While many of the stories on this blog are about day to day policy and political issues, I’m more interested in the big ideas of how we improve New Zealand and that’s the way I’m focusing my paid work. So I was really pleased to see a story from Canterbury about their V5 project, which aims to “identify up to five projects of national significance that each have the potential to generate $100 million of revenue for the Canterbury Region within five years and $1 billion or more in revenue within 20 years”.

The project came out of the Canterbury employers’ summit last year and has been championed by Rod Carr, VC of the University of Canterbury, with the support of Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce and Christchurch Development Corporation. The Press has written a story and editorial on the issue that you can read, but I’d rather you focus on the projects that have won. Check out their storyboards and have a think about how you could help support similar big projects.

1. Central Plains Water Enhancement - major irrigation project
2. Hurunui Water Project - major irrigation project
3. International Student Village - central city initiative to attract another 1000 international students
4. Te Ao Hou - using waste runoff from agricultural land and solar technology to grow algae to support an aquaculture project (and much more).

The support package for each winner is detailed below at the V5 site and includes up to 50 days of professional services per project and other support.