About
Innovating New Zealand is a collaborative national network involving New Zealand’s foremost Institutes of Technologies providing a range of services to industry.
The project has been funded by the Tertiary Education Commission through its Supporting and Encouraging Innovation Fund, part of a new funding system to support an investment approach to funding tertiary education, which aims to develop “a collaborative and co-operative tertiary system that contributes to New Zealand's national goals by stimulating technology and knowledge transfer from tertiary education organisations to industry”.
At a macro-economic level, innovation is seen as a key driver in increasing New Zealand’s long-term economic performance and international competitiveness. At a company level innovation leads to improvements in a company’s performance — whether measured by turnover, profitability, productivity, or the number of people it employs. Innovation drives new products and services as well as improvements to a company’s operational efficiency and organisational capabilities. Technology transfer is the process by which tertiary educational organisations can share their skills, knowledge and technology so that companies can innovate.
Innovating New Zealand connects businesses to expertise within polytechnics providing consultancy, training, services and research to assist in all areas of innovation — from rapid prototyping, staff training to organisational design and leadership training.
Currently Innovating New Zealand comprises a consortium of six institutes of technology based in the metropolitan centres across New Zealand. In 2011 the network will be extended to polytechnics in the regional centres.
Participating institutions include:
- Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology
- Manukau Institute of Technology
- Otago Polytechnic
- Unitec
- Waikato Institute of Technology
- Wellington Institute of Technology
