This series will profile the people who make Christchurch tick, give a voice to the region’s diverse communities and debate how the city can best accommodate its growing number of residents while examining the issues facing the city. Video / NZ Herald
OPINION
Great cities are like winning sporting dynasties. They need to know who they are, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and they need tenacious and visionary leadership.
"Tenacious" can sometimes tip over into "inflexible", and for leaders, the key is knowing the difference. It's easy to stick to the formula when it has long been successful, and that success can blind you to the need for innovation. I think most Kiwis understand that dynamic as they watch it play out within the All Blacks at the moment.
A few weeks ago I had the chance to think about tenacious and visionary leadership in the context of a city when I was privileged to be part of the Mayoral Delegation to Adelaide to celebrate 50 years of our sister city relationship. The delegation was led by Deputy Mayor Andrew Turner, who has a particular interest in economic development and is one of our board members.
The visit was incredibly relevant, inspirational and practical and I immediately discovered that Adelaide has many parallels to Christchurch that we can learn from in collaboration with them. One of the strongest is the innovation eco-system, particularly in the aerospace sector, an area where Christchurch already has a solid foundation. Former South Australia Premier Steven Marshall had a real passion for aerospace and his tenacity led to the development of Lot Fourteen in Adelaide, Australia's first creation and innovation precinct. Lot Fourteen houses small to medium enterprises, as well as big players such as Amazon.
Ali Adams, ChristchurchNZ Chief Executive. Photo / Supplied
It is home to the Australian Space Agency, Mission Control Centre, Australian Space Discovery Centre and SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre — the biggest space industry research and development collaboration in Australia's history. It is the epicentre of South Australia's ambitious space eco-system, which includes more than 100 space-related organisations.
Lot Fourteen is one of the most inspirational places I've been to. It is full to the brim with a waitlist for people to come in, and the energy and buzz around it are next level. They're building a capability or skills centre and are thinking about how to work with the universities — which are also in the middle of town — to make sure they've got the people available to service the sectors they want to grow. It all felt very joined up, thought through, and ambitious.
It was a great inspiration to me. Ōtautahi Christchurch has a lot of the same opportunities and issues as Adelaide. Like Christchurch, it's very much a city where everything's right on your doorstep, and we both focus on aerospace as a key industry cluster. Aerospace is an industry of the future that's growing rapidly and will support a lot of high-skilled, highly-paid jobs. The global value of this sector is $360 billion, estimated to increase to $2.7 trillion by 2050, and we want to be at the forefront of developments and play an active role in the sector's positive impact on our local economy. The economic impact in Canterbury is already estimated to be between $100 million and $1 billion.
Christchurch is playing a big part in this because we have all the right ingredients: clear airways, proximity to international air and seaports, access to talent and infrastructure. The talent pathway through tertiaries is igniting young minds and bringing fresh ideas to the sector. Nearly a third of national aerospace engineering graduates, and nearly a quarter of engineering, come from Canterbury universities.
It was so encouraging to see how city, state and federal governments aligned to bring real resources and scale to the creation of Lot Fourteen in Adelaide and South Australia. As the city's economic development agency, ChristchurchNZ is working hard to bring together private sector, central and local government, industry bodies and iwi to cement Christchurch as the epicentre of New Zealand's aerospace industry. We support the Christchurch aerospace industry ecosystem and are delighted that New Zealand's first Aerospace Summit will be held here at Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre next month.
I am ambitious for Christchurch and I want it to shoot for the stars, both literally and figuratively. For that to happen, the city needs to know what it stands for and what its strengths and weaknesses are. We have kicked off a big piece of work to help answer those questions as we seek to understand and define the city's place brand, and to develop Destination Management Plans for Christchurch and Banks Peninsula. You'll hear more about that as a resident survey is launching next week.
Like the All Blacks in review mode, we're seeking more data to understand the best path forward. I wish the ABs all the best as they take on the Boks this weekend and I'm excited to welcome them back to Christchurch for the first time in six years when they take on Argentina at Orangetheory Stadium on August 27. Let's fill that stadium and show the world that Christchurch's sporting passion, like our ambition for innovation, is a strength to celebrate.
