In this article, Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Wendy Kerr writes on “How we acted like a start-up and achieved phenomenal growth.” This article was first published in the Australian issue of the University Industry Innovation Network (UIIN) magazine, published to coincide with the second University-Industry Engagement Conference for Asia-Pacific held February 2019 in Sydney, Australia. Wendy Kerr has been connected with the UIIN for three years. Last year she moderated two panels, one in London, one in Sydney.

As a student-led entrepreneurial development programme, each year a new Velocity committee is formed enabling students to take on roles within Velocity to ensure its relevancy and success. They also pick up a wealth of skills and experience in doing so. The role of CEO is a both a privilege and a challenge. Leading Velocity this year is Nick Goldstein. Nick is in his fourth year of a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Commerce (Economics and Finance) and has been involved with Velocity since 2018 as Marketing Lead as well as part of the Education and Social teams.

2019 is off to an entrepreneurial start for 68 eager students who have entered our fourth Summer Lab programme. This is a popular innovation and entrepreneurship programme for budding entrepreneurs who have little experience or knowledge about what it takes to develop a venture. This year it has attracted a diverse group who have split into 15 teams, each with a unique venture idea they want to develop into a business.

Pivotal to the success of the Summer Lab programme is the mentorship received from industry experts. That’s why we are so appreciative of the 19 mentors who are volunteering their time to mentor and develop the next generation of entrepreneurial thinkers and doers.

On 27-28 October, the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland hosted Auckland’s inaugural Climathon event, thanks to the generous support of Vector.

A year has passed since the five winning teams of the University of Auckland 2017 Velocity $100k Challenge became the inaugural participants in the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s VentureLab incubator. Designed to support students and staff with a developed venture concept, the incubator programme offered each of the five teams the expertise, space and resources to further progress their idea over six months.

As the 2018 $100k Challenge winners prepare to enter the VentureLab for themselves, we thought we’d check in with the 2017 teams to see how they have continued to progress since their time with the initiative.

Arash Tayebi, the CEO of Kara Technologies Ltd, is travelling to Stanford University, California, in January to spend two months at the Stanford Graduate School of Business programme “Stanford Ignite”, which helps innovators formulate, develop, and commercialise ideas.

He is the eighth Velocity alumni to be accepted into Stanford Ignite and joins an impressive line up of innovators and entrepreneurs coming out of the University of Auckland who have used the programme to acquire the business fundamentals that will help them to succeed in their entrepreneurial ventures.

What's in a name? A story, something to aspire to, or even something to be inspired by.

Rereata Makiha, the University of Auckland Business School Kaumatua has chosen a special name for Unleash Space, carefully considering what we have described of our aspirations for the space.

“Kura Matahuna”

We are proud of and energised by the meaning behind the name Kura Matahuna. It symbolises the new journey into the future that challenges the “status quo”.

Velocity - the University’s student-led entrepreneurial development programme – is celebrating its 15th birthday and the amazing successes it has enjoyed since its inception.

Velocity (formerly Spark) was born of a big idea: to transform New Zealand into a growing and prosperous nation by reshaping its economy.

‘Godfather of Velocity,’ Geoff Whitcher, helped drive its creation. “Velocity was a recognition that creating a knowledge-based economy required more than a lift in spending on research and development. It also demanded a new breed of graduate - one who is innovative, entrepreneurial, business-savvy, globally connected and capable of having both an economic and social impact.”

We are delighted to have Ken Erskine join the University of Auckland Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the next twelve months as Associate Director of Unleash Space.

Earlier this year, Ken held the role of VentureLab manager with the Centre as we launched an incubator pilot aimed at supporting emerging ventures bridge the gap between venture concept and business reality. No stranger to designing and running programmes, Ken has an outstanding reputation for his work at The Icehouse as director for startups responsible for its Incubator and ICE Angels investor group.

New modular satellite software designed to simplify the process of sending satellites into space has emerged as the big winner in the 2018 Velocity $100k Challenge. ZENNO Astronautics, the brainchild of Arts and Commerce student Will Haringa and Engineering students Max Arshavsky and Sebastian Wieczorek, focuses on mission planning tools designed to optimise resources while ensuring space is used responsibly and sustainably. As first-prize winners in the Velocity $100k Challenge, the team has secured $25,000 in seed capital to continue development and growth.

Read more about ZENNO Astronautics and the other four prize-winning teams.