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The BCC is all about realising innovation. We raise or locate investment funding to shape and grow technology businesses; we offer management support and mentoring for start-ups; and we facilitate the commercialisation of new technology from the lab to industry. BCC is turning innovative ideas into healthy growing businesses

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Interns Impress

Wow, I have just spent two hours listening to 17 interns from the Massey University School of Business present their experiences from their recent internships with several local businesses.  We were lucky enough to have one of these interns, Phoebe Lang, at the BCC - she assisted on the Innovate project this year.  Of course after Innovate finished we realised she was too valuable to let her leave so she is still with us, assisting with marketing activities and planning for Innovate 2012.  We couldn't have run Innovate without her and it was really great hearing what she got out of her experience at BCC and how much she has learnt.  We have certainly seen her develop and grow in confidence and she is a very valuable member of the BCC team.
I was very impressed with many of the other interns too, some had been on marketing internships like Phoebe, others in business, accounting or economics.  All of them spoke highly of their experiences, outlining how much they had learnt and how valuable the work experience has been for them.  You could see from their presentations and also the appreciative looks of their employers in the audience just how much the businesses had gained from having them on board too.  It's the ultimate win-win.  If you are a business considering hiring an intern for the summer I can thoroughly recommend it.  The students I saw were all very intelligent, eloquent and motivated and their hard work and achievements for the companies involved have been quite outstanding.  Having an extra pair of hands  fresh eyes, and a new perspective from some of the top business students in the country has allowed several of the businesses involved (BCC included) to complete projects that would otherwise have been impossible.


Anyone who is despairing at the "youth of today" should get along to Massey and meet some of these students.  You can't help but be impressed.

Sunday 11 September 2011

Things Move Fast in the Start-Up Space

There is no doubt we are living in challenging times, however every day there are stories of success, entrepreneurship and growth in New Zealand.  Just how fast things are moving was really brought home to me recently after I had a few weeks away from work.  When I returned last week I was amazed at how much has happened and changed in that small space of time that I wasn't here.  Feeling a little bit like I have been gone for years, I am now trying to catch up on all the innovation that happened in my absence!

We have several new start-ups now, at various stages of the market validation programme and it's exciting watching them go through the process of learning about their markets and defining exactly what their first products/services will need to be to convert their prospects to customers.

This Friday we're hosting the Capitalising on Research and Development Action Group (CRAG), who are holding a workshop which aims to engage with academics and business to hear their view on how NZ can more successfully capitalise on research and development. 

We're also getting involved in helping to host the international Startup Weekend for local entrepreneurs from 4th-6th November in Wellington this year.

Our investment group MIG Angels has opened itself to applications for funding from seed and startup companies after raising $1 million for its new angel investment fund, MIG Angels Fund 1.

The BCC are also working with Dr Isaac Bentwich, an Israeli entrepreneur who is in New Zealand for a year.  Dr Bentwich is a physician, inventor and entrepreneur who founded medical software company Pegasus Medical which was acquired by HBOC (now McKesson) for $15 million, the largest acquisition of an Israeli Life Sciences company at the time.  He is also the founder of diagnostics company Rosetta Genomics, which listed on the NASDA in 2007 and he recently started MediCloud, an international endeavor to develop a consumer-centred records and decision support system.  Dr Bentwich will be presenting at four events while in New Zealand, including the NZ Technology Trade and Investment Forum, Innovest, the 2011 Angel Summit and an upcoming e2e meet-up at the BCC.

Yes, keeping up with the pace of things at BCC is always a challenge, but it's one I love and I'm glad to be back in the office.  Things sure move fast in this start-up space, so I'll do my best to keep you up to date now that I am back on board.

Esther