Welcome to THE POWER OF STEPPING BACK

31 March 2026: Have you visited, or been part, of events at the new Tech and Innovation Hub, Te Au Pūngao - Marlborough’s home for innovation and collaboration? Just over a year ago, at the February 2026 opening of Te Au Pūngao, Marlborough Deputy Mayor David Croad said, “the new hub would provide the right spaces, resources and networks to enhance problem-solving for industries to ultimately thrive, increase productivity and become more resilient.” 

Te Au Pūngao “for conversations and bold ideas

Almost a year ago, the May 2025 Open Evening at Te Au Pūngao, brought together professionals with diverse interests, including two residents Christopher Cookson and Dr Deborah Early, who, despite living in different parts of Marlborough, find common ground in enjoying the Marlborough sunshine and an interest in Science and Tech. A SciArt judge at the 2025 SciTech Fair, Dr Early also responded to a February 2026 call through Business Trust Marlborough and Angel Investors Marlborough (AIM) to support the Marlborough School Business Challenge. “It is encouraging to see the energy of the students in action”, she said after hearing first-hand about their innovations last week. Being a life-long learner herself, last November she presented, at Te Au Pūngao, on the flow of energy and the role of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) in Marlborough’s tourism resilience. This is in keeping with the gifted name, Te Au Pūngao, which translates to "current of energy".

Recently returned from Wellington, where modeling is used to monitor Moa plant wastewater, Dr Early who completed a UNESCO-IOC summer school on marine ecopharmacovigilance, was interested to learn how modeling is applied domestically. She and Christopher are both wanting to make a meaningful, future-focused contribution to strengthen community and business resilience They have built on tech hub manager, Louisa Murray’s comments “(Te Au Pūngao) is a place for conversation, for bold ideas and for trying things out,” especially regarding “trying things out”.

The real world ecosystem: A Living Lab approach, beyond Te Au Pūngao - to try things out

After seeing a map on a wall at Te Au Pūngao which reflected only the region of “Marlborough Wine”,  Bluewater Endeavour Living Lab  (BELL) founder, Dr Early realised a common identity for Marlborough’s resilience was missing since there are numerous industries across Marlborough. There is also already a living lab at New Zealand Wine Centre Te Pokapū Wāina in Blenheim which has a focus on climate resilience for horticulture. Dr Early and Christopher co-designed BELL's first project “The Identity Anchor”, which includes recreation for resilience. This project introduced social resilience across Marlborough. Social cohesion is the “glue” of resilience and resilience is the ability to cope with disruption; overall there are 4 different types of resilience. As the national research published earlier this year highlights, communities need to be at the heart of emergency management, but tech and innovation also have roles to play in resilience.

Following her joining the Emergency Management Institute, Dr Early is personally trialling, for the Massey University and the Joint Centre for Disaster Research’s Crisis Lab, one of their test communication nodes. She has already tested this communication innovation in the Sounds and Blenheim earlier this month and just in the last few days, at the Flaxbourne Heritage Center and past Kaikōura on SH1 near Cheviot. “Many of us already use a citizen science app “Felt It” to report earthquakes and are aware of Marlborough’s Amy Gibbs WildMark for hunters and anglers and connecting with conservation efforts”, she says. 

Dr Early put an additional challenge to Christopher- “How do we weave science, art, tech and tourism with recreation and resilience?”. As Christopher reflected, “Marlborough has produced people capable of solving a wide range of different kinds of problems in innovative ways, from the first navigators, Polynesian and European like Kupe and Cook or Sir Edmund Hillary, whose name is scrawled on the ceiling of a historic hut in Marlborough’s back country and honed his mountaineering skills here. Literal rocket scientist Sir William Pickering (a senior NASA luminary), and Ernest Rutherford, both from Marlborough, represent scientific innovation”.  

For Christopher, the power of stepping back for a unique wilderness recreation immersion and art-science co-design residency contributed to combined fresh insights for a project of the same name, The Power of Stepping Back. Discover how Dr Early's Sounds and Cities experiences with Christopher's insights meant they subsequently leapt forward together with an innovative resilience approach here. Can you better Christopher’s 28?

Looking Ahead

It is important to recognise that innovation and (outdoor) recreation involves both risks and rewards. With budding entrepreneurs in the region, the October 2025 release of the National Adaptations Framework and the recent Fuel Response Plan Dr Early hopes some of Marlborough’s AIM start-up and Te Au Pūngao tech and innovation resilience efforts, especially those for recreation, tourism and One Health, can be streamlined through relevant BELL project channels This will reduce the gap between academic resilience research and industry application and support future-focused, local resilience planning.

Strengthening Marlborough's One Health resilience, through recreation and tourism, will require engagement from all stakeholders in the quintuple helix, so please reach out with your ways to contribute.

 Photo credits: Christopher Cookson and Deborah Early