Half of New Zealand’s Greenshell™ Mussels and King Salmon are farmed in the Marlborough Sounds and the local industry sustains over 100 businesses and 750 jobs. This industry is of critical importance to our smaller communities of Havelock, Picton and the Malborough Sounds.
By using a collective impact approach the industry is now starting to increase its innnovation and value proposition for both the consumer market and the local community
BIDs, or Business Improvement Districts, are a proven international model for driving local economic development and town centre revitalisation using an effective public-private partnership mechanism.
Business Lab has over 10 years experience working with all stages of the BID model, from set-up, to everyday running to expansion. With each assignment the powerful influence role BIDs can play in helping town centres evolve and thrive becomes ever more evident.
In partnership with Wellington City Council, Business Lab facilitated the inaugural Wellington BID Summit at the Michael Fowler Centre,
Discussions centred on how Wellington City's BID programme can be strengthened through improved inter-BID collaboration, council support and adoption of best practice principles.
Attendees were fortunate to learn from Dr Julie Grail, the UK's leading expert on Business Improvement Districts
Local economic development brings together a range of players to build up the economic capacity of a local area and improve its economic future and quality of life for individuals, families and communities.
We used their knowledge to create a plan aligned with the 6 key outcomes of the Waitematā Local Board Plan and that clearly clearly articulates whether the role of the Local Board is to Lead, Enable or Advocate for each initiative.
Following the amalgamation of the regions economic development functions into the new Nelson Regional Development Agency, Business Lab worked this this new agency and Nelson City Council to clarify how they could best work together to maximise the value of events for Nelson.
Business Lab was contacted by Aoraki Development to assist with gauging the support for an ultimately establishing a formal representative body for the Timaru CBD.
This was done in partnership with Timaru District Council with the aim of opening communication lines between Council and the business community.
A very successful Sports Performance Innovation Forum was held on April 28th, 2017 at QBE Stadium.
Business Lab’s contribution to this event was the production of a Forum handout highlighting the Upper Harbour area’s position as a key sport precinct for Auckland that caters for both Olympic and everyday athletes.
After calls for the Masterton District Council to become more involved in economic development, the Council approached Business Lab to design a programme similar to Marlborough’s Smart + Connected initiative.
The council wanted to understand what the economic priorities for the region were and how the council, in partnership with industry could address each opportunity.
Business Lab were asked to assist Tasman District Council with their IT strategy as part of the Long Term Plan (LTP). However, during early engagement it became clear that the strategy was in fact heavily related to using technology to develop a customer centric culture acro the organisation and the focus of the project was adapted to enable this.
After a powerful process of engagement, the Marlborough Smart and Connected economic development programme was created.
Through innovative thinking, leadership within industries and communities was fostered and collaborative opportunities developed. This programme has been ongoing since 2012.
Business Lab were engaged by Auckland Council to review their Business Improvement District Community (BID) service delivery model in 2015. Comprehensive engagement was carried out with Auckland's BID Community of 49 organisations and with the 21 Local Boards across Auckland City.
Consequently, Auckland Council's BID support services were streamlined to focus on the areas of greatest need and support for BIDs.