Creative Tech Summit 2025

Global gaming and screen executives will descend on New Zealand’s capital on December 15th for the Creative Tech Summit 2025. Hosted by Screen Wellington this summit will see the UNESCO Creative City of Film cement its place as a world leader in cross-platform storytelling, gaming innovation, and creative technology.

The summit will foster high-value knowledge sharing and collaboration between local creatives, students, and international industry leaders, aiming to ignite a pipeline of cross-media IP, talent development, and future-forward screen production.

The evening will also celebrate Wellington’s unique concentration of creative IP and production expertise including our fast-growing game development sector, indigenous screen storytelling and the emerging AI research ecosystem.

At this pivotal time of convergence across sectors, how can Wellington grow sustainably, and continue to lead authentically? How do we develop, promote and protect our people and unique culture, encouraging engagement and collaboration when creating new worlds.

The one-night summit brings together international experts and keynotes from Kate Edwards, Former Executive Director, International Game Developers Association, Advisory Board Member to GDC and Founder of Geogrify and SetJetters, and Rob Bartholomew, Founder of a start-up team aiming to provide an alternative funding and production models for the games industry, and an Advisor, Consultant and Agent for IP and studios around the world. They join leading New Zealand innovation figures including Dr Johnson Witehira, Artist and Professor of Toi Hangarau (Creative Technologies) at Massey University, Emmy nominated Composer and Music Editor Stephen Gallagher (The Lord of the Rings, The War of the Rohirrim, The Beatles: Get Back), Emma Procter, Research Director at NZ’s largest gaming studio PikPok, Raqi Syed, Director of Miramar Creative Centre and award-winning Filmmaker, and Rik Athorne, Head of Creative Leadership at Wētā Workshop.

The evening will be led by renowned futurist Melissa Clark-Reynolds, who will examine the creative sector’s most disruptive forces — from changes to screen and gaming rebates, to the escalating impact of AI in production pipelines, to how animation, VFX, game development, and IP creation are converging into a unified global industry.

The evening opens with a warm welcome (with a drinks and nibbles), followed by keynotes from Kate Edwards and Rob Bartholomew. Then, campfire chat featuring our two international guests and local creative leaders exploring global trends, new tools, and Wellington’s opportunity to lead in creative tech innovation.

After the talks, stay for an hour of refreshments, games and connection with speakers and fellow attendees.

Event Timing:

6.00 pm - 6.30 pm - Networking, drinks and nibbles. 
6.30 pm - 7:15 pm - Keynote speakers. 
7.15 pm - 8.00 pm - A special 'campfire chat' with the full panel and audience questions. 
8.00 pm - 9.00 pm - Time to network, play games, drink and eat some more.  

Key Note Speaker Summaries:

Kate Edwards: The Cultural Legacy and Impact of Games

With over 30 years pioneering game culturalization, Kate Edwards has helped shape how over 300 games have authentically reached global audiences. In this keynote, she explores games not just as entertainment but as powerful cultural artifacts that reflect and influence modern society. Kate will discuss how interactive worlds carry our values, identities, and shared stories, and why creators today hold immense responsibility in shaping cultural understanding. Drawing from her extensive global experience in the field, she highlights the lasting impact games have on communities, communication, and collective memory - revealing why games matter now more than ever as expressions of human culture.

Robert Bartholomew: From Idea to Greenlight: Stacking the Odds in Games and Film

In 2025, original ideas are under pressure. Budgets are tighter, audiences are overwhelmed with choice, and support from publishers or financiers often comes too late in the process, if it comes at all. This talk is about how we can quietly give brave projects a commercial spine, so they have a better chance of surviving from first spark to greenlight. Drawing on my experience working with both triple A studios on global franchises and small independent teams, I will share stories and observations about what makes a concept feel “real” to partners. In particular, how early thinking about audience, scope and sustainability can sit alongside the creative work, rather than arriving as an afterthought. Critically, I will touch on a few crossover insights from my own start-ups research, where habits from one industry might inspire the other. The goal is to offer useful questions and examples that creatives in Wellington could adapt to give their next idea a stronger chance of reaching an audience - and a call to work closer together to find the undiscovered knowledge we might be taking for granted.