Eight University of Auckland academic staff have been recognised for their service to advancing entrepreneurial education at the University of Auckland through the inaugural Hynds Innovation Education Awards.

Ten year old Lilah McDonald was horrified to discover that only 5% of Auckland parks have drinking fountains and decided to do something about it. With the support and guidance of her mum, University of Auckland alumna and entrepreneur Kate O’Leary, she has started Water Us. The social venture sells stylish and environmentally-friendly toilet paper that will help fund water fountains for the community.

According to the United Nations Development Programme, students, scholars and researchers with disabilities remain under-represented in higher education and vulnerable to feeling marginalised and excluded on campuses. This can be for a number of reasons including difficulty accessing physical learning facilities. University of Auckland student Emma Cooper-Williams has experienced these challenges first hand.

“The nurses had no way of knowing if my nephew was improving or worsening.” Statements such as these have inspired the creation of Pacific Med Tech, a social venture that aims to support capacity building in biomedical engineering departments of hospitals in the Pacific.

A venture founded by University of Auckland engineering alumni Daniel Xu and Ming Cheuk is helping organisations improve their processes and customer experience by taking advantage of innovative technologies like machine learning, computer vision, and conversational AI.

Calling all aspiring change-makers, venture-creators, or those who just want an opportunity to experiment and meet like-minded people. We have something for you! Make the most of the first week back on campus by finding out everything we have to offer and pick your path to a year of adventure. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

Velocity is the University of Auckland’s flagship student-led entrepreneurial development programme delivered through the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Leading Velocity this year as CEO is Jason Tran, a fourth year Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce student. Jason is in his third year of Velocity having previously held the role of Events Team Lead.

107 students from across the University of Auckland came together to participate in the sixth annual Summer Lab entrepreneurship development programme, making it the largest cohort to date. The diverse group formed 18 teams to develop solutions to problems framed around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The New Zealand Government’s venture investment vehicle New Zealand Growth Capital Partners have signed on to support Velocity, New Zealand’s leading student entrepreneurship development programme, through sponsorship and network support. Together they will provide substantial opportunities to increase the potential and capability of New Zealand’s next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.

Objective Acuity is creating an accessible and accurate way of detecting vision problems early in life by developing the first objective vision screening test based on visual acuity for children under the age of five.