Celebratech
Thursday 18 May 2017, 5:12PM
By Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology
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Techweek Tauranga wrapped up last Friday with Celebratech, a showcase of innovative and inventive tech ideas happening around the Bay of Plenty.
The brain child of Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology and Venture Centre, Celebratech was a celebration of all things tech, featuring Tech in Five presentations showcasing new technologies being explored, researched, developed and deployed in the Bay.
The sell-out event brought together all kinds of people from our region’s innovation community, from students to angel investors and everyone in between. All had one thing in common – a passion for doing things outside the box.
Dr Amanda Torr, Executive Dean at Toi Ohomai, was ecstatic at the success of the inaugural event.
“What an incredible opportunity to have so many entrepreneurs and tech wizards in one room,” said Amanda. “Fantastic to realise that there is so much talent in our local innovation community. We are privileged to have hosted the event.”
Held at Toi Ohomai’s Windermere Campus, the presentations included: SoundSwitch light and sound technology from Matt at OneSixOne; Sam from Roholm with their ‘no chemical, no heat’ healthy hair technology; Bruce from Eye-fly with immersive viewing tech; Tim from UBCO the dual electric utility bike; Bill Murphy, Chief Executive at Enterprise Angels (the largest angel investors group in NZ); Carl Jones of WNT Ventures (the regional tech start-up incubator); Blockchain expert Mark Wilcox of Nyriad; plus Toi Ohomai’s expert on forestry, Linton Winder, and technology in teaching and learning guru, Josh Burrell.
The presentations were introduced by Clare Swallow, General Manager and Chief Juggler of Many Balls at Cucumber Digital.
“It’s a first and it’s a success,” said Pascale Hyboud-Peron, Venture Centre Director and Co-Founder. “We wanted to bring together entrepreneurs, educators, start-ups, incubators and investors in one place to showcase all the outstanding stuff happening in tech in our region – and we did it! They collectively told a fantastic story of innovation happening right here in the Bay.”
Celebratech concluded Techweek in Tauranga as the last of over ten events ran locally during this national festival of technology. Firmly connecting our region to a national network, Techweek is run by a board of industry experts who are passionate about NZ’s innovation ecosystem. They are committed to encouraging global thought leadership and growing NZ into a global technology and innovation hub. The first Techweek was in Auckland in 2016 and has branched out around the country in 2017.
Proceeds from the event were donated to ShadowTech, an event being run across the country to encourage and inspire young women to consider a career in technology. ShadowTech is an event Toi Ohomai will be delivering in partnership with NZTech in June. The day will be structured around a guest speaker, study options and spending the afternoon with a ShadowTech mentor in their workplace.
For more information about Toi Ohomai, visit our website.