Project Auckland: Reimagining Tāmaki Makaurau

Nick Hill. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Doubling down on and investing in Auckland as an innovative region, and a region of creativity and culture, were two of the nine scenarios set out in Reimagining Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland: harnessing the region's potential — a landmark report written by Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures and publicly released in March.

Auckland Unlimited commissioned the report for an independent and unfettered investigation into what we need to set our region up for prosperity over the next 50 years — economically, socially and environmentally.

The report is already achieving its aim to stimulate open-minded conversation and debate, to trigger discussions among Auckland's cultural, education and business leaders, in our communities, and with politicians here and in Wellington.

For this report to be effective we need action, and we need imagination. We need to dream big for the future of our young people; change things up, get aspirational conversations happening; and get excited about Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland in 2070.

That's right, 2070!

That's why Auckland Unlimited is responding to the Koi Tū provocations of Auckland as a region of innovation, creativity and culture — scenarios that fit our mandate as Auckland's economic and cultural agency.

Reimagining Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland envisions Auckland as the engine of New Zealand's weightless economy. Auckland is strong in fintech, health IT, digital and creative technologies and is home to established manufacturers of biotech, rockets, satellites, robotics, precision engineering and marine and navigation products. New opportunities are and will keep emerging in creative industries and aerospace.

The report reinforces how important the work is we are already doing in these areas and encourages us to accelerate it. I am inspired by the report, and excited about our region's potential and future — and I say that as someone who will be well out of the workforce by the time its impacts come to fruition.

As a region, we must harness the potential of our world-class sectors. I think about the screen industry — which has attracted some of the global giants in content creation — and has rapidly outgrown its Henderson heartland; and spearheaded by Auckland-based Rocket Lab, New Zealand has an aerospace sector worth about $1.7 billion that employs 12,000 people.

The long-term success of Auckland's young space industry benefits from bringing the fledgling players together, building scale, resilience and ambition to grow and take risks.

We are doing this with The Space Institute, Te Pūnaha Ātea, at the University of Auckland — a multidisciplinary centre of expertise in space science and engineering — AUT's Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research, and the Warkworth radio observatory.

Our technology sectors and the creative economy are huge employers. The video gaming industry is well suited to the story-telling abilities of Auckland's Māori and Pacific communities. A great example is Maru Nihoniho who founded Metia Interactive game design studio at the GridAKL innovation campus. Nihoniho has gained international recognition for her trailblazing work in gaming and mental health, producing e-therapy games with a strong Māori kaupapa.

Sam Ramlu, the founder of digital creative agency Method, has partnered with Sony to release her PlayStation VR game, Wanderer. Hugh Calveley, co-founder of Moxion is on a mission to help people make better movies and television. Moxion's workflows for film-making technology have been put to the test by some of the biggest names in the industry.

Healthtech is the largest tech sector in Auckland. We supported Formus Labs, a spinout from the University of Auckland's world-renowned Bioengineering Institute, to access business research and development funding to commercialise the world's first artificial intelligence planner for joint replacement surgery.

In agritech, we connected Cropsy Technologies with support to commercialise technology enabling growers to monitor plants by putting eyes on tractors — a unique vision system captures crop colour and textures, and AI-powered software generates insights about fruit counts, disease symptoms, pests, pruning quality and more.

Much more of that kind of work is on our radar, if Auckland is to step up as an innovation centre. But these successes can be transitory when businesses and people are lured offshore. One of the most pressing issues is New Zealand's immigration policy, which is restricting the inflow of international talent needed to grow our innovative and creative sectors. Vibrant industries need a flow of people and investment across borders.

Auckland Unlimited works with NZTE and MBIE on talent and investment attraction and one of the key recommendations of the report is that we work more closely with other government agencies to ensure government policy is supporting the development and growth of high potential firms on the ground in Auckland.

Another huge task is to meet the economic challenges of Auckland's climate change emergency head-on, and we are working on plans to take a leadership role to support innovation in that space.

Place is critical. Entrepreneurs, investors and talented people want to be where they can have a great lifestyle and work environment. They want to live in a region that supports people with creative talents and the development of communities of interest around innovation. They need to be connected to the rest of the world physically and digitally.

Auckland is projected to grow to more than two million people in little more than a decade. Investment in infrastructure to support this growth and shifts in land use will open opportunities. One such opportunity is in southern Auckland which will see population growth of up to 60,000 around Drury. Auckland Unlimited is working with partners to develop an economic masterplan for Drury, to support the creation of quality/high-value jobs in key sectors of opportunity in the area. More of that kind of collaboration is needed as we look five decades ahead.

Tāmaki Makaurau has so much going for it — a beautiful natural environment, diverse population, good schools and universities. Local and central government and the universities need to be much smarter in how we work together to identify the barriers to harnessing the region's potential and address them much faster than we currently do.

The future of our region's mokopuna depends on us getting it right, and we owe it to them to reimagine our future together. Let that be our legacy.

• Nick Hill, Chief Executive, Auckland Unlimited.