​Boost for local business as new tech hub arrives in Wellington

Wellington City Council and BizDojo have launched the city’s new tech hub and Collider programme - a key component of the Council’s Economic Development Strategy.

Unveiled last night, Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says the tech hub will be a place for Wellington's innovative businesses to call home.

“The BizDojo Wellington will be the home of the tech hub, becoming a neutral space where everyone from technologists to coders, designers and social entrepreneurs, can come together to collaborate,” Wade-Brown says.

“The Collider programme and activities being hosted at the tech hub will increase connectivity amongst technology companies, start-ups, entrepreneurs, tertiary institutions, scientists and supporting institutions.

“Wellington’s innovative businesses will be offered the best possible chance of success. Council is committed to job growth in the Smart Capital.”

In 2011, Wade-Brown says the Council’s Economic Development Strategy set a goal of transforming Wellington into the Smart Capital and identified the creation of tech hub as a vital initiative in making this happen.

“Wellington city is full of innovative, rapid-growth ventures,” adds Councillor Jo Coughlan, Chair of the Economic Growth and Arts Committee.

“It provides the capital’s entrepreneurs with a shared space to collaborate, learn, and grow, which was a priority when the council set its 2011 Economic Development Strategy and named eight big ideas to grow Wellington’s economy last year.

“We have a great base of high tech companies already - some of them the best in the world.

“Now we can grow more businesses, attract more talent and give some of the world’s best and brightest leaders and innovative business people a place to call home right in the heart of Wellington city.”

The tech hub will consist of BizDojo’s co-working space and Collider’s programme of activities, located at BizDojo, 115 Tory Street.

“They say the best ideas come from sitting around the kitchen table - and that is literally where all the thinking is done in BizDojo,” adds Nick Shewring, Founder and Chief Entrepreneur, BizDojo.

“The communal space and interactive culture cultivated in BizDojo creates an ecosystem where access to expertise and support can be provided over a coffee in the kitchen or in a more formal meeting space.

“This unique environment combined with the Collider programmes and a city full of high tech talent will help grow Wellington’s reputation as the smart capital of New Zealand.”

Collider is a partnership between Wellington City Council and BizDojo, and will be located at BizDojo’s co-working space at 115 Tory Street, Wellington.

The Council’s contribution towards the tech hub will be up to $3.2 million over three years and will be used to fund the non-commercial elements of the tech hub.