Hawke’s Bay Business Growth (Dr Jonathan Sibley)

Hawke’s Bay Business Growth (Dr Jonathan Sibley)

EIT’s School of Business is collaborating with Hawke’s Bay Business, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and local authorities in progressing a study of growth industries in Hawke’s Bay.

The study, which encompasses the views of a wide range of business leaders in Hawke’s Bay and covers a broad range of industry sectors, began in April 2016, spearheaded by EIT deputy chief executive Mark Oldershaw and Associate Professor Jonathan Sibley.

The goals of the study are wide-reaching: to identify key trends impacting future employment and skill requirements in Hawke’s Bay; to better understand the regional support networks required by business; and to identify growing industries which ‘fly under the radar’, such as the digital industry sector.

In the first phase, the project team identified growth industries. In the second stage, the team surveyed expert local business opinion and presented the results at a public seminar in 2017.

The team is now undertaking a detailed study across a broad range of key growth sectors to develop an understanding of specific skill requirements and potential constraints to growth, and will be presenting findings progressively.