An innovative online competition called ‘What’s Your Billion Dollar Idea?’ has provided Indian students with an opportunity to pitch their ideas to VCs and CEOs for the chance to win a virtual internship with top New Zealand companies and universities. The ultimate winner was Joel Joseph, a mechanical engineering and marketing student.

Teaching staff at the University of Auckland’s Business School have explored ways to incorporate virtual reality into their teaching, drawn to its potential for creating engaging and immersive teaching and learning experiences. They used the virtual reality game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes to teach human resources principles.

Kiwi start-up Mint Innovation has just raised $20 million to go global - funds that will allow them to build their first commercial biorefineries for extracting precious metals from electronic waste. Leading their research and development is University of Auckland alumnus Robert Staniland.

An innovative business idea developed by Manurewa’s home-grown entrepreneurs will benefit more than 2,000 Manurewa High School students through Ka Ora, Ka Ako, the Government’s healthy school lunches programme, starting in 2021.

The University of Auckland’s 40 under 40 list is created anew each year to inspire New Zealand with the stories of the University’s young alumni who are shining in their personal and professional lives. This year 22 of the 40 people featured in the list are alumni who have taken part in the Velocity entrepreneurship development programme.

Kara Technologies co-founder and CEO Arash Tayebi has just been recognised in the 2020 Meaningful Business 100, an award celebrating business leaders around the world combining profit and purpose to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; (4) Quality Education and (10) Reducing Inequality.

Staff at the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) have been overwhelmed by the positive response they have had to a series of free Christmas ornament workshops they ran at the University of Auckland’s innovation hub and maker space, Unleash Space, as a staff engagement activity.

Marine scientists from the University of Auckland’s Goat Island Marine Discovery Centre are finding innovative ways to inspire a new generation of marine biologists and conservationists. With the support of the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), they have created a New Zealand Underwater Soundscapes website that teaches users to create an underwater microphone (hydrophone).

A device created by biotech company Junofem is providing a solution to help women address a common health problem with dignity and precision.

First hand experience inspired Commerce student Toby Thomas-Smith to start a venture that provides academic-year rental options for university students, while optimising rental returns for landlords. He has launched EasyRent, thought to be the first and only platform on the New Zealand market connecting students and landlords.