriers to market entry and
accessing resources.”
In July, WNT Ventures in Tauranga
was one of three technology-focused
incubators approved by the Callaghan
Innovation Board Incubator Support
Programme. The programme offers support
and funding to businesses setting up in
the sector. “This came together because of
the capability and diversity the team has
across ICT, high value manufacturing, and
technology in the primary sector,” says
Ms Jennen.
Ms Jennen says Waikato’s MBA helped
her to bring all her different skills and
experience together and focussed her career
direction. And it was the MBA lecturers who
linked her up with Enterprise Angels.
She and Dr Colleen Rigby, whose main
teaching role is in leadership development
and building high performing teams at
Waikato University’s Centre for Corporate
and Executive Education, have written a
paper about her research and her subsequent
activity and presented it in Hawai’i at the
International Conference on Business,
and their work has also been presented in
Philadelphia and Dublin.
“Participants at these conferences were
very interested in how Tina had used her
research to engage the full spectrum of the
community and the resulting developments
in entrepreneurship in the Bay of Plenty,”
says Dr Rigby.
“Tina epitomises a Waikato MBA
student who is able to take her learning and
capabilities into the community and bring
about significant and lasting change.”
ACTION-FOCUSED: Tina Jennen, bringing entrepreneurs and investors together in
Tauranga and the greater Bay of Plenty region.
PLANS for a purpose-built University of Waikato campus inTauranga
have taken another step with the news that the Tauranga Energy
Consumer Trust (TECT) has agreed to provide valuable funding for
the planned tertiary campus in the city.
TECT announced in July that it had agreed to provide up to
$15 million subject to conditions to the landmark project being
planned by the Tertiary Education Partnership – comprising the
University of Waikato, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, Te Whare
Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and Waiariki Institute of Technology – for
downtown Tauranga.
The TECT decision provides one of the key funding
components for the project, after the Tauranga City Council agreed
to provide land for the campus and the Bay of Plenty Regional
Council agreed to pay up to $15 million, on the proviso this was
matched by TECT.
Bay of Plenty Tertiary Education Partnership Steering Group
chair Bill Wasley says the TECT decision is great news for the
project. “TECT is a strong community-focused organisation
and they have once again showed that commitment with
this decision.
“This project has always been driven and supported by the
community and we’re confident it will be hugely beneficial to the
region, not just in terms of education but also to the economy.”
A Benefit Cost Analysis Report on the project says the downtown
campus plan is robust and an “attractive investment opportunity” with
low risk and the potential to impact positively on many key areas of
the Bay of Plenty economy.
The June report, prepared by Professor Frank Scrimgeour
from the University of Waikato Management School, shows the
campus would generate benefits of $188 million over the next
20 years and provide a rate of return of more than 30% on the
initial investment.
It will impact positively on attracting researchers and teachers,
postgraduate students, international students, and retaining
undergraduate students in Tauranga, along with allowing the
development of new programmes for delivery in Tauranga.
One of the biggest gains comes from having students remain
within the Bay of Plenty, undertaking higher education that
ultimately contributes back into their own whānau, hapū, iwi and
communities. University Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Crawford
says the decision marks a significant milestone for the Partnership
and the project. The University of Waikato has long had a presence
in the Bay of Plenty and considers the region an important part of the
university’s future, he says.
Dr Alan Hampton, Chief Executive, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic,
says the announcement is a very important stage on the journey of
collaboration to provide tertiary provision and applied research in
Tauranga that is attractive and relevant in New Zealand and overseas.
From here, the parties will work towards a Heads of Agreement and
will consider the next steps in the process.
Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust supports campus
