Engaging with Māori business - Annual Report 2019

15 June, 2020

The MacDiarmid Institute has made meaningful headway in connecting to the Māori economy through a number of initiatives in 2019.

One of these was sponsoring and attending the Federation of Māori Authorities annual conference where Māori trusts and business leaders addressed the challenges and business opportunities they face.

We partnered with Victoria Business School, FOMA Innovate and KiwiNet to hold a workshop (Te Kōmanawa – a spring or well) that brought together 18 Māori trusts and the tech transfer professionals from universities and Crown Research Institutes to build bridges and mutual understanding of the technology opportunities for Māori emerging from New Zealand’s scientific research.

We have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work with Poutama Trust, an independent charitable trust established in 1988 that strives to create an environment for successful business ventures and economic growth for Māori.

Poutama has a wide range of business members undertaking R&D and commercial activities across numerous industries, e.g. Movers in Hemp Innovation (MIHI) and Waiū Dairy, a geothermal milk processing plant in partnership between Māori and Japanese company Imanaka.