Robert Hickson • Mar 12, 2018 •
There’s plenty of innovative thinking around building houses, but less so about communities. I’ve been writing a series of blogs on the future of construction for the industry transformation initiative. They’ll be appearing on their website over the next few months. There’s a lot going on in the housing and construction field. It’s not just about increasing … Read More
Guest Work • Jan 30, 2018 •
Alexander Bell, Harvard University; John Van Reenen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Raj Chetty, Stanford University, and Xavier Jaravel, London School of Economics and Political Science This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Innovation is widely viewed as the engine of economic growth. To maximize innovation … Read More
Peter Griffin • Oct 13, 2017 •
Last year I found myself sitting on a plane beside a Fonterra executive who was bound for Chicago, where the dairy giant’s US operation is based. I asked him what he considered to be the biggest issues the company faced. He immediately mentioned “trace-ability” and giving Fonterra’s customers confidence in the safety of its products, something that is rightly … Read More
Robert Hickson • Sep 16, 2017 •
In our own cultural memory New Zealand used to have the best farming system in the world. No more, according to some. Two recent articles about the Netherlands illustrate how we are falling behind in some ways, and can provide a stimulus for how we can do better. National Geographic highlights the Netherland’s sustainable agricultural system in … Read More
Guest Work • Jul 13, 2017 •
by Professor Sally Davenport Many of us in the innovation system have been hearing this ‘additionality’ word a lot recently. For some it’s an odd term they have never heard before and, relative to many words, it is a youngster. It apparently first surfaced in the 1950s as a concept in economics. Sally Davenport The Oxford Dictionary defines … Read More
Peter Kerr • Jan 10, 2017 •
It’s that time of year when we fly kites, give voice to possibilities. So, given we have a new Science and Innovation minister, namely Paul Goldsmith, how about exploring whether now is a good time to put seriously explore forming a Science and Innovation Council. New Science and Innovation Minister Paul Goldsmith should look at the advantages of forming a … Read More
John Kerr • Nov 30, 2016 •
A ‘big picture’ report on the New Zealand science system shows Kiwis are pretty good at publishing top-notch research and collaborating with scientists overseas, but there is room for improvement on our business R&D spending. The 2016 Science and Innovation System Performance Report was released yesterday by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). The report aims to give policy-makers, academics and … Read More
Peter Kerr • Oct 27, 2016 •
Perhaps Greg Shanahan and his TIN100 team and reports are deserving of an NZ Inc ex gratia payment – because arguably they’ve been most responsible for bringing hi tech out of the closet, making it cool(er)*. Of course we can never tell what would’ve happened without this report coming into being 12 years ago, but purely as an ‘aspirational … Read More
Robert Hickson • Oct 12, 2016 •
A US meat company is now an investor in vegan burgers, and selling them alongside meat patties. That’s just one of the signals pointing to big changes in food production systems in affluent nations. Lab-grown meat gets the headlines, but burgers made from plant proteins are well ahead of that, and likely to have a much lower yuck … Read More
Robert Hickson • Sep 26, 2016 •
The Economist magazine and EY (the consultancy firm formerly known as Ernst & Young) have been producing a range of videos recently about industries facing significant change. This one about alternative energy is well worth a look (15 minutes of your time). The two key points I took away from it are: “Big oil” is far from … Read More