|Index|Introduction|Welcome|Programme|Workshop streams|Plenary Speakers|Plenary Speeches|

Collaboration

Beyond No. 8 wire

Economic growth through innovation

Key Points

• There is no shortage of opportunities but they may be hidden.
• Do not spend too long in developing the product, get it out into the market.
• Do not get bogged down with technical issues - spend time on marketing, building a team and staying focussed are the key priorities in the first 18 months.
• The right mentor can make a big difference.
• Learn from your mistakes as soon as possible - it is cheaper that way.
• The best ideas come from specific industry experience.
• Convince customers by understanding their business.
• Good ideas can take time to grow.
• We need to work on reducing the failure rate of start-up businesses and consider how we are going to do that.
• Success is not about gaining funding from the Council or the Government.
• Companies most likely to succeed have a deep understanding of their market.
• Clusters and incubators increase survival rates of companies. Clusters can increase survival rate towards 90%.
• Getting companies incubated early can help ensure R&D is customer-focussed.
• Incubators provide value in getting people to access their full potential by sharing experiences and knowledge, and confidence gained from seeing others export successfully. Clusters also assist.
• A key issue for incubators is getting companies into them. Why would a company come in, what are you selling to them?
• Incubator benefits include being able to react quickly and draw on resources of partners. Incubators across New Zealand share information and ideas, a big plus in terms of best-practice.
• Incubators need strict entry criteria and a tight selection process. Companies involved need to have growth potential and be innovative. The social dynamic among tenants is important.
• Strong partnerships are a key to the success of an incubator.
• There are plenty of ideas already out there, which if you grab hold of, could help grow your incubator to $2-3 million in fewer than 18 months.
• Venture capital is a big issue, Incubators do not provide it, but they can help access venture capital specialists.
• Maori business potential is under-recognised and under-developed.
• Maori business perspectives are very relevant to successful start-up businesses of today.
• Large companies often have a policy of purchasing small-scale start-up businesses that are in competition with them. However, start-ups can say "no".

|Index|Introduction|Welcome|Programme|Workshop streams|Plenary Speakers|Plenary Speeches|