Chilean Biotechnology Engineer Maria Jose Alvarez is bridging the gap between the science and Venture Capital communities in New Zealand, helping deep-tech start-ups and first-time founders bring their ideas to life. Working as an Investment Manager at WNT Ventures, Maria Jose is dedicated to fostering the growth of the next generation of founders. Maria Jose is particularly passionate about supporting women and minorities in the VC community and in 2021 she was named a finalist in the Diversity category at the NZ Women of Influence Awards recognising her efforts and impact in this space.

Summer Lab, a four-week University of Auckland experience highlighting innovation and entrepreneurship education, is enjoying its day in the sun after winning a United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship award (USASBE).

Last year, Tiger Chen, an alumna of the University of Auckland Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), made a bold move to London to explore Europe and seek career opportunities as a newly-trained UX designer. To her surprise, the move led her to join AnimaSelf, an innovative mental health start-up app, where she now works as the lead product designer as a side hustle while also working a day job as a UX designer for a software company.

Kara Technologies is one step closer to their goal of making sign language services widely available with $1.3 million raised in a recent round of seed funding. The company also recently reached new audiences through a partnership with Australian entertainer Emma Watkins, best known as a former member of the ever-popular Wiggles.

Entrepreneurial thinking will be crucial to improve future outcomes for New Zealanders, says Professor Rod McNaughton. Growing innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities on a wider scale will help unlock greater prosperity for all New Zealanders – and educational institutions like Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland, have an important role to play in this journey.

The University of Auckland’s cutting-edge makerspace Unleash Space shone in the international spotlight earlier this year, as representatives from CIE’s innovation hub spoke at two recent conferences celebrating the global Maker Movement.

Eskwelabs is a data upskilling school in Southeast Asia that is democratising access to new job opportunities in the future of work by helping adult learners capitalise on where humans can offer better value than technology.

Start-ups that began through the University of Auckland’s Velocity programme have been named in the 2022 Deloitte Fast 50, an index of New Zealand’s fastest growing businesses. Deloitte says that their inclusion is evidence of the important role universities have to play in developing New Zealand’s economic potential.

After falling in love with poi while in the circus, Dr Kate Riegle van West packed up her life in the United States and headed to New Zealand to chase a hunch that playing with poi had health benefits. Conducting the world’s first scientific study of poi and wellbeing as a PhD at the University of Auckland, under the supervision of the Centre for Brain Research and the School of Dance Studies, her clinical study proved benefits in grip strength, balance, and the ability to sustain attention for healthy older adults after just one month of practice.

Nandini Singh, soon-to-graduate commerce student and CEO of the Velocity programme in 2022, reflects on her time at university and how involvement with the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) helped her grow from a shy high school graduate to an empowered leader driving positive change in the community.