A new year brings a new theme and some exiciting new developments for the Young Innovator Awards. The new theme 'whats new, whats next' promotes the idea of looking at what has been to create something innovative for the future.

The new site will be launched in March, which will provide a more indepth view of the awards and their development.

We have added a new Young Professionals category this year which is sponsored by GroPlus and Steve Saunders. This will enable anyone under 40 with a great idea to enter. Michelle McCarthy from Priority One is working with the INSTEP team of Lyn Parlane and Jill Beedie to push YIA out to all the active young professionals out there. With so many talented young people in the bay we are really looking forward to some fascinating entries.

We are also proud to announce our Guest Speaker for the Awards in August - NZX liste Biotech company Pacific Edge CEO David Darling. David has a long and successful career as a leading in genetics (Forestry and Healthcare) and will talk about his background, experience and learnings.

This year we will also hopefully bring an 'Innovation Forum' to the Bay of Plenty where 5 people who are innovators in their fields will share their insights about innovation based on their real world experience. This is scheduled on the 9th of August and will be a highlight for this years events.

This year all the teachers are getting together with our team, Woods Creative and Priority One to talk through the programme prior to the official launch on March the 12th. Shortly thereafter the YIA opens up and starts in full going out to the schools. The same as last year the two teams from Locus Research and Woods Creative will venture out to each school and present and talk to the students.

Visit www.yia.co.nz