Our Tenants

How Kawatiri Westport’s innovation hub is balancing the old world with the new

It’s a region known for its breathtaking natural beauty and vilified primary industries. So where does Buller’s acclaimed innovation hub fit into it all? Michael Andrew went to find out. In May 2018, a Japanese businessman named Hiroki Koga stepped off a plane at Westport airport and blinked in the West Coast gloom. He’d left Tokyo three days…

Introducing E Tipu 2021

Following the success of 2019’s Boma NZ Grow summit, Boma New Zealand presents E Tipu 2021, the food and fibre event of the year. Set to be Aotearoa’s ultimate agricultural forum, E Tipu brings together leaders who understand the primary sector from top to bottom, including guest speakers, exhibitors, and like-minded attendees with a focus…

Orion Energy Accelerator competition calls for big ideas

The Ministry of Awesome and Canterbury electricity lines company, Orion, today launched a national competition calling for new ideas to reduce New Zealand’s carbon emissions. The Orion Energy Accelerator offers two Start-up Grants worth a combined $25,000 for people and start-up companies with ground-breaking energy innovations to be guided through a programme to validate and…

Christchurch Press Article

What became of the transitional project movement in Christchurch’s rebuild?

The transitional movement – Gap Filler, Greening the Rubble and so forth – made Christchurch globally famous. Will Harvie looks back at how it emerged. It’s hard to believe now that for a time the most famous building in Christchurch was made from 3000 blue shipping pallets, open to the sky. It lasted just 16…

Office Space to Lease

A rare opportunity to join the EPIC community has become available. We are currently open to enquiries from tech focussed teams and entrepreneurs to become part of our thriving business hub. EPIC is about growing tech businesses. A testament to our mission, one of our foundation tenants has seen steady growth in their team size…

Canterbury Innovators Post-Quake

After the earthquakes, Christchurch businesses were forced to take risks and work together to overcome shared challenges. That collaboration helped drive and fuel innovation in the city — something epitomised by the story of EPIC and its tenants.   Inside the high-ceilinged, wooden Enterprise Precinct and Innovation Campus (EPIC) building are hundreds of people working…

New World and Ministry of Awesome have started the search for New Zealand’s food and beverage product superstars!

FoodStarter competition supersizes providing boost to supplier community in 2021 New World and Ministry of Awesome have started the search for New Zealand’s food and beverage product superstars, this year with an additional category for small suppliers and a supersized prize package which includes the priceless opportunity for the winners to range their products in…

Seeds Podcast Reaches 200th Episode

Almost 3 years ago in September of 2017, Michelle Sharp, CEO of Kilmarnock Enterprises, was the first interviewee on a locally produced podcast that has since gained over 75,000 listeners. Last Monday, Seeds released its 200th episode.  Seeds is hosted by Steven Moe from Parry Field Lawyers. At its heart, the series is about telling…

HealthTech Supernode Challenge

  We’re less than 2 weeks away from the application closing date for the HealthTech Supernode Challenge! The Challenge is looking for New Zealand’s most innovative healthtech solutions, whether you’re at the idea stage or have a developed product. If you are still on the fence, NOW is the time to take that leap of…

Survivor City: How space flights could reinvigorate the Christchurch economy

Future strategist and business consultant Roger Dennis welcomes the supernodes. “There’s little point in trying to spin up something entirely new in a crisis, it’s much more logical to look for existing strengths and capabilities that you can support.”  Read more here

Additional funding available for business advice and support

Information from ChristchurchNZ More Canterbury businesses will be able to access specialist support following the government’s announcement of an additional $40 million in advisory funding. Read the full article and find out more, including how to apply, here. The funding means small to medium businesses can access specialist advice and support across a number of…

Challenge aims to position Christchurch as NZ’s centre of health innovation

PRESS RELEASE EMBARGOED UNTIL MONDAY, 29 JUNE 2020 Ōtautahi Christchurch aims to become the home of health tech innovation in New Zealand with the HealthTech Supernode Challenge, opening Monday 29 June. With a total prize pool across multiple categories valued at over $340,000, there are plenty of reasons to enter the HealthTech Supernode Challenge. This…

The Garden City battled back after a series of massive localised disasters. Now NZ faces a national one.

Extract from article published by Stuff on 13/06/2020. “One that comes to mind is a somewhat infamous meeting that the then minister Stephen Joyce gate-crashed back in 2012. Christchurch’s Central Development Unit had been given 100 days to prepare a “blueprint for action”. This saw a high-powered congregation of Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet,…

Grow Ō Tautahi Christchurch Garden Festival – Garden Festival dates set for 2021

Grow Ō Tautahi, Christchurch’s very own Garden Festival, will return in 2021 – with dates locked-in for the free, three-day festival celebrating gardening, homegrown food, sustainability and education.  Organisers confirmed today the Festival will be held 12-14 March 2021 in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. The 2020 event was cancelled just days before it was due…