We’ve completed 100+ innovation projects across 13 countries.

We regard ourselves as relatively AI literate here at Creative HQ. Working in innovation means it’s important to us to support the start ups, government agencies and corporates we work with to use the most recent technology, and to understand…

Who we worked with Education New Zealand What we did together Co-designed a new approach to fund applications The 2018 New Zealand International Education Strategy called for a diversification of international education products linked to areas of New Zealand strengths….

Say “GovTech” to most founders and they picture one thing: a piece of software sold to a government department. Fair enough, that’s part of it. But it’s a much bigger, weirder, more interesting space than that, and if you’re building…

WELLINGTON – 30 JULY 2026: Introducing fifteen emerging startups building scalable Climate Tech solutions across Aotearoa.  The Aurora Climate Tech Summit, held at Wellington’s Shed 6, was Creative HQ’s biggest Climate Tech-focused event to date, bringing together founders, investors, industry…

Wellington – 8 December 2022: Boosting rangatahi engagement and supporting young women into sustainable agriculture careers are among the issues that 14 projects have tackled in New Zealand’s only government innovation programme, the GovTech Accelerator. Delivered by Wellington’s innovation hub,…

Who we worked with Climate focused startups What we did together 12-week accelerator programme The Climate Response Accelerator is a 12-week programme designed to help impact-focused entrepreneurs solve some of our planet’s most urgent challenges. With the Climate Crisis being…

Who we worked with Public sector representatives What we did together A 1-day unconference Innovation and collaboration are two  essential ingredients to promote change in government. We are passionate about empowering government agencies to create positive impact. A lot of…

Who we worked with Department of Internal Affairs, NZTE, NZ G2G, Victoria University of Wellington, StatsNZ, Public Service Commission What we did together Develop a new tool to measure innovation in government Senior leaders in the NZ public sector see…

Wellington – November 2021: Wellington is bucking the trend with women currently making up the majority of founders participating in Creative HQ’s innovation and startup programmes at Wellington’s innovation hub. Nationwide women make up 17% of business founders. Further, women-founded or…

Wellington – 07 Mar 2023: The Wellington-based School of Innovation run by Creative HQ has seen a significant increase in people studying innovation in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. To meet the steadily growing market demand, Creative HQ now…

Wellington – 6 June 2024: Creative HQ’s accelerators provide our cohorts with mentors and coaches to assist them through their unique challenges across a 12-week programme. Mentors and coaches play critical roles in startup accelerator teams, but what exactly is…

New data gathered across Wellington’s emerging tech sector has identified 204 startup and scale-up companies in scope for a new baseline report, with 71 companies providing direct input, supporting over 2,500 full-time equivalent roles in Wellington, generating an estimated $450…

Who we worked with NZ Claude Ambassadors, Zuno Smart Lab and Wellington City Council (WCC) What we’re working on together The Claude Impact Lab Crisis management in Wellington isn’t a question of “if” – it’s “when.” Our community knows earthquakes,…

On 7 December we took over the Beehive to celebrate New Zealand innovators working to solve some of Aotearoa’s most urgent challenges. From tackling migrant exploitation, to developing a new approach to foster care, 14 GovTech Accelerator teams that have been taking…

Interview with Carl Vink from Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation What we did together Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation is a partner with us for the Climate Response Accelerator 2024 Carl Vink Chief Executive at Whakatupu Aotearoa Foundation Whakatupu Aotearoa, a strategic philanthropic foundation…

OPINION 26 August 2024 – Have you ever been freedom camping? Did you find a nice spot of grass and just pitch your tent? Have you ever done this on the lawn of Parliament? In Feb 2022, the grounds of…

In 2024, nine teams took part in Creative HQ’s Climate Response Accelerator, joining a growing cohort of ventures working at the intersection of climate action and commercial opportunity. Over an intensive three-month programme, these founders tested assumptions, refined their models…

Raising capital as a startup founder, especially as a female founder, can be a daunting challenge. In a recent webinar, Sarah Park and Dr Kathleen Lucere from Even Capital shared their insights on navigating the venture capital (VC) landscape. They…

Wellington/Kerikeri – 8 June 2023: Hemp solutions to global building challenges around waste, carbon emissions and materials longevity are being unlocked by a new Aotearoa-first hemp binder, GEOBIND, developed by a local Kerikeri- based builder and an environmental enthusiast.  Co-founders…

Who we worked with Tāwhiri What we did together 5-day sprint Key Skills Problem Discovery, Ideation Read more Wellington’s Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts 2022 releases first events – Stuff Tāwhiri, the creative force behind the New Zealand…

The time is now OPINION 24 May 2024 – If the annual Budget is something of a state-of-the-nation moment for Aotearoa New Zealand, it is timely to present a state-of-the-industry assessment for the tech startup sector. As I stood on…

Fiji’s Innovation Hub may only be one year old, but this isn’t a short story. Nor is it a running tally of events and programmes. It’s a story of how one nation committed to economic growth through innovation. How the…

Who we worked with Ministry of Youth Development and young kiwis What we did together 12-week programme Skills Applied innovation tools Since 2015, almost 250 youth (16–24 years old) have completed Creative HQ’s Venture Up programme, learning essential entrepreneurial leadership…

Who we worked with Startup organisations, local businesses and founders What we did together A 48-hour hackathon to respond to Covid immediate challenges Skills Problem discovery, market validation Skills Waikato supports Hack The Crisis – Wintec “What an amazing weekend…

The 2022 GovTech Accelerator brought together startups, NGOs and public-sector innovators in a 13-week programme designed to address social and environmental challenges through cross-sector collaboration. The cohort worked alongside coaching, mentorship and innovation methods to test and advance solutions that…

In Dunedin, a person with a disability can answer their front door more safely and conveniently because of an AI-supported doorstep assistant. Communities around the country are pushing mapping carts through their neighbourhoods, crowdsourcing missing accessibility data – and Easy…

Who we worked with Horowhenua District Council and Electra What we did together Coached the Swell team through the GovTech Accelerator Skills Lean, Market validation Read more “Virtual healthcare assistant for the elderly piques interest” – RNZ New Zealand’s over-65…

Who we worked with Artists based in Wellington What we did together 3-month accelerator programme Skills Applied innovation tools After 12-weeks of running Ringatoi Pōneke Artist Intensive (PAI), we can confirm that innovation and arts are a great match. New Zealand’s…

Embarking on the startup journey can be thrilling, but it comes with challenges—and accounting is a crucial area where founders need a solid foundation. At a recent event, Jono Rees from BoostNest Accountants shared his thoughts on accounting basics for…

If you’ve spent any time around Wellington’s startup ecosystem, you’ve probably heard us talk about Labs and Activate programmes in the same breath – Fintech Lab, Aurora Climate Lab, GovTech Activate, CreativeTech Activate. It’s easy to assume they’re all the…

Founders that are driving social and environmental change Since 2013, Creative HQ ran 17 accelerator programmes across New Zealand, supporting more than 150 companies and facilitating over $100 million in seed and Series A investment. In 2023, it delivered its…

Who we worked with Reserve Bank of Fiji What we’re working on together  Fiji Innovation Hub The opportunity Fiji has ambition and a vision for how to grow the economy through local innovation. There is growing recognition that innovation is…

On 9 October 2025, Te Raukura ki Kāpiti hosted the New Zealand Final of the Startup World Cup for the first time, bringing a global stage to the Kāpiti Coast in partnership with Creative HQ. Twelve of Aotearoa’s most promising…

Mike Lovegrove started his founder journey by creating Bot the Builder (later named JRNY) back in 2017. We first started working with Mike when he brought his company into the 2018 Lightning Lab FinTech Accelerator. Mike’s story is a fantastic…

Scotty Diamond started his founder’s journey by creating Fit Rewards in 2022.  We started working with Scotty when he brought his company into Creative HQ’s 2023 Impact Accelerator. Scotty has an inspirational story about overcoming adversity and giving your all…

Creative HQ’s Government Innovation Lead Jonnie Haddon sat down with David Downs, former CEO of New Zealand Story and incoming CEO of Education New Zealand, for a candid conversation about public sector innovation, AI and what it actually takes to…

Shalini Divya started her founder’s journey by creating the company TasmanIon as an extension of her PhD research on new battery technologies, which she started back in 2018. We first met Shalini when she brought her company into Creative HQ’s…

Who we worked with ARTA (Philippine Anti-Red Tape Authority) What we did together T7 Masterclass in Innovation Since 2016 New Zealand and the Philippines have been working together on initiatives to improve the ease of doing business in the Philippines. In…

Startups are often talked about as if they succeed through talented people alone. A founder sees a problem. They build something new. They raise capital. They scale. That’s the version we tend to tell, but it leaves a lot out….

Ideation is a process in which you create a large number of diverse ideas, with the intention of quantity over quality. Common techniques include mind mapping, storyboarding and brainstorming, but sometimes using the same methods over and over again can stifle…

How many companies in New Zealand can claim that they played a critical role in our COVID response and helped Barack Obama get elected? Silverstripe can, and they can also rightfully claim to be a key part of the fabric…

The story of Publons is a great illustration of the power of vision and determination, and the impact you can achieve with a startup. Publons was one of the 10 companies in our first startup accelerator programme, Lightning Lab 2013….

How do you know if you’ve got a winning idea? If you think you might have a winning idea, start by running it through a market validation process.  Testing the market is an effective way to tell if your idea is worth…

Chances are that you have encountered at least one of these terms throughout your career, but do you really know what they mean? We’ve put together a quick cheat sheet to help you navigate your way through the innovation jargon….

Chances are that you have encountered at least one of these terms throughout your career, but do you really know what they mean? We’ve put together a quick cheat sheet to help you navigate your way through the innovation jargon….

We’re lucky enough to already be set up for remote working: we offer working from home options for our team, and we often work remotely with clients from around the globe. To help you get started, we’ve put together a…

An exponential technology is two things First, it’s exponential. In each period it doubles in capability or performance. Or perhaps on the flip side, it halves in cost in each period. Computers are an example of an exponential technology we’re…

Most funding advice online is built for Silicon Valley or Sydney – not the reality of raising in New Zealand. That’s the gap this new guide sets out to close. “How to Raise a Seed Round in New Zealand: The…

Wellington – 27 March 2022: A cohort of sixteen remarkable startup teams brimming with impact-focused solutions to drive positive social and environmental change in New Zealand have been selected to participate in Creative HQ’s Impact Accelerator. And alongside the Impact…

Neumic Therapeutics has won Creative HQ’s national Startup World Cup final, earning the title of New Zealand’s top emerging startup and a place at the global competition in San Francisco. The Dunedin company will now travel to Silicon Valley with…