Jennings Backs Russia
Waitara-born Stephen Jennings, CEO of the leading investment bank in Russia and sub-Saharan Africa Renaissance Group, believes that in the coming decades “the world’s largest businesses will be from new world economies and…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Midas Works on Merino
Victoria University researchers have added particles of pure gold and silver to fine merino wool in the interest of haute couture. The researchers demonstrated the first scarf dyed with gold nanoparticles at the 2008…
Energy Beneath Our Feet
Over the next three years, New Zealand public research institute GNS Science will explore the potential of harnessing the low-energy geothermal energy produced by underground steam and water systems. GNS Science is to develop…
Chocolate Carbon Credits
New Zealand graphic designer Giles Barker and his wife, trained chef Vanessa Kettelwell established confectionary company Bloomsberry & Co in 2001 and already they’ve have had their chocolate bars whipped out “from under…
Solving the Belch
New Zealand scientists are conducting world-first research into solutions for agricultural methane emissions including genetic engineering, cloning and a vaccine for gassy animals. “Given that we’re trying to turn around hundreds of thousands of…
Running on Jatropha
Air New Zealand and Boeing plan a three-hour test-flight at the end of the year using fuel produced from jatropha, a poisonous tree which grows seeds rich in oil. The airline expects to use…
Rodents Settle Debate
The arrival of Pacific rats in New Zealand decides the debate about the settling of the country by Polynesians; the findings confirm that settlers arrived here some 1,000 years later than was previously thought….
For the Love of Letters
Thirteen-year-old Hamilton spelling champion Thomas North will compete at the 81st Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C., travelling further than any of the record 288 competitors. North competes a year after Christchurch entrant Kate Weir’s memorable…
Flaming Britches
James Watson, head of Massey University’s school of history, philosophy and politics in Palmerston North and author of agricultural study, ‘The Significance of Mr Richard Buckley’s Exploding Trousers’, won an Ig Nobel prize…
Corporate Iwi Unite
Divided into four tribes: kea, ruru, tui, and weka, 200 employees of US firm Seagate Technologies face the elements in the mountains above Queenstown in a week-long “mother of all of team-building events”. CEO…
Unlikely Gathering
On a subsea mountain peak 400km south of New Zealand, a robot submarine has filmed tens of millions of waving five-armed creatures called brittlestars, in a never-seen-before seamount discovery. Scientists from New Zealand and…
An Intelligence Question
James Flynn, Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at the University of Otago and moral philosopher, says human intelligence has improved over the last century, rather than declined as was widely thought. “But,” Flynn…
Economic Hardware
In 1949, New Zealand engineer and economist Professor William “Bill” Phillips astonished the London School of Economics revealing his “do-it-yourself” creation: an analogue computer model of the workings of the British economy. The Monetary…
Otago Examines Obesity
A University of Otago study has found that obesity in women may worsen the impact of asthma and also mask its severity in standard tests. The findings were published in the first issue for…
Thank Goodness for Spreadable
One of the greatest inventions of all time, according to the New Zealand Post, is New Zealand’s spreadable butter, and the Telegraph’s Bee Wilson agrees. “If it weren’t for the New Zealand Dairy Research…
Seaweed Means Fuel
Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation, a New Zealand-based company, is likely to be the first of its kind to produce biofuel from large quantities of wild algae. Aquaflow’s chairman Barrie Leay said his company had successfully…
At the Helm of Harrod’s
Former Wellington business man James McArthur, 48, has been appointed chief executive officer and Group chief of Harrod’s, reporting to chairman Mohamed Al Fayed. A 12-year Gucci Group veteran, McArthur was most recently president…
A Model Ambassador
Auckland model Anna Fitzpatrick, is an official ambassador for the newly established Princess Charlotte Alopecia Foundation in Australia, named for the daughter of Penrith Panthers assistant coach Mathew Adamson. Fitzpatrick, like Charlotte Adamson,…
Feasts in Factories
New Zealander Margot Henderson, sought-after London gourmand and the other half of Arnold & Henderson catering, does not like to use the word ‘simple’ when describing their menus. “It’s more like it…
Massive Robotics
New Zealand software company Massive, famous for its on-screen swarms of pillaging orcs in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, recently showcased new business potential in Hanover, Germany. This included engineering, architecture and robotics….
Virgin’s Cable Guy
Neil Berkett has been promoted to a permanent role as chief executive at Virgin Media. Berkett took on the job at the cable company as acting chief executive in August last year when Steve…
All for a Chat Show
Twenty-two year old Christchurch design student Nick Lowe wants to raise $1 million on YouTube in the hope of millionaire-status and a spot on Ellen Degeneres’ talk show. This week Lowe passed the $1,000…
Windy Farewell
Paddy Gillooly owns a tourism company in New Zealand which takes visitors by jeep or all-terrain bus to the tip of the South Island’s Farewell Spit, one of only two companies permitted the…
Slimming with Rachel
Model and reality TV show host Rachel Hunter is the face, and figure, of US weight loss brand Slim-Fast. Advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather chose Hunter because she embraced a more realistic body type….
Tips for the Irish
Irish sheep farmers are looking to their New Zealand counterparts for advice on how to make more money tending their flocks. Lincoln University’s Dr John Hickford spoke at two conferences in Kilkenny and Athlone…
Beyond the Ugg
No longer are New Zealand’s fashion tastes being derided for unbecoming tracksuits and shoes, the local fashion industry is pinning the country on the style map. New Zealand is now home to a vibrant…
Bridging the Gap
On New Zealand’s Chatham Islands researchers have discovered the country’s oldest known bird fossils. The find represents four new seabirds dating back some 65 million years when New Zealand separated from supercontinent, Gondwana. Excavation…
Quick Sale
Two Yorkshire property developers are enthusiastic about the benefits of investing in property in New Zealand; Ian Payling and Dave Rothwell-Wood built the ‘Lemon-Tree house’ on land north of Auckland. Once the sale was…
NZ Director Airs at Super Bowl
In just 30 seconds, Wellington ad director Paul Middleditch made his mark at this year’s Super Bowl. Sydney-based Middleditch created the NZ$3.4 million one-off slot for Diet Pepsi Max, at his sixth…
New Exec at Opera House
Sydney’s most famous landmark is now presided over by New Zealander Richard Evans, who last month became chief executive at the Opera House. Among the challenges Evans will face, is raising some NZ$790…
Microsoft’s Gatekeeper
Christopher Liddell, Chief Financial Officer at Microsoft since 2005, and the former senior New Zealand business leader is the architect of Microsoft’s recent $44.6 billion takeover offer for Yahoo. Liddell is now dealing with…
NZ Scientists Dry Their Eyes
New Zealand’s Crop & Food Research Institute has taken the tears out of chopping onions. In collaboration with Japanese scientists, the breakthrough was made using gene silencing technology. The Institute’s senior scientist Dr…
Blogs in Big Business
Former Aucklander Andy Lark, recently appointed VP of global marketing and communications at Dell, is one of the technology industry’s “Most Influential” communicators according to PR Week. Champion of big business…
Aquaflow Ahead of the Curve
A Blenheim-based company could hold the key to the world’s energy crisis, according to a recent Guardian article. Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation has patented a cleansing process known as bio-remediation that extracts biofuel from…
Value for Money
NZ private schools are moving ahead of their British counterparts on the global league table for English-speaking education, according to new international research. NZ tops the table for maths and science in the Pisa…
Dave Versus Goliath
The opening of a new hotel in Christchurch coincided with the launch of a film detailing the unusual story behind its development. Hotel SO is the result of property developer Dave Henderson’s 13-year clash with the…
Rotorua Reveals Anti-warming Weapon
A scientific breakthrough in NZ could play a major role in combating global warming. A group of microbiologists at Hells Gate in Rotorua has discovered a new bacterium that eats methane – one of the key…
Surgical Innovation
University of Otago scientists have patented a gel derived from squid that can reduce bleeding and scarring during surgery. The gel, named Chitodex, is a chemically modified form of the polymer chitosan, which is found in…
Tees Please
An NZ couple has launched a line of tasteful tourist tees in Canada. Last year, Lauren McKee and Wynne Pirini left home, and their respective careers in accountancy and construction, to start a creative…
The Post-industrial Revolution
Wellington-based Ponoko is one of a wave of new companies offering personalised product manufacturing services online. Founded by David ten Have and Derek Elley, the Ponoko website lets customers upload designs for cases and enclosures…
Hyperfactory Enters Hyperdrive
Rich Frank, former president of both Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Television Group, has invested in NZ mobile marketing agency The Hyperfactory. He joins 42 Below vodka’s founder and chairman, Geoff Ross and Grant Baker, and Paul…
Chairman of the Internet
NZ lawyer Peter Dengate Thrush has been named chairman of the Internet’s chief governing body. Dengate Thrush will head the LA-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is viewed as the online version…
B_E_E on Global Rradar
NZ’s eye-catching B_E_E products featured in global style authority Monocle this month. Based in Auckland, B_E_E (Beauty Engineered for Ever) produces high quality cleaning products that are as easy on the eye as they are on…
Aspartame to Blame?
Veteran NZ journalist Chris Wheeler has published a lengthy denouncement of the food additive aspartame on US sceptic site Rense. Aspartame is an artificial sweetener used in products such as Diet Coke, Equal, Lemsip and Wrigleys…
Hot Pick for Virgin Media
Wellington-born Neil Berkett is widely expected to be made chief executive of Virgin Media. Berkett joined Virgin Media as chief operating officer in 2005 and has been acting chief executive of the company since the abrupt departure…
Some Pig
A miniature variant of the NZ kune kune pig has become the must-have pet in Britain. Chris Murray, co-owner of Pennywell Farm in Devon, began breeding the pigs nine years ago. He crossed kune…
King Talks Technology
The Guardian interviewed Black Sheep director Jonathan King about his favourite gadgets on the eve of his film’s UK release. King’s favourite piece of technology is his Apple iBook G4 laptop – “I use…
The Gift of Sight
A photographic exhibition celebrating the work of the Fred Hollows Foundation opened in Sydney on World Sight Day, October 11. Together with Nepalese surgeon Sanduk Ruit, NZ-born Hollows pioneered a cheap and effective form of eye…
Power Producers
Queenstown-born film producer Tim Bevan (right) features in Vanity Fair‘s annual ‘New Establishment’ power rankings, along with business partner Eric Fellner. Bevan and Fellner founded British film powerhouse Working Title in 1984….
Game On
Wellington-based Sidhe Interactive is the creative brains behind Jackass: The Game, released in the US by Red Mile Entertainment and MTV Games on September 26. The company hopes it will sell over a million copies,…
Air NZ in Pioneering Partnership
Air New Zealand has signed an agreement with airplane maker Boeing and engine maker Rolls-Royce to collaborate on projects to make commercial aviation more environmentally sustainable. Stage one of the plan will see the first trial flight…
Edge Dynamics in Action
NZ social researcher Brent D Taylor has applied Edge theory to economics in his new book Outsider’s Edge: The Making of Self-Made Billionaires. Taylor has spent the past four years studying the backgrounds of some of…
Best Foot Forward
Karen Walker has joined forces with Brazilian flip-flop giant Havaiana to produce a line of limited edition jandals for Spring/Summer 2008. The two designs feature Walker’s classic Runaway girl and her new season Fruit…
NZ Neuroscientists Spark Alcohol Rethink
A new study co-authored by two NZ researchers suggests that long-term, moderate alcohol consumption can help improve the memory. The study, which was published in The Journal of Neuroscience, was undertaken by Maggie Kalev, a research fellow…
Influential Exports
Two New Zealanders made The Bulletin‘s annual list of the 50 most influential businesspeople in Australia. Fairfax Media Chief Executive David Kirk is ranked fifteenth on the list. The former All Black Captain has headed the publishing…
Halo Helmed by NZ Boy Genius
This year’s most hyped video game, Halo 3, was engineered by a former child prodigy from Kakanui. Chris Butcher, 29, works for Seattle-based gaming company Bungie, which produces the Halo series for Microsoft Xbox. In…
