Entrepreneurial spirits ignited during 2024 Summer Lab

20 February 2024

The entrepreneurial spirit shone brightly this year, with the 2024 Summer Lab students demonstrating entrepreneurial traits such as resilience, resourcefulness, and a solutions-oriented mindset.  

Summer Lab is a free co-curricular programme delivered by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), open to students and staff of all faculties. Participants learn how innovation and entrepreneurship are vital tools to enable people to make significant change in the world. Over the course of the programme, they learn about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), identify a problem space to explore, form teams and come up with a business idea based around their solution.

Summer Lab is an experiential programme where participants experience working in teams, taking part in workshops such as negotiation and technology and prototyping workshops. Summer Lab is supported by a team of 30 practising innovators and entrepreneurs who volunteer as speakers and mentors, advising on everything from ideation to how to present an idea.  

Now in its ninth year, the programme has received two international awards for its unique design and lasting impact on participants. In 2024, a total of 115 students took part in Summer Lab, the largest cohort of participants since the inception of the programme.  

Sociology Master’s student Jasper says “My highlight is working together in the team, trying to understand how others think, and ensuring we are on the same wavelength and able to collaborate. I also enjoyed the opportunity to interview possible users of our product, get their insights and find out how we can change the product along the way to better satisfy their needs. For me a big take-away is how to incorporate users’ feedback into our developments more effectively.” 

Individuals joining Summer Lab become part of teams, uniting around problems that resonate with them. Frequently, team members start the programme as complete strangers, and complete the programme with meaningful new connections, mentioning the opportunity to meet new people as a distinct advantage of participating in Summer Lab.

Psychology Master’s student June says “The best part is the people I met here. They are very encouraging, motivating and I feel we are making an impact together. So, I feel like I am learning a lot. It is hard, but it is very enjoyable and very rewarding.”  

Leading the way in guiding Summer Lab was the facilitation team comprised of Dr Deb Shepherd, Senior Lecturer at the Business School,  and Sandy Lin, CIE Programme Manager. 

CIE Director Darsel Keane says “The sheer number of participants this year, who gave up their summer holiday to take part in this four-week intensive programme, is a testament to the reputation of Summer Lab. Our CIE team has worked incredibly hard over the last 9 years, iterating programme design to make Summer Lab as impactful as possible. It is a pleasure to see so many bright, motivated students and witness their entrepreneurial spirits being ignited.”  

Summer Lab wrapped up with 2 teams earning the title of First Equals, selected by judges based on pitch quality and how well their solutions tackled identified problems. The winning teams proudly received trophies designed and created by Karthik Sivasubramanian, a current Physics student in the CIE’s own Makerspace. 

Summer Lab winners (First Equals):   

Big Baddies: “Toxic body positivity and beauty standards fuel body image issues in Aotearoa’s younger generations. We want to create a product that promotes body neutrality instead – a product that initiates self-acceptance.” 

Growing Cities: “Our mission was to encourage healthy eating habits in the next generation of kiwis by creating a high-school programme where students learn about and grow produce using aeroponic gardens.”