Six priorities to kickstart innovation and entrepreneurship

Opinion: The world’s leading innovation hubs often have a university at their core, serving as breeding grounds for cutting-edge technology, entrepreneurial talent, and high-impact startups.
Stanford University has been pivotal to Silicon Valley, nurturing giants such as Google and Tesla, and MIT anchors Boston’s biotech and robotics industries. In Canada, University of Waterloo powers the Waterloo-Toronto Corridor. In the UK, Cambridge and Oxford lead in biotech and AI. Across Asia, Tsinghua University drives China’s Silicon Valley, and NUS, the National University of Singapore supports Southeast Asia’s tech sector. Australian universities, such as Sydney and UNSW, are critical to MedTech and AI innovation.
A well-resourced university and science system is critical to maintaining New Zealand’s competitive edge in the global marketplace.
To help make that happen the University of Auckland has spent the last two decades building a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. At the core is the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, offering more than 15 programmes to nurture entrepreneurial talent and support the creation and growth of startups.
UniServices, the university’s commercialisation arm, establishes partnerships with industry, manages a $40 million fund, and invests in startups emerging from the university community. Additional initiatives at the university, such as Cloud 9, a startup incubator at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, the MedTech IQ, a nationwide initiative to spark a medical technology sector, the New Zealand Product Accelerator, and the Newmarket Innovation Precinct, further strengthen this ecosystem.
This year the centre will support close to 100 early-stage ventures and more than 7,000 people to develop their innovative capabilities.
In the last 21 years, the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship has helped ignite hundreds of ventures, creating thousands of jobs across 195 countries and raising over $4.2 billion in capital. These ventures address global challenges in cleantech, medtech, agritech, and deep tech. Notable examples include Tectonus (seismic engineering), Alimetry (gut health diagnostics), and Toku Eyes (AI eye health).
Alumni ventures such as Kami, Auror, and Zenno Astronautics highlight the university’s role in fostering industry-changing innovation. These entrepreneurs are creating the companies that New Zealand needs, building global businesses, and generating high-value jobs.
Although New Zealand has made significant strides over the last two decades, there is still much to be done. The following priorities, with a focus on the education, university, and science systems, could further advance New Zealand’s innovation ecosystem:
New Zealand’s success depends on continued investment in universities, strengthened industry partnerships, and nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs. By prioritising quality and commercialisation in higher education, New Zealand can lead the work to shape the innovations that drive economic and societal progress.