Hey everybody,

We have lots more of Wellington’s researchers and academics recognised with awards and fellowships this week, alongside some good funding for the health sector. Angel investment is also a big topic: even if it may be a spike at the quarterly granularity reported, it’s great to see Welly claim a giant slice of the pie. The technology section of the election policy guide is still pretty sad at four entries, but hey, we’re used to smashing expectations here! Keep doing your thing, Welly 🛠

Our science system is moving from funding investigators to mission-led research. The EU has long been on this system and it is generally seen as a “balanced” system. But as a European institute director points out, people are starting to re-examine the heavy administrative overhead of collaborative consortia and come back to exalting systems focused on excellence, which is (for better or worse) easier to prove on a lead investigator's track record. Could we be jumping on a fading trend with “mission-led”? Or is it just that the grass is greener on the other side?

Also, those tracking government science system changes can tune into Business of Tech featuring Roman Reyhani, the new director of the NZ Institute for Advanced Technology.

$1.8 billion has now been approved under the national Health Digital Investment Plan, plausibly signalling long-term opportunities for healthtech innovators, data systems builders, and digital health delivery: “Because we are so far behind the 8-ball and we have got a terrible legacy debt in digital, that provides an opportunity to leapfrog”.

Wow, people really don't like data centres. But they really do like the things that run on data centres 🤔 Fine, I'll stop being facetious, but this tension does need addressing. As pushback grows in the US across cultural and political lines, the rhetoric has about as much nuance as a football hooligan evaluating the ref. But if we continue to nix any talk of building digital infrastructure here, we'll just continue to be customers of offshore companies and have no control over one of the big infrastructure commodities of the information age.

There’s a nice writeup of the recent Creative HQ tech ecosystem report, the headline being that ecosystems do not grow startups by accident. It highlights the deliberate conditions, density, and capital connections required to help founders scale locally.

On the policy front, Welly Chamber reflects on Mayor Little’s agenda for Wellington in 2027 in The Post's recent analysis: Wellington needs a more “grown-up”, aligned partnership between central and local government with a shared focus on economic growth, productivity, and investor confidence.

Angel investor numbers leaped by 42% this past financial quarter and Wellington is soaking up the capital: nearly 45 percent of total investment, being roughly double our recent share.

Plus a nice reminder that those Angels support local endeavours out of which many more founders sprout: meet the Xero Mafia!

Welly, you beaut, you're getting some loyal fans: Courteney Peters from Caffeine Daily is returning on 18–19 November to run two free, closed-door founder sessions: All About the People with Employment Hero and Internationalising with Airwallex. Get in touch with Court if you want in.

Speaking of banks that live in the aether, Revolut just registered in NZ (BBB+ S&P rating) and has committed to invest $120 million in the local market.

Check out this interview with John Robson, CEO of Wellington-grown CAR-T cell therapy startup BioOra, sharing his vision for automated cell manufacturing and scaling biotechnology in Aotearoa.

Here is a really cool story about invisible AI that makes things better: cutting ambulance response times was the topic of a CDSAI PhD by Jordan MacLachlan.

Two papers for the reading list (both link to PDF):

Still open for your form-filling satisfaction, and for your consideration:

Highlighted entries are new from last week.

4:30–7pm, NZ Tech Rally meetup with Hayley Kinsey of Wahine Fulled Tech.

Tue, 10 Nov, 5:30–6:45pm, Doodle Cafe.

Thu, Nov 12th, 1–4pm, Technological Solutions for Disaster Management, online.

Thu, Nov 12th, 5–6:30pm, EdTech Community Connect at Taiawa.

Tue, Nov 17th, Superconductor Valley 2026 by Paihau—Robinson Research Institute, at Rutherford House.

Wed, Nov 18th, 12–1pm, AI for Good Aotearoa NZ lunch & learn with Lani Evans of Fundsorter.

Wed, Nov 18th, 4–6pm, Michael Volkerling Lecture: Artificial Intelligence, Memory and Culture: crossroads and cul-de-sacs at Te Papa.

Wed, Nov 18th, 5–7pm, MP Climate Consensus report launch at CHQ.

Thu, Nov 19th, 3:30–5:30pm, IP for SaaS: How to protect Your business.

Wed, Nov 25th, 12–1pm, Accelerating the adoption & success of AI – A people first approach, AI Forum webinar.

Wed, Nov 25th, 6–7pm, The science behind the 2026 Nobel Prizes in Medicine, Chemistry, and Physics.

Thu, Nov 26th, 5:30–8:30pm, Good Drinks Wellington, all about sustainability.

Thu, Nov 26th, 8pm, Astronomy on Tap presents Our Space Machines: The remarkable robots and machines exploring space on humanity’s behalf.

26-27 Nov, Indigenous Tech Summit at Tākina

Fri, Nov 27th, 6pm, Wellington Game Review is an opportunity to playtest locally made games 🕹

30 Nov–2 Dec, Association for Interdisciplinary Meta-Research and Open Science (AIMOS) conference at Vic.

Mon, Nov 30th, 6–7:30pm, What Makes Something a Science? Lessons from Psychology’s Replication Crisis, public lecture, part of AIMOS.

Thu, Dec 3rd, Creative Tech Summit at Massey

Thu, Dec 3rd, 5:00–7:30pm, Tech Women & CyberCX end of year celebration.

Thu, Dec 17th, 5pm–late, SaaSmas Party 🎉

9–12 Feb 2027, eResearch NZ comes to Wellington. Submissions now open.

25-26 Feb 2027, Aurora Climate Tech Summit.

15-17 Mar 2027, Life Sciences Summit at Tākina, early bird member tickets out.

17-18 Mar 2027, FinTech Hui Taumata at Tākina.

22-23 Mar 2027, National Cybersecurity Summit at Tākina.

23 Mar 2027, Digitising Government at Tākina.

Fri, May 7th 2027, NZ Tech Rally on a Super Early Bird launch.

The Atom at Victoria is open for any unfunded Founders (Students, Early Stage, Idea Stage) and is run by Tania Jones, with entrepreneurs in Residence, Parisa Shademan, Jack Shennan, and Alistair St Pierre and investors in residence Dave Moskovitz, Aaron Scott & Ralph Highnam. Email or join the Facebook community.