New Zealand’s aspiring leaders and entrepreneurs are about to put their best feet forward for the launch of the Venture Up 2019 youth accelerator this month.

“Entrepreneurship is in our core in New Zealand, so we need to focus on what we’re good at – innovative products."

"New Zealand has seen little change in education and training to close the talent gap," says mission director Diana Sharma.

“It’s great to see the tourism sector taking a proactive and collaborative approach to innovation."

The mountainous backdrop of Queenstown is set to become the location of Creative HQ’s newest 2019 Venture Up accelerator for young entrepreneurs.

The three-month-long SportsTech Accelerator program is looking for ten SportsTech startups that are interested in developing new technology solutions.

Using Creative HQ’s Lightning Lab, the Centrality Accelerator will support ventures to become business-ready and trained for success.

​ZeroPoint Ventures has officially wrapped up its 0.Sprint mini-accelerator programme, which is designed to boost business progress in a single week.

Vodafone has announced its upcoming Vodafone xone class of 2018, as it gets set to take nine of New Zealand’s best tech-based startups global.

Firestation is located in Rotorua’s central business district and will run its ACCELERATE business training programme next month.

Now in its third year, Mahuki has a strong reputation for developing leading digital businesses for the culture and heritage sector.

“The startups this year are a step up again from the ventures involved in the inaugural accelerator."

"This format allows a real venture to test quickly whether what they’re thinking of doing is the right direction, and if not, pivot much faster."

RIP Global is a cloud-based expense reporting and bookkeeping solution.

Eight startups will receive a total package valued at more than $150,000 including seed-funding and access to world-class technology.

Kōkiri recognises that Māori have strong links to place, which may have been a barrier to participation in mainstream accelerators.

Last July, the NSW Government committed $35 million to create a leading startup and innovation hub.

Companies are using blockchain to manage payments, creating chatbots, helping freelancers fulfil their tax obligations, and much more.

“One of the benefits of being in an accelerator program is that even once you finish the formal process, you’re not evicted.”

Lightning Lab GovTech accelerator will launch in mid-2018 with a cohort of up to 10 local and international teams.

Launchpad Work is an accelerator for enterprises wanting to provide jobs or training for those who face the greatest barriers to work.

Logan Williams has been selected to take part in the startup accelerator programme to help turn his ideas into an innovative business.

Kiwi startups can learn much from what’s happening in Fintech markets in China, India and Vietnam.

New Zealand has some statistics we can’t be proud of right now, statistics around youth suicide, around homelessness, around incarceration.