According to the announcement, KPMG and the Innovation Council will “fuel New Zealand’s prosperity” by supporting the existing business growth eco-system and providing access to new services to help Kiwi companies grow and scale to their potential.

KPMG is a team of advisors providing advice and expertise to small and medium-sized companies as a member firm of the KPMG network.

“We are really excited about this new partnership; working with the NZ Innovation Council community, partners and sponsors to develop new ideas, value and opportunity for New Zealand companies”, says Paul McPadden, national managing partner of private enterprise, KPMG.

KPMG and the Innovation Council will “celebrate and inspire innovation and business growth”, while building on the collaboration between innovation community partners and sponsors.

The NZ Innovation Council team, led by Louise Webster, have joined KPMG and will continue to grow and develop their existing innovation programmes, connecting them to Innovation Council partner communities and KPMG’s business growth and innovation initiatives as part of the wider KPMG team.

“The partnership with KPMG will enable us to make a bigger difference and help more Kiwi companies by creating a network of partner organisations that can support their needs now and in the future”,  says Louise Webster, CEO and founder of the NZ Innovation Council.

The Innovation Heroes event series will visit Dunedin for the first time in early May followed by Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. The sixth annual New Zealand Innovators Awards will be open for entries and nominations in June 2016.