The power of an idea
Technology Queenstown Limited
Working to build a robust technology ecosystem in the Queenstown Lakes District of New Zealand
During the pandemic when tumbleweeds metaphorically rolled through the streets of Queenstown, it became obvious that - with tourism accounting for around 60% of local GDP - something needed to be done to diversify the district's economy.
And so, the idea was born - a not-for-profit organisation bringing together the private and public sectors to reinforce and drive an expansion of the local tech sector.
Mountain towns globally have benefited from the surge in tech workers who have moved there to work remotely or launch their own start-ups. In Queenstown lakes we already have a nascent, high energy tech ecosystem with smart actors like Mountain Club , Startup Queenstown Lakes and Remarkables Park ltd. and a host of entrepreneurs and techies, all playing their part. The ecosystem needs a few key enablers to meet its potential - affordable housing, an expanded university presence, more talent, more scale-ups and some large tech companies. No small task!
That's where Whakatipu Hangarau Trust (WHT) comes in. Our goal is to help lift tech from less than 2% of GDP, to at least the national average (8-10%), then beyond. This will take a decade, and maybe longer. The starting point has been to get an organisation up and running so it can write an initial ten-year strategy.
How to launch a not-for-profit start-up? Call your friends and ask for their help! Earlier in 2022 we called our friends Simon Jensen and Emma Geard at Buddle Findlay seeking their advice. These very community-spirited folks navigated us through the appropriate legal and tax structures and drafted a trust deed as part of their pro bono community activities.
We recently held a little signing ceremony in the mountains, witnessed by none other than the Godmother of New Zealand tech scale-ups, Jenny Morel - fresh from Morgo's 2022 Queenstown event.
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Morgo is an institution in the New Zealand tech scene. Helping Kiwi tech scale-ups to expand globally, this renowned forum celebrated its 20th anniversary on 25-26 August in Queenstown. We are privileged that Jenny and Morgo have chosen Queenstown as one of their preferred venues. Bringing more scale-ups to Queenstown Lakes has to be a key objective for WHT. Morgo is an important relationship for Queenstown Lakes District and for WHT.
So, we are underway! WHT is now legally formed and we have a team working on a ten-year strategy with significant contributions from University of Otago and Queenstown Lakes District Council (and too many others to name). You'll be hearing more from us as soon as a first draft of our Strategy White Paper is ready for consultation.
To Buddle Finlay, Emma and Simon - our sincere thanks. When we approached you with an idea (and not much else) you embraced the idea and invested your time and expertise - gratis. Kudos to you. It's partnerships like these that will help us all to build an even more robust technology industry for Queenstown Lakes District.
Consultant at Buddle Findlay
2 年Thanks Roger for the shout out - however, it still amazes me that notwithstanding how busy you are you are still thinking about how to make this a better place and then devoting time and spending your own money to make it happen. Aotearoa needs more Roger Sharps!
Early Gen AI Pioneer ?? | AI Keynote Speaker ?? | AI Trainer ???? | AI Governance ??♂? | Unicorn Co-Founder (Arria) ?? | SEO Business Co-Founder ??
2 年Nice. I still don't know what we're doing. But nice! I'm sure it will be exciting and looks like a huge amount of groundwork. Fill me in and we can see how it fits with the SaaS industry ecosystem (top-down vision and bottom-up practicalities)... Would like to get behind it but needs to be something slow and face-to-face... everyone I know in the SaaS industry doesn't have a clue what's happening. Be good to plug this in at the mains. Then ? ?? ?? ... I would love to tell 10,000 people about it next week (for example). In Silicon Valley. At SaaStr. Face2Face.
Where strategy meets execution - doing things that matter.
2 年A great milestone! I’m excited to be involved with this important work - massive thanks to all those who have supported the formation of Whakatipu Hangarau Trust and who have contributed their thinking so far. Success will come from the collective efforts of many.
Great to see this coming to fruition. Looking for to working with the team on this.