Generator and Unitec Join Forces For Collaborative Project

News release: Auckland, NZ

May 2 2013

Creating the Workspace of the Future: Generator and Unitec Join Forces For Exciting Collaborative Project

Have you ever considered: What will the workspace of the future look like?

A stimulating new collaboration between business and education, with the best students from a range of disciplines coming together to create the workspace of the future, is unfolding inside one of Auckland’s most inspirational shared business spaces.

The Generator Project, a recently launched collaboration between Generator and Unitec, involves a talented group of Unitec students learning and working within the popular Generator shared business space in Britomart. The Unitec student group’s first task as part of the project is to come up with a cross-disciplinary idea of how the workspace of the future might look.

Ryan Wilson, CEO of Generator, says: “The Generator Project is taking the entrepreneurial, collaborative environment we provide for our members to the next level, through setting this ambitious goal for the Unitec student group. I’m looking forward to seeing the end result – after all, what business person or creative type hasn’t given at least a little thought to how the spaces we work in will change over the next three to five years?”

Unitec’s CEO is equally excited about the Generator Project, which is the first of its kind for the university: "Finding ground-breaking ways of partnering with business helps to ensure Unitec is at the forefront of emerging theories and technologies," says Unitec Chief Executive Rick Ede. "Projects like the Generator provide Unitec students with an innovative learning environment and work-based learning opportunities, helping to ensure they are work-ready when they graduate."

As part of the project, Generator has also become the venue and host for an exciting line-up of events – the Generator Inspires: Powered by Unitec speaker series. The talks aim to inspire discussion around the question: What does the workspace of the future look like?

Speakers in the series so far have included Optimal Usability’s Gareth Parry, DNA’s Stephen Knightly, renowned designer David Trubridge, Big Picture’s Richard Bourke and Design Works’ Russell Douglas.

A highlight of the upcoming talks throughout May will be renowned delineator Nat Cheshire of Cheshire Architects on 7 May.

Wilson says, “Successful businesses are based around collaboration, new ideas, and creating opportunities for discussion and action. Effective education needs these same elements to thrive and prepare students for what life in the commercial world is really all about, so it is great for Generator to be such an integral part of this collaborative initiative and what the students come up with.

“The speaker series has been a great opportunity for the students, Generator residents and guests to soak up ideas from some of New Zealand’s most cutting edge marketers, designers and creators – and we’re looking forward to seeing how those ideas come through in the students’ final concepts of the workspace of the future”.

ENDS

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