Bringing Quality Homes Within Reach of More New Zealanders
Our Whare Our Fale
Central Pacific Collective (CPC) aims to build up to 300 fit-for-purpose, secure and affordable homes for Pacific families in Eastern Porirua. This funding proposal supports a research project within the Our Whare Our Fale programme to identify the most important design characteristics for housing developed with—and for—Pacific communities. The research will inform not only the design of homes, but also the design of the wider neighbourhood: how housing, shared spaces, and amenities connect to strengthen community cohesion and wellbeing, aligned to the vision of “Reimagining the Pacific village in 21st century Aotearoa.”
Ka Uruora
Ka Uruora delivers an iwi-led, collective partnership model that brings together iwi, the Crown, communities, and values-aligned funding and service partners to improve Māori intergenerational access to home ownership and quality housing. Building on its Taranaki experience and learnings, the Ka Uruora model is now ready to expand as a national, iwi-led approach across other regions of Aotearoa. This funding application would support Ka Uruora to implement that expansion—establishing local iwi-led engagement, education, support, and service-delivery partnerships to help iwi and Māori in these regions access home ownership and quality housing.
Equotee
Equotee is developing a flexible equity management platform for housing, responding to the growing trend of first-home buyers “banding together to achieve more” for affordable housing in Aotearoa. Equotee is designed to support a range of needs, including papakāinga, equity partners, and guarantors. The platform aims to help users leverage equity to reduce barriers along housing pathways—or enable co-owners to do more with existing equity, such as funding home improvements or retrofits that reduce carbon footprints.
Financing and Incentivising the Decarbonisation of Aotearoa
Daisy Lab – Dairy without the cow
Daisy Lab is creating dairy-identical proteins without cows using precision fermentation. These proteins can be used to produce familiar dairy products such as yoghurt and ice cream. While suitable for vegans, the target market is broader—anyone who consumes traditional dairy. Westpac NZ Government Innovation funding will help Daisy Lab expand its research by adding additional species and proteins, growing its R&D team, and purchasing essential reagents and equipment. This will increase the likelihood of progressing to lab-scale fermentation—supporting decarbonisation outcomes for Aotearoa.
View case study
Cawthron Institute – Decarbonising Aotearoa through large-scale seagrass regeneration
Seagrasses—flowering plants in shallow coastal waters—have significant potential to help fight climate change. International research indicates they can capture carbon far faster than many terrestrial ecosystems, yet seagrass meadows are being lost rapidly worldwide. Restoring them could meaningfully increase ocean carbon storage and help mitigate climate change. In Aotearoa, however, seed-based restoration methods are still underdeveloped. Cawthron Institute will conduct research to develop a blueprint for seed-based seagrass restoration, providing community groups, councils, iwi and others with a step-by-step guide to restore seagrass meadows across Aotearoa.
Restoring Aotearoa New Zealand’s Seagrass Meadows – Cawthron Institute
Infrastructure Sustainability Council – Accelerating and scaling decarbonisation and wellbeing outcomes through infrastructure sustainability
The Infrastructure Sustainability Council is developing a digital rating tool and supporting materials calculator tailored to the New Zealand market to help decarbonise infrastructure. Funding will accelerate the tool’s path to market and improve accessibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. It will also support capability building to drive widespread adoption, strengthen broader acceptance, and help shift “hearts and minds” across this critical sector.
Infrastructure Sustainability Council (iscouncil.org)
Auckland Council – Students Decarbonising Schools
Students Decarbonising Schools is an Auckland Council-led initiative empowering students to identify practical, high-impact solutions for climate action in their schools and communities. The programme harnesses collective action, encourages wider behaviour change, and shares learnings nationally to help shape the future of student-led climate action and the decarbonisation of Aotearoa’s schools.
Students tackling climate change – OurAuckland (aucklandcouncil.govt.nz)
Financing and Incentivising the Decarbonisation of Aotearoa Research
A research report commissioned by the fund and delivered by ThinkPlace on Financing and Incentivising the Decarbonisation of Aotearoa, produced to support the seventh intake.
Download the Report
Sponsorship
Creative HQ – GovTech Year 2
GovTech Accelerator Programme Foundational Partner
A three-year foundational partnership with the Creative HQ GovTech Accelerator Programme to drive public sector innovation. This year’s programme included 14 government projects, NGOs, and startups—each focused on the social and environmental challenges facing Aotearoa.
Find out more
Inspiring Stories
In October 2022, WGIF sponsored Inspiring Stories to prototype and test two regional youth summits—free and inclusive experiences for over 100 rangatahi in the Bay of Plenty (Ōpōtiki) and Northland (Whangārei). Each event delivered a high-quality day of connection, inspiration, and action, and served as a launchpad to develop and support youth-led ideas for change. The Youth Summits were designed to:
- Build innovation and leadership experience, knowledge, and skills
- Strengthen connections with leaders from local business, community, and government
- Explore key issues affecting each community/region’s future
- Develop and present ideas to make a difference locally
- Put ideas into action through a local impact challenge
Inspiring Stories
Ngā Mihi – providing essentials for people in our prisons
In 2022, WGIF committed $50,000 and partnered with the GovTech team to accelerate the impact of their solution. Ngā Mihi is a social enterprise that enables the purchase and delivery of pre-approved goods to people in New Zealand Corrections facilities. Developed by Take2 graduates with lived experience of the system, the service removes barriers to accessing essentials like socks, shoes, and underwear. Ngā Mihi’s Essentials Store allows people in prison to request approved items. Orders are reviewed and approved by Corrections, then a unique link is sent to whānau to complete the purchase. Whānau receive regular updates on shipping and delivery to the person in prison.
Ngā Mihi | Home
UpSouth
In 2022, WGIF sponsored an Auckland Council team, UpSouth, to participate in the NZ GovTech Accelerator. UpSouth is a call-to-action platform that amplifies rangatahi voices in Tāmaki Makaurau and across Aotearoa. It is a digital-first solution created through co-design with young people to relieve engagement pressures. Organisations provide micro-financing to support rangatahi ideas through genuine engagement, with an open invitation and fair compensation encouraging participation. Being heard, building community, and contributing to the future planning of the city helps keep people engaged. Building on a successful South Auckland pilot, UpSouth aims to develop a viable social-impact venture with partners across the private, public, and third sectors—supporting an economy of mana.
UpSouth
The Wellbeing Protocol – Rethinking Community Grants
The Wellbeing Protocol is building digital tools to empower communities—starting with the challenge of navigating complex grant funding systems. In late 2022, WGIF joined Sport NZ and Callaghan Innovation to support The Wellbeing Protocol’s work to develop a new grant funding model.
Find out more
Improving Supply Chain Transparency
Trust Alliance NZ (TANZ)
Building on established TANZ workstreams, this initiative continues developing an interoperable, secure data-sharing framework for the primary industries. It enables stakeholders and data owners across the value chain to share data in a permissioned and controlled way—reducing repetitive, redundant submissions to multiple government organisations for growers, producers, and others.
TANZ Website
InSite – Reynolds Group Ltd
A solution designed to enhance and verify compliance with HACCP best practices in food processing, increase transparency with supply chain partners, reduce compliance costs, and provide control and security when sharing commercially sensitive information.
Reynolds Group Ltd Website
Social Accountability At Sea
Ackama, in partnership with Terra Moana Limited, is developing and trialling a technical solution that enables fishing companies to self-assess against a complex matrix of conventions, standards, and criteria (including from local and international NGOs). The goal is to support best-practice worker welfare and help companies demonstrate that their products are free from human rights abuse.
Supply Chain Transparency Research
Research commissioned by the fund on the current state of supply chain transparency.
Link to resources:
Sponsorship
Creative HQ – GovTech Year 1
GovTech Accelerator Programme Foundational Partner
A three-year foundational partnership with the Creative HQ GovTech Accelerator Programme to drive public sector innovation. This year’s programme focused on sustainability in all its forms.
Find out more
Sustainable Supply Chain Toolbox (Now Docket)
WGIF sponsored a team from MBIE and SBN to participate in the GovTech Accelerator, focused on making New Zealand supply chains more sustainable. This business–government partnership combined knowledge and scale to support sustainability through supply chains, creating a tool for small-to-medium businesses. The tool has since launched as “Docket.”
Docket – SBN (sustainable.org.nz)
Manaaki Tairāwhiti
In 2021, WGIF committed $50,000 and partnered with a GovTech team to accelerate the impact of their work. Manaaki Tairāwhiti is catalysing positive change in the social services sector for whānau in Tairāwhiti. Through the GovTech Accelerator, they created Urungi—an approach that supports accurate and efficient data collection and analysis. Urungi enables real-time capture and aggregation of challenges faced by whānau, supporting systemic improvements with whānau voices at the centre.
Home – Manaaki Tairāwhiti
Future of Work
Manurewa High School Te Kura Tuarua o Manurewa – Business Academy
The Manurewa High Business Academy programme is designed to prepare large numbers of young Māori and Pacifica for their future in work. It builds strong learning connections with business experts and creates life-changing opportunities and pathways to employment—breaking down barriers for young people and their communities.
View case study
Signal My Soft Skills and Employability: A Digital Resource for Job Seekers (EMPLE)
Soft skills are among the hardest employability attributes to signal to employers—especially for people with limited work experience or networks. While most employers value soft skills, there is often little agreement on how to define or measure them. EMPLE will gather feedback from intended user groups (job seekers, youth, vulnerable worker groups) to validate demand, requirements, and potential partners. The outcome will be a high-quality report with recommendations.
Non-standard work survey – Accordant
A survey and report led by Accordant gathered feedback from significant numbers of contingent workers and government-sector hiring stakeholders about non-permanent work. The report includes insights and opportunities, including:
- Why organisations and job seekers should consider non-permanent work
- Benefits of temporary work for both workers and employers
- How to overcome barriers and improve the temporary worker experience
- Ways to reshape hiring processes and improve onboarding for non-permanent workers
- How to grow impact and productivity to maximise the benefits of a temporary workforce
Findings are available on the Accordant website.
Accordant Website
Socius XR
VR applications to help people with neuro-diversities practise social interaction skills related to employment. With over 70 million people on the autism spectrum globally—and over 93,000 in New Zealand—challenges in social settings can significantly affect employment opportunities. Socius XR is using emerging technology to help reduce these barriers.
Socius XR’s website
The Social Experiment – The Online Experiment 2021
A radical educational alternative that puts mindset at the centre—supporting rangatahi to approach the future of work as lifelong learners who contribute meaningfully. In the face of societal and ecological challenges, Millennials and Gen Z increasingly seek opportunities to create impact. Traditional education and leadership models are not keeping pace. The Social Experiment (SOX) is a programme designed by and for Millennials and Gen Z, helping participants find purpose in their current or future workplaces while building the skills to drive change.
The Social Experiment Website
Future of work skills systems research – Ivanov Consulting
Ivanov Consulting is conducting research into the systems New Zealand has in place to teach Future of Work skills, including an assessment of accessibility. The result will be a report mapping existing government and non-government programmes designed to address future skills gaps.
Ivanov Consulting website
Future of Work Research
A research report commissioned by the fund and delivered by ThinkPlace on the Future of Work, produced to support the fifth intake.
Link to download the Report
Financial Inclusion
3BF (3 Bags Full) – Bringing digital jobs to schools
3BF reduces barriers to employment and economic prosperity by taking digital jobs directly into schools—enabling students to earn while they learn.
https://kidscoin.co.nz
Pocketful
Pocketful is a mobile financial inclusion app that brings together an AI-driven chatbot (Penny), budgeting tools, ID, payments, financial training, and connections to the financial assistance ecosystem—delivering an integrated financial fitness solution. Pocketful helps users build a daily budget, set up a savings plan, plan to get out of debt, and connect to support services—everything needed to get financially fit.
Optimising Government Payment Processes
Fund a Future (Now SuperGenerous)
A platform that upcycles unclaimed donation tax rebates back to charities.
“The gift that keeps on giving. Every time you donate to a charity, school or religious organisation, you are eligible for a 33% donation rebate, but most Kiwis never bother with the paperwork. SuperGenerous makes it easy to claim back your rebate and put your share to good use – whether that means regifting it to charity or keeping it for yourself.”
View case study
Improving Victim Reparation Payments
Ministry of Justice options analysis to explore moving away from cheques for paying victim reparations.
Public Service Optimisation
Population Density – Data Ventures – Stats NZ
A pilot of Data Ventures’ Population Density solution—yearly, monthly, weekly, and hourly indicators of population totals at area and suburb level, down to hour-by-hour frequency. This supports better decision-making for emergency planning, tourism, transport, biosecurity, accommodation, construction, energy, education, and retail.
Data Ventures Website
SituateMe – Resilience chatbot
A pilot of SituateMe’s “Resilience” chatbot with Auckland Emergency Management. SituateMe provides AI-backed chatbots that automate data collection for emergency services and deliver fast, personalised information for citizens caught up in an emergency.
The Generator Platform
A mobile and digital platform supporting community representatives to broker seed funding for people in hardship—helping them pursue micro-business opportunities and move toward financial independence.
Driven by Emerge Aotearoa and Vaka Tautua with support from MSD.
View case study
Sponsorship
Manawa – Measuring whānau wellbeing
Hear our voices: a better way to measure the effectiveness of social services for Māori.
WGIF sponsored a team led by the Social Wellness Agency (SWA) and local community representatives to join the 2019 GovTech Accelerator programme. The project is now creating software that combines whānau voices with existing government data to improve how social sector contracts are designed and delivered.
The Social Wellbeing Agencies’ website
All Themes
Ministry of Education – Scoping project
A scoping project exploring digitally assisted technologies for the Ministry of Education.
Voluntari.ly
An online marketplace connecting schools seeking tech-knowledgeable adults with corporate volunteers who can teach the new Digital Technology Curriculum.
Voluntarily website
AML/CFT Digital identity – Discovery project
Investigating how digital identity could help small businesses meet AML/CFT obligations.
DIA website
Direct Investments
2018 Direct Investments
MyTrove
Developing a death notification and data delivery service in partnership with DIA to process and disseminate identity and personal data related to end-of-life administration. MyTrove is a free service that helps selected individuals (family members, lawyers, etc.) notify multiple organisations after someone has passed away—at the click of a button.
MyTrove website
Open Banking showcase
A feasibility project to design and build an “Open Banking Challenge” to explore and showcase the potential of emerging technology.
2017 Direct Investments
Disease Surveillance – Can transaction data shape government policy?
Professor Shaun Hendy, Director of Te Pūnaha Matatini (a Centre of Research Excellence hosted by the University of Auckland), and his team investigated historical, anonymised bank transaction data to explore whether spending patterns in a community after a disease outbreak could be identified—and potentially modelled to give government policy advisors new insights into how communities respond to large-scale events.
View case study
Exploring cheque use in New Zealand from a human-centred perspective
A research project exploring the human-centred challenges of cheque use and identifying pathways to transition individuals and organisations to alternatives. The aim was to produce actionable insights for banks, businesses, and government agencies to support a shift to lower-cost, more durable, and more sustainable payment services.
Link to download the research
Cheque Transition Government Working Group
The fund established and supported a cross-government working group to share challenges and explore solutions for transitioning away from cheques.
MPI Virtual Border Assistant
Testing the technological and social feasibility of applying AI avatars to border control. “Vai” (Virtual Assistant Interface)—New Zealand’s first digital biosecurity officer—was deployed at Auckland Airport in early 2018 after months of prototyping, testing, refinement, and training.
2 Shakes – AML for SMEs
An anti-money laundering solution for SMEs to onboard new clients faster by simplifying customer onboarding and reducing friction from regulations, compliance, and permissions.
2Shakes website
2017 Sponsorships
GovHack Aotearoa
Sponsorship of the 2017 GovHack Aotearoa event.
NZ Innovation Council
Sponsorship of the NZ Innovation Council Awards.
2016 Direct Investments
Cyber Credentials
A cyber credentials scheme to raise cyber security awareness among New Zealand SMEs and help them implement practical protections. The pilot programme developed a cyber security audit service designed for busy small business owners navigating a fast-changing threat landscape.