What if all of New Zealand became the world’s most connected and collaborative food innovation park?
Not just a city, a region or a cluster, but an integrated, national-scale platform where research, infrastructure, capital, talent, and industry work together so cohesively that the system itself becomes the magnet. When it's small and geographically contained, we give it a name, we put it on a pedestal. A place where innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, and global collaborators come not just to do business, but to find solutions to the world’s biggest food challenges. The greatest ecosystems in the world benefit greatly from proximity – think Silicon Valley and Food Valley. But can it be done differently? We'll never be the biggest or flashiest, but we can be the most connected and easiest to use.
Maybe I’m being naïve or biased or both – as an expat that has chosen to make New Zealand my home – but I genuinely think we have a lot going for us. A recent trip back to Canada only solidified that belief. Picture this: A Canadian organiser, the North American hosts of the International Association of Science Parks and Innovation Centres (IASP) 2025 conference, reaching out across the world to a fellow Canadian (who hopes he’s now an honorary Kiwi) to share how NZFIN is connecting infrastructure, ecosystem, and forging a path forward. After a long night and day of travel, I was greeted by the smell of pain au chocolat in the air before meeting with agrifood innovation organisations from around the world. France, Germany, UK, Brazil, Chile, USA, and Canada. Oh, and in case you're wondering about the smell, I later discovered that St. Hyacinthe, Quebec is home to the second-largest chocolate factory in the world!
The trip was a full-circle moment. I began my career in food innovation centres across Canada – from the West to the Atlantic – and now work on growing a network of food innovation facilities in New Zealand. Then given the opportunity to return ‘home’ to share what I’ve learned and on my last day, touring Canada’s largest food pilot facility as a visitor, not a citizen.
I say ‘home’ somewhat facetiously as while I’m Canadian as maple syrup, French Canada is different French Canada is different – separated by language, trade, regulations, and bureaucracy. For them, this is a benefit being a natural gateway to North America for France’s agrifood businesses, and liability being on somewhat of an island of their own. And I think this gets to the root of my point. Simultaneously connected and divided, separated by language, but also regulations, trade, policy, facilities, with multiple layers of government and bureaucracy. Provincial borders, while made up by humans, are very real. After initially feeling out of place saying ‘bonjour’ having forgot my 5th grade French lessons and not having last visited Montreal for over a decade, I settled into the friendliness that seems to unite Canada to make me feel at home.
But what about my other home? Where I live, work, and invest energy every day? It’s easy to look abroad and see greener grass – more scale, resources, opportunity. It’s easy to lose sight of the inherent strengths and creating competitive advantages. Internationally, the amount of resources being thrown into digitising and modernising SMEs, vying for the next FoodTech frontier, or infrastructure and technologies is immense and the competition fierce.
A combination of envy and awe stirred inside me when I learned about other organisations and the resources they had access to. But then I had conversations where people saw NZFIN’s connected infrastructure as unimaginable in their context. Suddenly, I realised: it’s all relative. More scale means more fragmentation. Ecosystem become harder to navigate and coordinate, often adding friction instead of removing it. New Zealand, while far from perfect, when it comes to connectedness, we’re starting on third base (forgive the North American sports reference). What we need now is genuine, sometimes uncomfortable, collaboration to leverage that natural advantage. Because when we have less, we must do more with what we have and make every dollar and investment go farther.
"Effective innovation ecosystems provide predictable, time-efficient resources. They do not necessarily need to be cheap and simple."
I can see why we compare ourselves country to country. However, when New Zealand could fit inside Quebec, Canada’s largest province, multiple times over and with a population of roughly half, it became clear to me of who we are more similar to. But unlike a province, Aotearoa operates with the autonomy of a nation. That means we can, in theory, align quickly and act nationally across our food system – a key differentiator in our identity. The DIY 'number 8 wire' spirit has served well in the past – a point of pride for innovating with limited resources – but how might it evolve for a collaborative future?
We already have the pieces: a trusted food system, world-class science, 2 degrees of separation, two knowledge systems, and global desirability. We don’t need to emulate others. We can build from a place of strength. The real opportunity lies in how we bring these parts together, in a way that works smarter for us, if we have the ambition. Innovation ecosystems need the parts, the integration between the parts (clear roles and synergistic functions), and the network to make them to simplify the complexity. Connectedness of people and knowledge is the multiplier that turns good assets into a great system. This is where I’d double down.
Global Lessons for Local Momentum
Around the world, others show us what’s possible to – models that focus on capital, capability, narrative, or connection. None are perfect, but each offers insight. We shouldn’t copy them, but we can reinterpret them to suit our strengths. I’ve focused on 4 key elements that I believe both NZFIN and Aotearoa can grow towards, building on what we already do well.
1. Investment Funding Infrastructure
Farm Credit Canada (FCC) is a government-owned institution providing loans and equity capital to agrifood businesses. Its investment arm backs ventures while also sponsoring ‘test farms’ to validate AgTech innovations. Could a similar model be used for FoodTech? Imagine investors backing pilot infrastructure to accelerate the companies they fund. FCC’s recent $2B commitment over 10 years is table stakes to keep Canada in the conversation with the likes of the EU, US, and Japan. Where does New Zealand fit in comparison?
2. An Enabling Environment for Innovation
Plug and Play, a US-based platform, connects entrepreneurs, corporates, and investors worldwide with a suite of innovation services, custom programs, and their own ventures team, they are truly integrated model. Self-described as “the world's leading innovation platform”, provide inspiration for what an enabling environment for innovation can mean on a local and global scale. They’ve also created an AI innovation hub acts as a physical connector to catalyse innovation. Could New Zealand be the global hub for agri-food innovation?
3. A Digital Community for Impact
Organisations like Plug and Play and NZFIN require a strong communities and connected ecosystems to thrive as networks. The Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) is a digital-native ecosystem connector. Their YODL platform has over 7,000 members, linking ideas, people, and opportunities. Unlike NZFIN, they don’t own physical infrastructure but focus exclusively on the relational infrastructure. Could NZFIN grow into this kind of ecosystem super-connector with the right tools to support?
4. A National Entry Point
Denmark’s Food Nation acts as both a branding engine and physical hub, showcasing agrifood innovation through a visitor centre and export platform. Established as a public-private partnership, they act as an entry point in to and driver of the country’s food story on a national level with strategic “strongholds” that form the backbone of the brand identity and equity. New Zealand has NZTE and NZ Story, but no dedicated organisation that clearly represents our agrifood industry internationally and connects it domestically. With Denmark's agrifood accounting for 25% of their exports, the absence of a front door for New Zealand is striking when our proportion is over double the size.
Every overseas trip is illuminating, but comparing side by side to others gave me the opportunity to benchmark and get perspective. Each international example offers clues, not templates. Our job isn’t to replicate – it’s to reinterpret. Our opportunity isn’t to compete on scale – it’s to lead on integration and cohesion.
