Innovation Festival Online With Knowledge Network

Innovation Festival Online With Knowledge Network

The Innovators Online Network (ION) is "turning on the light" at the 2004 New Zealand Innovation Festival ( http://www.nzinnovation.org/) by delivering a broad range of online forum discussions about innovation and entrepreneurship.

ION was established to form an online network and web forum for innovators, entrepreneurs and business mentors and now has a forum membership of well over 500. Its focus is kick-starting collaborative venturing between growth phase technology enterprises and potential business partners, mentors and investors.

David Parker, of the Advisory Council of the Festival says that ION illustrates one of the key features of innovation.

"Collaboration and networking are essential hallmarks of the New Zealand innovation success story. The numerous clusters around New Zealand reflect the fact that people do work well by sharing ideas and working closing together on projects, especially online."

Paul Spence ION Project Manager says that establishing a centralised networking zone for the high tech business community in New Zealand has been at the forefront of recent recommendations about how we can grow the economic value add from the technology sector.

"New Zealand firms can simply no longer afford to work in isolation in the globalised economy, this is especially so in the technology sector where competitive intelligence and speed to market are critical."

"Knowledge resides within the interrelationships amongst people, but a virtual network is one way in which we can begin to mediate knowledge sharing and deal flow," says Spence.

The online forum will run beyond the duration of the Innovation Festival and can be found at http://www.ion.net.nz/ .

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