Leaders talk about benefits of innovation

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby. Photo / John Borren

The theme of yesterday's annual Tauranga City Leaders' Lunch was innovation and the ways it could drive the local economy.

Mayor Stuart Crosby noted local government's commitment to supporting innovation in the city, in the business community and within the Tauranga City Council itself.

But he stressed the importance of providing a solid foundation in order for innovation to thrive.

Council was undertaking a complete review of the way it supported economic development in the city, to encourage an innovation ecosystem model with effective and overlapping capabilities allowing adaptation through innovation.

"The key components of these ecosystems are skilled people, innovative companies and research institutions, and the availability of capital to invest effectively," he said.

Plus Group managing director Steve Saunders. Photo / John Borren

"Tauranga's performance as a highly connected knowledge economy is improving.

"Recent public and private investments in the Tertiary Campus, the Coastal Marine Field Station, WNTVentures, TiDA and Newnham Park, as well as the growing venture capital sector, are all moves in the right direction."

Plus Group managing director Steve Saunders noted how Newnham Park, where his and a number of other agri-tech companies had formed an innovation centre, had created a new hybrid model.

The cluster had grown and attracted a through traffic of key government agencies, creating useful connections and a vibe that Tauranga was doing innovative business, he said.

Transport and Energy Minister Simon Bridges at yesterday's Tauranga City Leaders' Lunch. Photo / John Borren

"I look at innovation as being like a magnet that attracts more of the same."

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges said the local economy was the best he had seen it since 2008.

"On the numbers, the Bay of Plenty is doing better than the rest of New Zealand - and the Tauranga sub-region is doing very well."

-See the Bay of Plenty Times business section on Tuesday for more details of the City Leaders' Lunch discussion.