Legacy project delivers wins for Wellington in first year

Business Events Wellington (BEW) has celebrated the first year of its Legacy Programme with 12 conferences delivering new career pathways, new regulations and new investment opportunities for Wellington and New Zealand in the past 12 months.

BEW Manager Irette Ferreira says the aim of the Legacy Programme is to achieve both the host organisation’s strategic objectives and to drive positive change through conferences. This is done through supporting conference organisers to plan and leverage specific activities in the event programme to tackle the challenges they face or to address a local need.

“By facilitating, measuring and documenting these actions, we can see the wider positive impacts these conferences have generated beyond the benefits to Wellington’s visitor economy.”

Key objectives across the participating conferences included building better connections, attracting more investment, growing diversity, improving Government support, and increasing public awareness of career opportunities within their industry.

Feedback showed that 82% of attendees felt they achieved their main objective for attending the conference, with 75% saying they would do something new or different in their work as a result of attending the conference.

Highlights included the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC 58), which aimed to address a lack of diversity in the younger generation studying IT. BEW connected APNIC to two local organisations, Tūhura Tech and Summer of Tech, who encouraged IT students to attend the conference, with Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington also sponsoring 20 students to attend.

The Life Sciences Summit 2024 sought to address a lack of government awareness of the biotech sector and to stress the importance of new regulations about gene modification. Hosting the event in the capital city of Wellington ensured good attendance from government organisations, who were strategically partnered with biotech industry delegates at round table sessions. After the conference, the government stated that biotech is in its top three science industry priorities, and announced it will write new gene regulations with help from the biotech industry.

The creation of the inaugural Wellington Games Week was a standout success which helped the NZ Game Developers Conference (NZGDC) 2024 build on its objective of growing game development in New Zealand. Strategically positioned prior to the NZGDC, it hosted 24 events showcasing the region’s vibrant gaming culture, welcoming some 1500 attendees. In addition, NZGDC’24 welcomed four international scouts and hosted a city familiarisation tour for international games studios, developers, and investors to see games and associated tech in development, leading to increased interest from international companies in calling Wellington home.

“We are excited about 2025,” Irette adds. “The city is welcoming an excellent lineup of international conferences this year, many of whom are looking to make a positive impact on Wellington and Aotearoa.

“Most clients already have a specific need in mind, and we’re ready to make the connections to meet their objectives.”