Auckland's growing reputation as a leading innovator in the global economic development community has been reinforced with two key projects receiving prestigious international accolades from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC).
Auckland received two Excellence in Economic Development Awards, which recognise the world's best economic development programmes and partnerships, marketing materials and leaders.
The awards were for initiatives designed by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED), Auckland's economic growth agency.
The first award, a gold, was for the Auckland Innovation Dashboard, which highlights Auckland's growth as an Asia-Pacific innovation hub through a publicly available 'dashboard' of data that highlights Auckland's improving innovation performance and benchmarks its performance against the region's international peer cities.
The indicators include investment into Auckland companies via the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund and Callaghan Innovation, an interactive Auckland versus international peer city comparison tool, and a map of Auckland's start-up hubs and co-working spaces.
This dashboard concept will soon be expanded to incorporate additional Auckland economic data, including employment, imports and exports, and the visitor economy.
The second award, a bronze, was for a brochure for the 'Smart Move' campaign, which helps ATEED's priority to attract talented migrants to the region.
The Smart Move campaign includes several videos, and was a cornerstone of ATEED's business programmes showcasing Auckland to visitors during the DHL New Zealand Lions Series 2017 and World Masters Games 2017.
The awards were announced at the IEDC's annual conference in Toronto, Canada.
