The Newmarket Innovation Precinct is shaping up to be a dynamic place for a wide range of research, development and commercialisation. Photo / Auckland University
Auckland has all the ingredients of telling the story of world-class innovation taking place in the region, writes Graham Skellern
Auckland Council is getting ready to tell the story of its emerging central city innovation district and its exciting opportunities.
The shape of the district is like a koru and can lead Auckland to becoming a truly internationally-recognised technology hub, just like Sydney Tech Central or Toronto-Waterloo.
The koru is a spiral symbol based on an unfurling silver fern frond and representing new life, growth, strength and regeneration. And hope for the future.
The council hasn’t yet decided on a name/brand for its technology offering but is evolving a connected city centre of entrepreneurial businesses, seed to venture funding, research and commercialisation, design and engineering, and talent.
Pam Ford, general manager of Auckland Council’s Economic Development Office, says, “Our role is to keep making Auckland a great place to live and work and provide quality jobs. A lot of it is in the storytelling, as we have the ingredients.”
She says technology is where Auckland shines and there are already many exciting companies across the region.
“The sector contributes 56% of New Zealand’s technology gross domestic product and 65% of early-stage investment. Out of the top 200 tech firms, 110 are based in Auckland, and there are 900 start-ups.
“We are talking about the people behind the companies – these leaders, engineers, designers and entrepreneurs are special, and we have to create the conditions for them to thrive and attract the talent they need.
“We know from other cities that if you have a concentration of characters that make up an innovation ecosystem, then it’s easier for international investors and talent to tap into and be part of exciting new companies and research.
The koru begins with Wynyard Quarter, which in 10 years has become a bustling innovation precinct, driving $424 million gross domestic product a year. It began with GridAKL as a home for energetic technology and digital start-ups and a meeting place for ambitious entrepreneurs.
GridAKL was soon surrounded by the Media Design School, the New Zealand offices of Google, Datacom and Fonterra; Microsoft, IBM and, most recently, it became the headquarters of engineering and consulting services firm Beca.
Software company Medtech Global, with 15,000 licensed users logging in daily to its practice and patient management system, has also taken a Wynyard Quarter address.
The Migrants in Tech programme began with 50 people meeting at GridAKL every two months. Now membership has grown to 1500.
“The Wynyard Quarter has really become a thriving community,” says Ford.
Moving from the quarter along the waterfront and lower downtown, the koru takes in venture capital funders NZ Growth Capital Partners and Bridgewest Ventures, and reaches Parnell with the Icehouse and Icehouse Ventures, along with Outset Ventures, the birthplace of Rocket Lab and LanzaTech.
On to Newmarket and Grafton, we have the research hub Medtech-iQ Tāmaki Makaurau, technology educator AcademyEX, and the Auckland office of Asia Pacific engineering, design and advisory firm Aurecon.
The University of Auckland has taken over the 5.2ha site formerly owned by Lion Breweries and is turning it into the Newmarket Innovation Precinct, with development plans that will make this a world-class place for innovation.
Further university research hubs such as the Bioengineering Institute, the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Space Institute are likely to move to the precinct.
The Newmarket precinct has large-scale engineering and science research facilities and is home to more than 40 early-stage companies that have raised nearly $21m in capital.
Further along the way is a new development area in lower Mt Eden, spurred on by the rebuilt Maungawhau Station, a key connection for the City Rail Link network.
The koru then loops into mid-town and the core education campuses of Auckland University of Technology and the University of Auckland, with their commercial arms AUT Ventures and Uni Services, which will be moving to Newmarket.
We are an exporting nation and we want to export amazing goods and services as well as being an importer of talent and investment.
“I can envision that in 10 years’ time central Auckland will be internationally-recognised for the innovation and smart companies coming out of it,” says Ford. “To be globally ambitious, we need to have a strong innovation story to take to the world.”
Further afield, there’s more innovation at Grid Manukau, the FoodBowl near the airport, the Reserve Tāmaki hub in Glen Innes for local start-ups, and the Te Puna Creative Innovation Quarter at Henderson.
Ford says the Auckland region has pockets of industrial precincts such as Rosedale, Silverdale, Wairau Valley, Rosebank, Penrose, East Tāmaki (home of the country’s biggest technology company Fisher & Paykel Healthcare) and Māngere, around the airport.
“These precincts have amazing firms involved with advanced manufacturing and transport and logistics, and we are seeing more disruptive technologies emerging,” says Ford.
Auckland wants to rival Sydney Tech Central in Australia and Toronto-Waterloo Corridor in Canada.
Tech Central is a 6km sq precinct near the Sydney central business district, with the highest concentration of venture capital and technology businesses anywhere in Australia, supporting a A$42 billion economy and 100,000 workers.
The New South Wales Government committed A$38.5m in its 2025–26 Budget to further convert Sydney’s cluster of high-performing industries and institutions into a world-class, integrated innovation ecosystem.
Businesses in Tech Central have access to more than 160,000 students and 150 research institutes and centres of excellence, including Sydney University, University of Technology Sydney, Nanoscience hub, Australian Centre for Robotics and Biomedical Accelerator.
That sounds very familiar to the emerging Auckland innovation story.
Toronto-Waterloo is a 105km road and rail corridor linking 26,000 tech companies, including 5200 start-ups and some 373,600 employees in high-tech industries. The innovation corridor is the third-largest technology cluster in North America and contributes C$476b ($600b) to the Canadian economy.
The corridor has Canada’s largest engineering school, the top three computer science programmes, and six business schools.
With more than 10.7% of the total workforce employed in tech, the corridor has a similar talent density to Silicon Valley and greater density than New York or Boston.
Auckland Council is developing a refreshed economic development strategy that focuses on future industries and future jobs – the last one was written in 2012.
“We are looking at what the council can do to enable economic growth, for businesses to be more resilient against climate change and technology changes, and to be globally ambitious,” says Ford.
“No doubt, there will be an acceleration of new technologies in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, energy, and robotics. There are great things going on at AUT and Auckland University.
“As an economic development office, we need to consider the levers of council that could support the innovation sectors and companies. We might be able to develop working spaces and precincts, work on industrial zoning and rates, provide mayoral support in advocating to Wellington, and create international connections.”
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has placed an importance on economic development. Last year he announced the Auckland Innovation and Technology Alliance and a leadership group to drive the city’s ambition to become a globally competitive innovation and technology hub.
“We’ve got the ideas. We’ve got the talent. What we’ve lacked is co-ordination and a city that truly enables innovation to scale,” said Brown at the time. “This group is here to fix that – backing innovation that delivers real results for Auckland and lifts the whole country.
“When I launched the alliance, I made it clear that this isn’t another talk shop. It’s a delivery-focused team of proven Auckland leaders who know how to cut through and get things done,” Brown said.
The leadership group includes Auckland Tech Council founder Simon Bridges, Auckland University vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater, the first Chief Science Adviser to the Prime Minister Sir Peter Gluckman, Spark chief executive Jolie Hodson, Tech New Zealand chief executive Graeme Muller, Outset Ventures co-founder Mat Rowe and AcademyEX founder Frances Valintine.
The economic development office has had some recent wins.
Last October the council hosted the first Auckland Startup Week, where innovators, investors and corporate partners met and connected. There were 32 events in 10 venues in the city centre, with 4200 participants – double the expected number.
Representatives from Auckland’s sister cities Denver and Fukuoka attended. “The startup week plays an important role in us being internationally connected and recognised as a tech hub,” says Ford.
The council plans to stage the week-long event for the next three years at the same time of the year.
In conjunction with the University of Auckland, the council has run the Digital Manufacturing Light programme to equip small and medium-sized manufacturers with practical digital tools to improve productivity and workforce capability and build long-term business resilience.
The programme caught the eye of the Government, which is now funding up to $475,000 a year over three years to support at least 180 manufacturers across Auckland, Waikato, Northland and Bay of Plenty.
Participating businesses receive an assessment of their digital needs, guidance on selecting the appropriate technologies, assistance with installation and training to support effective use of the technology on the factory floor.
Business resilience became a key theme following the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods, which, according to insurance company Aon, caused an economic loss of $5.5b.
The council developed ClimateWise, providing free tools and resources for businesses to be prepared for climate-related events and reduce their risks. The programme is being rolled out through banks and insurance companies.
Ford says a pizza business, for example, lost all its receipts during the flooding, which became a nightmare for its tax returns at the end of the financial year.
The council is fostering the Amotai supplier diversity programme, matching Māori and Pasifika business (the suppliers) with large contractors and projects (the buyers).
“Amotai provides huge opportunities for indigenous trade connections and opportunities,” says Ford.
McConnell Dowell, a founding member of the Amotai network, engaged locally owned businesses on the Puhinui Station Interchange project, resulting in procurement totalling $730,000.
McConnell Dowell partners Amotai on all its New Zealand projects and provides mentoring to upskill businesses and their activities.
The council wants to take advantage of the Free Trade Agreement with India and build stronger technology relationships with cities such as Ahmedabad and Bangalore. A mayoral visit is expected later this year.
“As our mayor says, ‘this is business between cities’. India provides a lot of opportunity – it has gross domestic product growth of 7.8% - and we want to open up new connections,” says Ford.
“We have Auckland companies like Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Rakon based in India, so it’s not quite new territory. We’d like to explore how GridAKL can build partnerships with innovation centres in India.”
Ford says China is still important as the country’s largest trading nation and Australia is critical with good friends in the sister city of Brisbane. “We’ve told them they have to whip over for the State of Origin (rugby league) match next year.
“We are talking with other cities such as Helsinki, which has a very active technology and innovation scene, about how to tap into European funding such as Horizon Europe that could help Auckland.”
Horizon Europe is the European Union’s key funding programme for research and innovation, with a budget of more than $NZ186b, and New Zealand is an associate member.
The Auckland innovation network will soon be boosted by the opening of the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology, which is currently recruiting a chief executive.
The institute, replacing Callaghan Innovation, is the country’s fourth public research organisation and a cornerstone of the Government’s goal to grow a high-tech, high-value economy.
It will connect researchers, industry and investors, and the Government is funding major investments in a science platform focused on future magnetic and materials technologies, along with accelerating artificial intelligence research and commercialisation.
These initiatives aim to strengthen New Zealand’s capability in advanced technologies and unlock new economic opportunities across sectors such as health, energy, transport, and the space industry, the Government has said.
“We have no shortage of amazing entrepreneurs and incredible new ideas. We have the emerging Newmarket Innovation Precinct, the maturity of Wynyard Quarter, the new Institute of Advanced Technology, and the opening of City Rail Link will unlock new development areas like Maungawhau-Mt Eden,” she says.
“I’m thrilled the region is coming out of the recovery stage, following Covid and the floods, and I’m looking forward to our stories being told.
“By being bolder and more ambitious, Auckland can land on the international stage as it deserves to be,” says Ford. “We are an exporting nation and we want to export amazing goods and services as well as being an importer of talent and investment.”
Auckland Council is a sponsor of the Herald’s Project Auckland report.