Hey everybody,
I may be biased but the vibe at TEDxVUW was exactly the kind of thing our town needs: a varied lineup of speakers people giving a keen audience some very positive messages for the future. Nothing pollyannaish, but a pretty strong message that technology can and does enable public good, and can lead us to a future with more.
We’re looking forward to our next show, 20 May at 7pm, during TechWeek. We’ll have the usual lineup of two long talks and three lightning talks focussed on commercially viable science. We can share that one of the long talks will be by local science-tech wunderkind Advemto.
And welcome to the Ecosystem Map Paperkite 🗺
Rule #1 - Celebrate the Wins
Well done Wellumio who will be presenting their stroke science at a big, fancy conference in Maastricht!
Congratulations to the five-strong cohort of Wellington UniVentures commercialisation grants 🥳
Massey's Joint Centre for Disaster Research celebrates Prof Julia
Becker on her Fellowship.
Acquisition news: Launchbot has found a new home: chez Tonielle Purdy.
Dodd-Walls launches TwoPhold to push photovoltaics to the next level 🌞
Does Nicole Retter ever sleep? Maybe on AirNZ flights 😆
Rule #2 - Understand Your Environment
Catch up with the science rejig with this MBIE reforms webinar recording.
The organisations investing in Wellington tech and startups by CreativeHQ.
One year ago, “Fully AI Employees” were predicted to be a year away. Putting aside for a minute the obvious reason to circulate this king of hype, how close is this prediction in your domain? If you twist my arm, I’ll tell you about mine 🤐
Geothermal energy innovator Fervo hoping to raise a neat US$1.3B IPO. Plenty of geothermal potential around the motu… just sayin’ 🌋
Some coverage of the OpenAI trial showing two radically different takes of what the company is and was meant to be. Also a summary by MIT Tech Review.
The NZ–China Strategic Research Alliance 2026 funding round is now open.
TUANZ Digital Priorities report urges stronger adoption of new digital tools.
What 6000 researchers think about the future is the result of a large survey by Nature (sadly paywalled). Here is a short take by Editor Simon Baker.
Seven minutes of gold by NZ Angels: Episode 1 of a new series on raising. Followed by eight minutes of more gold cause Episode 2 is also there 🤯
Rule #3 - Nothing Falls Thru The Gaps
EY is looking for the Entrepreneur Of The Year New Zealand, who will go on to represent Aotearoa in the global programme in Monaco.
NZ and Singapore sign agreement on essential supplies—that’s health-related goods coming our way, which reminds me of the Catalyst Leveraging AI for Healthy Ageing programme funded last year. Lots of good links there, I’m sure.
The Glean Report is a yuge resource for innovators, keeping track of #allthethings happening around town. Please consider a donation during this month’s funding drive!
Sam Neill announces he is cancer-free after participating in a CAR-T trial. While this happened in Australia, this is a local specialty at BioOra.
$45M worth of gaps in the concrete of the abandoned AWS data centre.
Kawaiicon is gearing up for 2026 and is looking for sponsors.
Brent Spicer reflects on his Marsello journey.
Reminders:
KiwiNet is accepting entries for the 2026 Research Commercialisation Awards.
If your work entails “innovations and achievements in New Zealand’s natural and built environment” why not nominate for a RICS Award?
Rule #4 - Get Inspired, Meet the Locals
Highlighted entries are new from last week.
Coming week:
Wed May 6th, AI and Creativity Summit, Wellington edition at Datacom.
May 7th–8th, ANZ Digital Twin 2026 somewhere in Wellington.
Thu May 7th, R Exchange 2026 for open-source data science enthusiasts at the National Library.
Tue May 12th, Digital Health Leadership Forum at the InterContinental.
May 12th–14th, DrupalSouth Wellington 2026 at Harbourside. We have five free passes to the Industry Connect event on the 13th, see above.
Tue May 12th, 8:30am–6:30pm, Gloves off – Getting Serious with AI for SaaS businesses by Taiawa and NZTE, at Rutherford House.
Tue May 12th, 5:30–8pm, NetTalks Te Whanganui-a-Tara promises short talks with big impact.
Coming eight weeks:
Thu May 14th, 5:15–7:30pm, AI for Good New Zealand at The Atom—Interested in speaking? Register your interest here.
Thu May 14th, 5:30–7:30pm, AI for Good - Wellington at The Atom
Fri May 15th, 7:30–9:30am, The CEO Table gathers eight people under Chatham House Rule on the theme of People Intelligence.
Fri May 15th, NZ Tech Rally brings all devs together at Tākina.
Mon 18th to Sun 24th May, Techweek26 all over Welly.
Wed May 20th, 'Critical' Minerals, Mining and Sustainable Futures Symposium in Kelburn
Fri May 22nd, 1–4:30pm, Seeds Impact Conference 2026 will be online, with Entrepreneurship as a focus area for positive change.
Fri May 22nd, 4-5.30pm Morally Repugnant AI? An Alternative Lens for Predicting The Future of Work (AI and Society series) at Rutherford House.
Tue May 19th, 12–6pm, Hutt Valley Manufacturing & Innovation Expo.
Thu May 21st, 2–7pm, Movac Growth Jam Epic Fails Edition at Public Trust Hall.
Tue 23 Jun, 5pm - 9pm, Teulo Talks Live: Wellington for architects who wanna build good and do other things good, too. WellyForge people get a 10% discount with code: TALKER.
Jun 29th to Jul 3rd, Research Bazaar Aotearoa, details not yet available.
Recurring events:
The Atom at Victoria is open for any unfunded Founders (Students, Early Stage, Idea Stage) and is run by Entrepreneur in Residence, Parisa Shademan - Email [email protected], or join the Facebook community.
Mondays 8–9am, Atom - Founder Mentoring ON-LINE
Weds 12–1pm, Atom - Founder Support Drop-In Hour
Thursdays (every other), 26th Mar 8am, Kapiti Start-Up Network Meet-Ups
Fridays (every other), 27th Mar 5pm, Founders Meet Up at Southern Cross hosted by Jack Shennan, Alistair St Pierre and Adiraj Gupta.