Business School
Entrepreneurial ecosystem
To support economic transformation, the Business School fosters a spirit of enterprise and innovation — a mindset grounded in a structure of flexible, adaptive and mutually-reinforcing elements.
Spark has fostered the creation of 70 start-up ventures, which have collectively raised $50+ million in investment, employ 200+ people and sell their products and services into 22 countries. Some notable alumni companies include PowerbyProxi, Inro Technologies and Telemetry Research, as well as Fishpond, Down to Earth Systems, Coda Therapeutics, Transfercar, BrightMind Labs and Savy.
Launched in 2003 as a partnership between the Business School and its students, Spark is a highly successful entrepreneurial development programme and business planning competition that students are empowered to run.
It challenges students and staff to explore ways of creating businesses based on ideas or innovations arising from their studies or simply by thinking creatively. Originally modelled on similar programmes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge, it has been adapted for the New Zealand business environment and is supported by a 10-session "vision-to-business" course run by the Business School in conjunction with The ICEHOUSE.
In addition to being well-supported by Business School students, Spark has been particularly influential within the faculties of Engineering, Science and Medicine — attracting participants who would otherwise not be exposed to business concepts. It is supported by the business community which contributes judges, mentors and speakers.
Excelerator: New Zealand Leadership Institute assists the growth and development of New Zealand leadership to create positive change and outstanding performance. The Leadership Institute's leadership development programmes reach across the spectrum of New Zealand society, including senior executives, young people and community organisations. Excelerator’s initiatives interact with and complement leadership teaching and research in regular Business School programmes.
The ICEHOUSE is a development factory of owner managers and entrepreneurs that aims to shape the future of the New Zealand economy. It is a collaborative partnership between The University of Auckland Business School, BNZ, HP, Gen-i, Ernst & Young, Microsoft, Paul Diver and Grafton Consulting Group. The ICEHOUSE was named one of the Top 10 Technology Incubators of the World by Forbes magazine in 2010.
Since 2001, The ICEHOUSE has worked with more than 2,500 owner managers, from start-ups to established multi-million dollar companies, and has raised $50million in capital, to accelerate business growth and drive wealth creation.
Its success is driven by the success of the companies it works alongside, with The ICEHOUSE providing the knowledge, tools and contacts and the entrepreneurs and business owners doing the work to make their businesses internationally competitive.
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