Techweek18 was huge, with 540 events running in 24 locations across the country. Thousands of New Zealanders got involved in workshops, discussion and talks on our theme of innovation that's good for the world.
When the dust settled, the Techweek Team started thinking about ways we could make next year's festival even better — not necessarily bigger, but better. The most unique thing about Techweek, New Zealand's annual festival of innovation, is that no other festival in the world unites an entire nation on the topic of innovation for a week. That's a very powerful thing, and it speaks to the specialness of this country and the people in it that we are able to pull off a collaborative feat of this size.
Techweek19 will run from 20—26 May 2019 nationwide. Here's one thing we've kept the same from Techweek18:
- The theme for Techweek19 is still 'innovation that's good for the world'. We've kept it the same because this really is something that sets New Zealand innovators apart. We think global from the start and as a result, we tend to generate innovative ideas that are finding solutions to some of the biggest challenges the world is facing: whether that be environmental, social, economic and everything in between. Techweek simply provides a platform to add our voices to a growing conversation on global innovation.
And here are the things that are different about this year compared to Techweek18:
- The Techweek Team are not running our own headline events this year. That's because this unique festival pulls together the talents of hundreds of event organisers across the country who use the platform to run their own incredible events. We've recognised that it's our job to help you put on great events, not to put them on ourselves. That's why this year we have the Programme Highlights.
- The Programme Highlights are a special tier of curated events that will sit within the Techweek19 programme and will be given extra visibility and support during the lead up to Techweek. Submissions for the Programme Highlights are open now, check out the criteria, and read about the submission process.
- The two main categories for Techweek19 events are ‘Inspire’: events for New Zealanders of all ages to engage them with the world of technology, and ‘Build Capability’: events for NZ businesses and tertiary students or institutions to help them make use of new technologies in their workplaces and/or careers.
Our Techweek19 programme development timeline:
- 8 November — The Discussion Forum opens. Find out more >>
- 8 November — Programme Highlights Submissions open. Find out more >>
- 14 December — Programme Highlights Submissions close
- February 2019 — Festival event submissions open. This is the open platform for anyone who wants to submit an event to run during Techweek
- March 2019 — Official Techweek19 programme launch
- 20-26 May 2019 — Techweek19!