New Zealand Festival To Focus On "Real" Innovation

New Zealand Innovation Festival Website Goes Live Ahead of June Launch

Auckland, 31 May 2004 - Real, tangible examples of Kiwi innovation will be the focus of a two week Festival to be held across New Zealand starting next month.

The New Zealand Innovation Festival 2004 (www.nzinnovation.org ) will include multiple events in each of the regions across New Zealand. This will give companies and organisations that research, develop and commercialise new products and services the chance to showcase their achievements to other businesses and the wider public.

Festival Organisers say that the events will be a unique opportunity to profile and celebrate the products, services and entrepreneurial achievements that underpin New Zealand's success. Each event is being driven by an array of organisations that are actively fostering innovation on a daily basis.

Peter Westfield, Founder and Co-Chair of the Festival's Advisory Council, says that the range of collaborative events provide a wonderful opportunity for people across New Zealand to experience the diversity and practicality of innovation that the country has to offer.

"We believe that the Festival offers the public a chance to see how the many New Zealand businesses and organisations are successfully applying innovation to achieve real things and create a niche position in the world," says Westfield.

"It will also allow people to understand the extent to which innovation is now a core part of everything we do. Innovation is inherently part of New Zealand's national identity, character and uniqueness."

"The programme of over 30 events includes the F&P Healthcare Innovation Exhibition at Auckland Museum, seminars across the country on subjects like venture capital, business incubation, cooperative clusters and creating an innovation culture, an Innovation Voyage Summit hosted by EMA, and Science and Technology Festivals in Palmerston North and Hamilton and much more," says Westfield.

Peter Westfield says the Festival is also an opportunity for companies and individuals to network and collaborate to enhance their innovative ideas and business opportunities.

"It will allow companies to share success, feed off the ideas of others and possibly explore ways where they might assist or cooperate in the future.

The Festival seeks to harness and celebrate the entrepreneurial attitude that is instinctively part of the New Zealand way of life and working closely together across key sectors such as science, arts, business and industry will demonstrate this".

The Festival will be launched at Te Papa in Wellington on June 23, and multiple events staged around the country will run until mid-July.

The Festival is open to any organisations that want to become involved. With less than six weeks until the launch now is the time to register an event.

In the best spirit of New Zealand innovation, the Festival is an entrepreneurial endeavour run by a non-profit organisation. Relying on the support of key partners and associates, it marks the beginning of an endeavour which will eventually capture the hearts and minds of the international community in the years to come.

ENDS

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