We are organising an ideas-hack-a-thon/ Innovation Weekend from 13.-15. Nov. It will follow a similar principle to the start-up weekends.
The current plan is …
Day 1 – Start 5pm with Powhiri and some speakers. Then idea pitching and forming teams. Team work starts.
Day 2 – 7am to 8pm team work. Side programme with lightning talks on sustainable housing, marine energy, regenerative farming. Pitch training/ test every 3 hours.
Day 3 – 7am – 3pm team work. 3-4pm judging, 4-5pm prize giving and agreeing on next steps for each team
Follow on – those teams who want to continue will get access to awesome mentors every month for 6-8 months after the event.
It would be awesome to get the smartest & most engaged talent participating and possibly some elders & parents assisting with mentoring & support over the November weekend. This event is targeted at anyone from Tai Tokerau who cares about her/his whanau’s future. It’s about locals solving local challenges and bringing more opportunity to Tai Tokerau.
We will have diverse subject matter experts & mentors available for the whole weekend, assisting the teams to develop local solutions.
On Saturday 15. Nov we are planning a side programme, with lightning talks/ mini workshops on financial literacy (we will bring the Cashflow Game), sustainable building, climate change action, business model canvas, how to fund your project in Northland, regenerative farming, local IT success stories and possibly other speakers.
For the side programme non participants can join as well.
We are still shaping the content & structure for this part of the Innovation Weekend. Any suggestions are welcome.
George & his team at the Developers Institute in 59 Bank Street are hosting the event. The DI could be a good staircase for some of your students keen on an IT career.
We will run a free EV shuttle service Friday 13th afternoon to Whangarei and Sunday 15th evening back to Kawakawa, Kaitaia, Kaikohe, Bay of Islands …We hope to arrange for the out-of-towners to stay for free in a local Marae. We have raised funds for free food for the weekend, some prize money and scholarships for those who like to carry on. We will provide monthly follow ups after the event for up to a year to get some of the ideas started to be implemented.
Any support to get motivated talent from all over Northland and across different socio-economic parts of the community would be awesome. A grey haired elder in Ahipara, Taipa may have a great idea but doesn’t know how to implement it. Some of the talent we attract possibly could solve her/ his challenge.
At the moment we have quite a few male mentors offering to help. To get a better representation, it would be great to have Maori and in particular female mentors & judges chipping in.
The key categories are: the environment, sustainable housing, social inclusion and digital technology. We are putting together a five people judging panel. Any suggestions for possible judges would be great. We like to get someone around 15-20yrs, 70-80+yrs, and from diverse backgrounds & geographical locations involved.
Please register on http://www.imagine-tai-tokerau.org.
See you on 13. Nov from 5pm at 59 Bank Street, Whangarei.
Northland Innovation Centre 