News & Events | Priority One Western Bay of Plenty

Education system needs to prepare students for innovation era

A sense of urgency is required to rethink how we prepare our young people to thrive in an era of innovation and key to this is providing more time for free learning, according to an internationally...

How do you want our city to develop over the next 30 years?

Earlier this month SmartGrowth released the Future Development Strategy for consultation. SmartGrowth is a partnership of the three local councils and Tangata Whenua – it sets the future...

Groundswell highlights Bay’s culture of innovation and collaboration

Late August saw the second Groundswell Festival of Innovation take place at a range of venues across Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty. Please click here to read the rest of the September...

Opportunities to partner with world class companies doing business from the Bay.

There's little doubt that the economy in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty is in great shape. According to the latest data from economic research company, Infometrics, we have grown...

Bay’s innovation in the spotlight through Groundswell festival

August sees Tauranga and the Western Bay host the Groundswell Festival of Innovation. We ran this festival for the first time last year and we’re very pleased to be able to put it on...

Young Innovator Awards help develop smart skills for our future workforce

June saw the Western Bay of Plenty's budding young innovators finalising their 'innovations' for the 2018 Young Innovator Awards competition. YiA is a great initiative for local...

Spotlight shines on Tauranga for Techweek'18 innovation events

Last week saw the annual Techweek festival being held across New Zealand, and it was really pleasing to have a number of excellent events taking place in this region. The most prominent...

Strong, bold leadership from local authorities required to support economic growth

We were kept busy during April preparing submissions to local authority long term plans. This is when the three councils covering the Western Bay sub-region prepare their budgets for the next...

Tauranga tops the country on all key measures of economic growth

Last month I wrote enthusiastically about the Bay's robust growth, reflected in a range of key indicators. Since then economic analysts, Infometrics, have released their growth statistics...

Bay's robust economy reflected in range of key indicators

Recently I've read about what 2018 will herald for the business community and the economy in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty. I've been surprised at some relatively negative...

Closing the year in a good economic position, with exciting prospects for the region in 2018

As we look back on 2017, it’s obvious that this year has been a great one for our regional economy. Businesses in Tauranga and the Western Bay have been thriving on the back of favourable...

Priority One's vision for a unique, bold, innovative and future focused region

More people are bypassing Auckland and heading for attractive coastal cities like Tauranga and rural towns such as Te Puke and Katikati. Aucklanders are also selling up, cashing and moving for...

What are our expectations for the region with the change of government?

We have noted with interest the new government’s position and policies from an economic perspective. It certainly raises the questions of what do these mean for the region and what should...

Business focused strategy to underpin sustainable economic growth

We’ve recently taken the opportunity to refresh our economic development strategy at Priority One. It’s really important that we ensure our organisational strategy is in line with...

Tauranga city abuzz during week of innovation

August saw the inaugural Groundswell event held - Tauranga's festival of innovation. Priority One was proud to put on this event and we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of interest...

Unique industry collaboration drives establishment of new high-tech research institute in the Bay

By now you’ll probably have heard that the government recently approved our proposal for a new regional research Institute to be based in the Western Bay sub-region. This is an absolute...

Bay shines as culture of collaboration drives innovation

One of the first things I noticed when I started working for Priority One was the strong culture of collaboration that exists in the Western Bay sub-region. The ethos of trust and working...

Business leaders confident but attracting skills a barrier to growth

As a business member-based economic development agency – a unique model in New Zealand – it’s essential that Priority One’s work is aligned to the needs and aspirations of...