Auckland’s growing reputation as a leading innovator within the global economic development community has been reinforced with two key projects receiving prestigious international accolades from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC).
Auckland received two Excellence in Economic Development Awards – which recognise the world’s best economic development programmes and partnerships, marketing materials and leaders – for initiatives designed by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED), Auckland’s economic growth agency.
The first award – a gold – was for the Auckland Innovation Dashboard, which highlights Auckland’s growth as an Asia-Pacific innovation hub through a publicly available ‘dashboard’ of data which highlights Auckland’s improving innovation performance and benchmarks it performance against the region’s international peer cities.
The indicators include investment into Auckland companies via the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund and Callaghan Innovation; an interactive Auckland versus international peer city comparison tool; and a map of Auckland’s start-up hubs and co-working spaces.
This dashboard concept will soon be expanded to incorporate additional Auckland economic data, including employment, imports and exports, and the visitor economy.
The second award, a bronze, was for a brochure for the ‘Smart Move’ campaign, which helps ATEED’s priority to attract talented migrants to the region.
The Smart Move campaign includes several videos, and was a cornerstone of ATEED’s business programmes showcasing Auckland to visitors during the DHL New Zealand Lions Series 2017, and World Masters Games 2017.
The awards were announced at the IEDC’s annual conference in Toronto, Canada, today. This marks the first time Auckland has won a gold IEDC award,
Last year, Auckland received three IEDC awards: silver for a domestic tourism campaign; silver for the Tripartite Economic Summit – Auckland 2016; and a bronze for the Techweek website. The year before, it won silver for an immersive multimedia presentation which promoted investment opportunities in Auckland.
Patrick McVeigh, ATEED General Manager Business, Innovation and Skills, says: “ATEED strives to be a world-leading economic growth agency and these awards are further recognition that our initiatives are cutting edge in the global marketplace.
“Auckland is competing with many other cities to attract investment, entrepreneurs and talented migrants, so it’s great to see our smart move campaign earning this accolade from international judges.”
The awards process is independent and multi-layered, and IEDC 2017 Board Chair Michael Langley said: “On behalf of the IEDC board of directors and Excellence in Economic Development Awards Advisory Committee, congratulations to Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development. Not only did they work to provide a necessary service to their community; but also, their participation in the awards program sheds light on their stellar projects which other communities can now use as a benchmark.”