In mid-September, Christchurch shows off its innovation prowess with a week all about technology, business, start-ups, and aerospace.

The week, aptly named Innovate Ōtautahi, starts on September 23 and features three public events focused on how Christchurch, and New Zealand, is innovating for the future.

Innovate Ōtautahi kicks off with the New Zealand Aerospace Summit from September 23 to 24. It will be followed by the Canterbury Tech Summit on September 27 and the Smart Christchurch Innovation Expo on September 27 and 28. All three events will be held at Te Pae Convention Centre.

Louisa Taylor, Canterbury Tech CEO, says the region is rich in both industry knowledge and success stories, it seemed right all three events in the same week.

“The Canterbury technology sector is booming. We’re a very co-ordinated ecosystem, so we got together with the other major event teams and said let’s make it a reason to come to Ōtautahi Christchurch. The Canterbury Tech Summit attracted 800 tech enthusiasts from around the country last year so it’s a great place to make business contacts, check out Christchurch’s coworking spaces and recharge with some leisure.”

“Christchurch is the perfect destination for business and leisure – from the world-class culinary offering to the natural attractions and the great outdoors. Whether you prefer downhill mountain biking, sampling the local cuisine or a round of golf, get inspired, make some connections and explore new opportunities,” she says.

“Rather than doing all of our events separately, the idea was to bring them together so we could make Christchurch a destination that you could come to for the whole week, with the added bonus of some down time during the week, it’s the perfect opportunity to strike some balance and fit some wellness in amongst those busy schedules.”

Taylor says the Canterbury Tech Summit will focus on the success stories of local and national companies and celebrating the 21^st anniversary of the most active tech community in Aotearoa. This year the main stage is MCed by comedian Jeremy Corbett – what’s not to love!

“Kiwis are great at innovating. We’re not always great at telling our own stories, so that’s what we’re here to do, to make sure that everyone has a chance to share those stories and to celebrate all the amazing things that people have been doing over the last year. It’s like a technology community reunion and very inspiring place to think about what’s next in your business.”

Tech Summit will be broken up into three stages, each focusing on different aspects of tech: the business of tech, technical talks, and a new interactive stage encouraging networking and discussions. Celebrating its 21^st year, Taylor says this Tech Summit we expect to see lots of the community come out to celebrate and a chance to make new connections.  

Read more: Is Christchurch the new hub for innovation?

She adds key speakers to look out for include Melissa Clark-Reynolds ONZM, who will be looking into the future of who will own what in a world of AI and closing speaker Graham Grant of Seequent, a Christchurch headquartered global tech ‘unicorn’.

The New Zealand Aerospace Summit will showcase Canterbury as the industry capital of Aotearoa. Attendees will hear from Dawn Aerospace, a pioneer in space transport from Christchurch, as well as international keynote speakers from Japan, Australia, and agencies like NASA.

Ending the week is the Smart Christchurch Innovation Expo, run by the Christchurch City Council.

It will look to the future, focusing on the world of possibilities and ideas out there that that will make our cities smarter and our lives easier.

A more family-friendly event, the Expo will hold exhibitions from innovative local businesses, such as Oasis Aero and Orbviz, a locally designed data software company.

With a week all about tech, innovation and business, Taylor says Innovate Ōtautahi presents people with the opportunity of technology as a career path.

“Even if people aren’t studying software engineering, mechanical engineering or electronics, it doesn’t matter because there’s so many other related disciplines – you can be an artist in the tech industry or a project manager, a lawyer or a team leader, an accountant,” she says.

“We just want people to consider the range of fascinating places you could work with whatever skillset you have. And that starts with parents being able to see the wonderful opportunities that might be hiding behind closed doors so it’s a great chance to take kids along and look at all sorts of career options and just get inspired by all those local products and services that you might not have been aware of.”

Innovate Ōtautahi runs from September 23 to 28. Find all the event details here.

For those interested in heading to the Tech Summit, get your tickets here and use the code ‘CTPARTNER’ for $100 off the non-member price.