Director's welcome

The University of Auckland Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) is a community that provides opportunities for students and staff across all faculties at the University of Auckland to develop entrepreneurial mindsets and innovative capability. By developing our people for innovative careers or start-up creation, we are also building a future of prosperity for Aotearoa New Zealand and creating a world of opportunity.

CIE nurtures groundbreaking ideas and enables participants to help activate those ideas into start-ups that challenge the status quo and enable social, environmental and economic prosperity.

Whether you want to develop your innovation and technology skills, get expert advice on your big idea or build confidence and capability to build a start-up, this is your safe space to experiment and grow your future.

CIE is here to support you on your journey. We pride ourselves on providing you with free access to award-winning educational resources to learn and develop through our programmes, workshops and seminars.

These opportunities will equip you to stand out and create value, both professionally and personally, with a view to ultimately helping you make an impact and contribute to a changing and better world. It can also be formally recognised on your transcript.

Our community’s success is evidenced by our alumni – more than 30,000 people have had an experience with CIE, and many have gone on to be innovators and industry leaders. They have also created numerous start-ups addressing innovations in energy, water, medicine, education, agriculture, mental health and more. The type of start-ups created exemplifies Aotearoa New Zealand values. Our people are driven to create meaningful solutions that affect our community’s economic, environmental and social wellbeing.

Since 2020, CIE has won 12 international awards for its success in empowering students and staff. Our CIE community have gone into exciting roles globally in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and taken their skills into other contexts, and those who founded startups have ignited hundreds of ventures, created thousands of jobs in 195 countries and raised more than $5.1 billion in capital.

Join us! Explore our website to find out more about this world of opportunity.

Darsel Keane
CIE Director