Home Page

NEW BANNER - To be supplied on Monday

Following on from the success of earlier events and this years two-day Project: Digital
Disruption conference, AUT University, the US Embassy and SMNZ are partnering again to
deliver the Project 15 event series.
Project 15 will focus on taking New Zealand innovation global. Over two days, 16-17 April
2015, more than a dozen international and local presenters will come together to share their
knowledge and expertise around how New Zealand Inc can continue to develop and export
diverse and unique products and services to global markets.
It's been 10 years since the Facebook phenomenon and only a few years since YouTube was
purchased by Google for $1B. Much has changed over that time and that pace of change
continues to accelerate. Technology has reshaped the look and form of 21st century business.
What will the business landscape look like in two, three, five years and what do you need to
do now to prepare for this uncertain future? The rise of SMAC-smart companies (Social,
Mobile, Analytics (Big Data) and Cloud) is changing the way businesses and consumers use
software applications. The co-creation economy is shifting how we purchase versus share
goods and services. And, The Internet of Things (IOT) will change how we manage
everything.
Project 15 will delve into the near future of all these trends. How will they continue to shift?
How will they evolve and change? And what will we see coming our way over the next few
years as new technologies, new business models and new market strategies emerge?
Project 15 will foster putting global trends into action, to enable New Zealanders and the
companies they lead to innovate and prosper on a global stage.
Together, we can make better business sense of our shifting and evolving digital world.

About The Project Page

Following on from the success of earlier events and this year's two-day Project: Digital
Disruption conference, AUT University, the US Embassy and SMNZ are partnering again to
deliver the Project 15 event series.
Through a quarterly networking event series and an annual conference, Project 15 will
provide a platform for diverse people and networks to converge, collaborate and catalyse
something new and different. Whatever your industry or interest, Project 15 offers a rare

chance to meet the change agents that are putting New Zealand on the map when it comes to
the strategic, creative and commercial implementation of digital technologies and business
innovation.
From bold young start-ups to established businesses, from ICT executives to technology
entrepreneurs, from marketers to manufacturers, from app developers to investors, the
Project 15 event series brings together a unique audience, hungry for a better understanding
of todays opportunities and tomorrows possibilities.
Let's continue to connect the dots and see what we can create.

Buy Tickets
Will send you link to this as soon as the page has been activated at the moment it is in draft
status on Eventfinder.

Speaker Bios
Dr Claire McGowan
Dr. Claire McGowan is CEO of SODA, Hamiltons EDA. Claire has been actively involved
in technology commercialization and investment throughout her career, with a recent shift
during the past three years into governance roles and a range of projects and roles in the
Maori economy.
Claire's passion is in providing opportunities in industry & network development, education
and investment, for entrepreneurs. Claire is from Te Arawa/Ngati Pikiao, and has been
enjoying an active role over the past few years in projects that contribute to the
future creation of wealth for Maori, and New Zealand as a whole.
Claires academic training is a PhD in Molecular Microbiology with an MBA from Otago
University (Dunedin, New Zealand).
http://www.sodainc.com/
Dan Khan
Dan Khan is a serial web technology entrepreneur based in Wellington, New Zealand.
Dans passionate about building a sustainable early-stage tech startup and innovation
ecosystem in New Zealand and connecting NZ to the rest of the world.
Dan was founding Programme Director of the digital startup accelerator, Lightning Lab. His
role in building the early-stage startup landscape has included organizing StartupWeekend
events throughout the country and speaking nationally about early stage startup execution and
lean startup methodologies. Dan writes regular columns for startup publications, and
organizes educational events for the tech startup community.
Dan's been a hacker since he was 10 years old. After exiting a social network venture in the

UK in 2000 as lead software engineer, Dan led two venture-backed tech startups as Chief
Technology Officer. Since, then, Dan has been involved with many other startups at a variety
of board-management and advisory levels.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dankhan

David Smith
David Smith is an entrepreneur, transaction broker and educator with more than 30 years
experience in the high-tech sector. David has founded numerous high-tech startups in Silicon
Valley, Europe and Asia mostly in the areas of online marketplaces, online education,
software, multimedia and Internet publishing. A former Apple World Marketing Manager,
with Apple Computer, David is the founder and CEO of Tynax Inc., a global patent and
technology exchange, founder and president of SVBS Co. Silicon Valley Business School,
founder and director of Silicon Valley High School and author of the books Patents, Cloaks &
Daggers (www.daggers.co), Dollar Value (www.dollarvalue.co) and Zero-to-IPO (www.zeroto-ipo.com). David holds a BSc.(Hons.) Computer Science & Economics from the University
of Leeds (U.K.) and a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law (U.S.).
Dr. Jane Cherrington
Jane has a PhD. 4 kids, 2 dogs and an attitude. She has worked with all types of businesses
from the big global to the small start up. Her own digital innovation story is Good Books:
The online bookstore taking on Amazon for Oxfam.
Jane is head of String Theory, a team of quantum mechanics that work with businesses to
build sustainable value into the DNA of their brands. They bring research, strategy, story, art,
design, digital and data into a mix that gets reconfigured so often and so fast they have
stopped trying to pin it down with a name. As well as working with clients String Theory
have quite a bit of fun designing technology driven tools that they make freely available to
anyone that wants them because they can.