Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

 Jan Andrews, head of Asia Pacific for EEI, has championed the move following a delegation to New Zealand last year.

EEI has now employed a part-time consultant in Auckland and was this week hosting a Kiwi company that has secured contracts with Microsoft Research Limited in Cambridge.

Other ICT companies from New Zealand are keen to form a delegation to visit the region in the near future and engage with local professionals and potential financiers.

Many of them have pitched for funding back home in a Dragon’s Den-style investment competition and they believe a presence in the East of England, close to academia and world-class technology clusters, could help them achieve global growth.

Jan Andrews has been in ongoing discussions with Brian Payton, director of the Wyboston Lakes Knowledge Centre and that seems the most likely venue for the proposed Kiwi centre.

Jan said: “There are companies in other sectors besides ICT in New Zealand that could become part of the equation but we think this could be an exciting proposition for them and for the region if we can progress the relationship.

“We have approached local accountants, solicitors and Venture Capital firms who are willing to meet the New Zealand companies and lend their experience of growing international businesses from the Cambridge technopole.

“It is a positive, encouraging start and we intend to feed this back to our man in Auckland and grow things from this start-point.”

The opportunity has almost certainly been snatched away from London. That’s where the NZ ICT mission was bound before Andrews asked the question: “Does it have to be London? Why not the East of England.”

She said: “It was clear from our conversations that they wanted to become embroiled in a close-knit cluster and benefit from its networks and general mentoring, rather than become isolated in a larger region.

“I asked them what they were looking for and then laid out how the East of England could meet their wish list. Then we started looking at a potential incubator for them so they would all be in one spot rather than scattered throughout the region.

“It is a lot more focused to take VCs to see  a number of related companies under one roof than have them make separate trips to Ipswich, Southend or wherever. We thought Wyboston Lakes Knowledge Centre would work well and Brian Payton was quickly on the same wavelength, so we are confident the Kiwi Centre will be established in due course.

“To give an idea of the scale of the opportunity as we perceive it, the NZ$6 million investment competition had 200 applicants last year. Many of the companies who were in the frame felt that engaging with UK funders and professionals could help them mature more quickly as businesses – and that, in turn would help them secure even more investment in the future as well as achieving traction in new international markets.”