Auckland Innovation Forum: Building a Connected Ecosystem to Drive Tech Growth

The Auckland Innovation Forum at Techweek25, brought together city leadership, academia, and industry to address a critical challenge: how to transform Auckland into a globally competitive tech and innovation hub. Hosted at Beca's Te Pairau headquarters in the Wynyard Quarter Innovation Precinct, the event showcased both the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand's largest city.

A Mayor's Vision for Tech-Led Growth

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown set the tone with a keynote that positioned technology and innovation as central to lifting the city's productivity and economic performance.

"This is the century of software, AI, robotics. It's the century of Indo-Pacific growth. And we are well placed," Brown emphasised. "My vision is for Auckland to lead New Zealand on a path to prosperity by raising productivity and real GDP per capita."

The Mayor highlighted concerning data from the Auckland State of City report showing the region lagging behind comparable cities in connectivity and innovation. Drawing on his engineering background, he outlined a vision for Auckland that leverages its existing advantages in food tech, med tech, biotech, and fintech to create meaningful, profitable applications.

"Without leadership, too many great ideas don't become great New Zealand companies," Brown noted. "Rocket Lab did become a great company, but there should be more. They got there really in spite of us rather than because of us."

Cities as Innovation Engines

Sir Peter Gluckman, Managing Trustee of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, provided valuable global context by emphasising that cities—not countries—are the true units of innovation.

"If you look at the cities I would want to compare Auckland to, like Geneva, Waterloo in Canada, Tel Aviv, Bangalore, Toronto, Paris with Station F—they've all worked hard to create that innovation ecosystem with all the actors involved rather than territorial 'this is my bit or your bit,'" Gluckman explained.

He highlighted that cities of Auckland's size (1.5-2 million population) can achieve "agglomeration effects" where GDP per capita becomes disproportionately higher—typically 10% or more above average. Currently, Auckland sits at only 3-5%, indicating significant untapped potential.

The Four Key Barriers to Innovation

The forum identified four critical barriers holding back Auckland's innovation ecosystem:

1. Capital: New Zealand's shallow capital markets make scaling difficult. "Could we be using KiwiSaver to invest in New Zealand more?" the Mayor questioned, noting Simplicity's work with Icehouse in this area.

2. Research: Participants highlighted disconnection between universities and industry, with Mayor Brown noting, "I'm told ideas die early in the journey either because there's a business person who doesn't know how to do research and work with government, or there's a researcher who doesn't know how to do business."

3. Talent: While Auckland hosts world-class universities and innovative companies, better pathways are needed to ensure graduates can transition into entrepreneurial roles.

4. Scale: As an isolated market of five million people, New Zealand companies struggle to achieve the scale needed for global competitiveness. The Mayor emphasised opportunities in markets like India, with its growing middle class of 350 million.

The Auckland Innovation and Technology Alliance

To address these challenges, Mayor Brown announced the establishment of the Auckland Innovation and Technology Alliance—a partnership between public and private sectors designed to recharge growth and create new opportunities.

"This isn't about more meetings or talk feasts," Brown insisted. "It's about doing things that make a difference, helping good ideas grow, getting more investment into Auckland ventures, and making sure we get value for every dollar, public and private effort."

Simon Bridges, former government minister and leader of the Auckland Tech Council, emphasised the significance of this public-private partnership approach.

"Auckland is best placed to drive this. It's exceptional in population terms. It's exceptional as the capital of commerce. In the square kilometre around us, it's something like eight, nine percent of GDP," Bridges noted. "It's exceptional as the international gateway for New Zealand."

Ecosystem Enablers: Connecting the Dots

A panel on ecosystem enablers featured diverse perspectives from across the innovation landscape:

Francis Valintine, founder of multiple innovation institutes including Tech Futures Lab, highlighted how Auckland has lost some of its vibrancy: "I think over time we've actually become a city that feels more like a small town. We need to bring liveliness, culture, the spirit to come together."

Greg Murison from UniServices (University of Auckland) pointed to self-belief as a critical barrier: "Collectively the barrier is us. What is stopping us from actually making this happen? We need to have a self belief in the innovation ecosystem to be able to make it happen."

Carol Brown, Deputy Chair, NZTech Board; and Country Manager for Databricks, emphasised community building: "I look at Databricks where I am now, and that started with sitting founders. And they realised we're not going to scale our business, we're not going to be successful unless we build a community."

Capital Panel: Bridging the Funding Gap

A second panel explored capital challenges, with experts highlighting the Series A gap for deep tech and med tech companies in particular.

Kate de Ridder from BridgeWest Ventures explained: "The big issues we're really struggling with is the scale-up and growth part of it." She noted that while early-stage funding exists, companies with strong traction often struggle to raise the $8-10 million needed for their next phase.

Jo Wickham, Partner at Icehouse Ventures, added: "What's sad is when they can see that they're hitting all of their milestones, they've done everything they said they're gonna do, they've done a really technically challenging thing, but they get to a Series A and they need to raise sort of $8-10 million to get to the next set of milestones."

Chris Swasbrook, veteran entrepreneur, pointed to a systemic issue: "You can talk about the ecosystem and you can talk about startup capital and we can talk about Series A, but you need a pathway to larger amounts of capital. And that is where the system is broken."

Entrepreneurs Panel: Lived Experiences

The final panel featured entrepreneurs sharing their journeys and the support they've received from Auckland's innovation ecosystem.

Amber Taylor of ARA Journeys highlighted how organisations like North Asia CAPE and Asia New Zealand Foundation helped her company expand internationally: "I went over to Thailand as part of a delegation last year... By the time I landed back home, I had the paperwork on my desk to set up a studio in Thailand."

Dave Howden of Supahuman described how Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and GridAKL provided crucial early support: "We were very fortunate that they saw what we could see, which was the application of intelligence to how we work is going to transform the output of organisations."

What's Next for Auckland Innovation

The forum concluded with a call to action from Rupert Hodson, Executive Director of the Committee for Auckland: "Today is the start of a joined-up movement, bringing the ecosystem together. Let's build on this, supercharge our tech sector, and drive productivity and economic success for our country."

There are more than 230 tech and innovation events running nationwide during Techweek25, check out the programme.