Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Local Focus: Transforming Rotorua into a tech hub

By Mead Norton
Video Journalist, Rotorua, NZH Local Focus·Rotorua Daily Post·
5 Jun, 2023 12:00 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Rotorua is gaining a reputation as a technology hub, with an increasing number of businesses and careers in the industry.

Rotorua has long been a mecca for local and international tourists but the city is also gaining a reputation as a technology hub, with an increasing number of businesses and careers available.

Alec Foster, bioproduct portfolio leader at Crown Research Institute Scion, said there were not many places in the world where “you get the opportunity to work on some of the technologies that we have got here”.

Scion specialises in technology development for the forestry sector and Foster said it was an exciting time to be in the industry.

“We’re exploring biotechnology to genetically engineer trees and help them grow twice as fast. We’re modifying microbes to capture methane and convert it into bioplastics.”

Foster was developing a more eco-friendly plastic, which he hopes will replace non-biodegradable plastic in everyday items.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“We’ve started making natural polymers from geothermal methane. So we’re taking the gas from a geothermal power station, feeding it into a fermenter where bacteria make natural polymers that break down. So, sustainable plastic made from gases — and that’s really quite cool.”

Rotorua local Matt Browning, who founded consulting company Triple Scoop, said his path into IT had not been not a traditional one.

“I joined a company that I wanted to be in but they didn’t have any tech support. I had to go through literally 2000 pieces of paper with calculations every week. I said, ‘This is crazy, I would teach myself coding to not have to do this’, and so I did.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“I spent nights and weekends for six months teaching myself coding on Google to learn how to make a program that could do that job instead of me doing it every week.

“So I managed to create a program, and it got used by the whole department. That was my entry into tech, into coding.”

Browning’s work meant he could base himself anywhere in the world, but he chose Rotorua for the lifestyle.

“I live one block from the forest, a 10-minute drive to the lakes, and the lifestyle here is incredible.”

Browning recently created a contest for secondary school students to pitch ideas for an app, with him developing the winning entry.

Leon Thomas carved out a niche for his technology-based business in Rotorua after previously working at Weta as a motion graphic artist.

“I started with making spaceships, all that sort of stuff, and then I slowly branched out into actually doing proper work for proper companies.”

His advice to anyone interested in technology is to focus on the process and not the tools.

“The process is the key, a piece of software is only a tool.”

Thomas relocated to Rotorua from Wellington and enjoys the lifestyle and slower pace.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“The way that technology has moved in, the way that information needs of companies have moved, made it possible for me to use my skills to actually base myself here.

“You can do very cool things, even though you’re not in the big city.”

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

06 Jul 10:51 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Kāinga Ora axes housing project, reveals new plans

06 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Opinion

Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

06 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

Police search for suspect after man shot in leg

06 Jul 10:51 PM

Information sought about man in green coat and gumboots on Pine Drive, Murupara.

Kāinga Ora axes housing project, reveals new plans

Kāinga Ora axes housing project, reveals new plans

06 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

06 Jul 05:00 PM
Caught on tape: Identity finally revealed of Jaguar-driving teen behind CBD rampage

Caught on tape: Identity finally revealed of Jaguar-driving teen behind CBD rampage

06 Jul 06:00 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP