REDP Update – June 2024
Welcome to this month’s update from the Regional Economic Development Plan. This plan aims to guide the long-term direction of the economy and will help drive high-impact economic initiatives over the next 10 years.
WellingtonNZ and initiative leads are continuing to progress implementation of the initiatives in the Regional Economic Development Plan (REDP) on behalf of the WRLC. Recent initiative highlights and upcoming opportunities include:
- Climate Tech Summit Aotearoa was held at St James Theatre on 20 June. The afternoon showcased a range of climate tech companies from across the region and New Zealand. It also provided an opportunity for all nine teams from Creative HQ’s latest Climate Response Accelerator to pitch the innovative solutions they have developed. Three of the participants – Mara Bio, Aotea Energy, and Good Grub Agritech, were offered a collective $150,000 investment deal from Motion Capital to support their groundbreaking work.
- Expressions of interest are now open for Creative HQ’s upcoming FinTech accelerator, due to run from August to November 2024. The FinTech Accelerator is part of the Scale Up Wellington initiative in the REDP and aims to empower 8-12 startups lead by determined founders addressing significant hurdles in the FinTech sphere, spanning banking to investments. Find out more and apply here.
- Summer of Engineering, delivered by the team behind Summer of Tech, has keen, capable tertiary students and graduates who are highly motivated to kick-start their careers with paid summer internships. They are looking for organisations across our region to take on engineering (and technology) interns over summer. WellingtonNZ encourage employers from across the region to take register now to take part in this important initiative to build our future workforce – find out more or sign up here.
- Girls who Grow, a new initiative in the REDP, are launching their educational programme with passionate schools and students from across the region to support our next generation of educated female change makers, leaders and environmental guardians. Last week Girls who Grow visited students and teachers across the region to share more about the programme ahead of the Imagination Centred Workshops beginning on 31 July.
- The Screen Attraction Programme is helping to bring domestic and international productions to our region. Blumhouse have recently wrapped up shooting Wolfman at Lane Street Studios and a new fantasy adventure live-action series Red Rocks is currently filming in Wellington. Last week we hosted teams from a major motion picture, a NZ production written by a high-profile screenwriter, and an Indian producer looking at co-production partners to continue building the pipeline of productions. Snap Shot Shorts, a Wellington-based short film series that aims to bridge the gap between young filmmakers and the industry will screen at The Embassy on 21 July. Tickets are available here.
- WellingtonNZ have launched a report on Opportunities for impact through procurement, aiming to amplify work in the social procurement ecosystem within our region. The report provides a current state analysis with insights on Māori businesses as well as experiences of buyers from local, central government and private sector. It also outlines opportunities for future impact across four key themes of collaboration, capability, support and action.