The Innovation Lab & Hackathon, brought to you by Horticulture Advisory Group Hawke's Bay, The Brave Venture, NZAPI, and Workplace Wellness.

Join us for a hands-on day to tackle grower challenges, connect with tech providers, share your concerns directly with government reps, and inspire youth about careers in horticulture. Let's work together on practical solutions for a sustainable and thriving industry.

The Innovation Lab brings together key industry members to collaborate on current and future challenges for Hawkes Bay growers. On-farm decision-makers and technologists will work together to identify common issues and develop innovative solutions, with government and local council representatives present to engage in discussions and explore opportunities.

In the Hackathon, young entrepreneurs, IT workers, future growers, and startup enthusiasts will work on solving the challenges identified by the Innovation Lab. At the end of the day, they will create and pitch novel solutions and new product ideas to industry experts in the Innovation Lab.

Joint breaks will offer networking opportunities between Innovation Lab and Hackathon participants, encouraging collaboration and innovation toward practical, novel solutions through idea testing. The day will also feature a keynote speaker on financial wellbeing and resilience in the workplace and a showcase of new technologies.

Don’t miss out - reserve your spot now, as tickets (which are free, thanks to our sponsors) are limited! There will also be some prize packs available throughout the day, thanks to our sponsors.

What does the day look like?

	Innovation Lab (for on-farm decision makers, owners, operators, management, technologists working industry)	Hackathon (for young entrepreneurs, students, people interested in start-ups or new product generation, future growers, young IT workers)
8:00	Welcome & Registration	Welcome & Registration
8:30 -10:00	Identifying & articulating common challenges	Team formation, goal setting, and startup methodology
10:00 - 10:30	Joint morning tea & networking	Joint morning tea & networking
10:30 - 12:00	Landscape scan & current responses	Delve into problem statements, focus on customers, work toward solutions
12:00 - 12:45	Joint lunch with Keynote	Joint lunch with Keynote
12:45 - 2:30	Showcase and demonstration of new technologies	Build and iterate potential solutions.
2:30 - 3:00	Joint afternoon tea & networking	Joint afternoon tea & networking
3:00 - 4:45	Exploring innovative solutions	Finalise idea and prepare pitch
4:45 - 6:00	View Hackathon Pitches & Networking	Pitch to Innovation Lab, Networking