Over the last 10 years Ōtepoti-Dunedin has seen significant growth and investment contributing to the establishment and scaling up of businesses.
From startups, health tech to game development, these are the Dunedin sectors to watch.
Game development
In 2019 Dunedin used its GigCity status to establish the government-backed New Zealand Centre of Digital Excellence (CODE).
Today, Dunedin has a fully-fledged game development ecosystem; from education pathways to networking and workshops on how to pitch to publishers. Dunedin-made product is now ahead of the game and studios, previous CODE grant recipients, are seeing tangible outcomes.
Several titles are now on digital game platform Steam, while others are being backed by venture capitalists to get into the consumer market or are signing deals with publishers.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich says the expansion of the national programme is reflective of the thriving game development ecosystem established in Dunedin over the past few years as the headquarters of CODE.
“The process, pathways, relationships, and expertise from Dunedin is supporting the wider economic goal of creating a $1b sector in New Zealand. CODE has delivered a range of outcomes in Dunedin including the creation of more than 20 studios and 120 jobs since its conception.”
CODE Industry Development Manager Vee Pendergrast says Dunedin studios have some great work coming down the pipeline.
“We have a number of New Zealand developers who are actively on a launch trajectory with their games now, so lining up publishers, platform deals and industry partners is exactly what they are looking for".
Dunedin studio Deep Field Games which previously received CODE funding produced survival game Abiotic Factor which became a sleeper hit when it launched on digital game platform Steam in May.
Other studios eyeing up similar success include Mune, Atawhai Interactive, Usual Suspects and Balancing Monkey Games.
Health and health tech
The New Dunedin Hospital currently under construction is the largest build in Aotearoa’s history, reflecting $1.68 billion in government investment.
Enterprise Dunedin is also exploring how to take advantage of the thriving CODE ecosystem model to adapt it for the health sector.
The opportunity to further support and connect health, innovation and education and research has been a long standing ambition for the city's Economic Development Strategy. The development of CODE and the New Dunedin Hospital has provided the impetus to bring together community, clinicians, researchers and entrepreneurs and city leaders to consider a new centre of excellence and med tech hub in the city
Dunedin already has a network of new and existing businesses in this field including app startups Wofo, Sahaa and Elli Cares, diagnostics company Pacific Edge, clinician software tools BPAC and Elixir, biotech companies like Amaroq Therapeutics, eye care tech oDocs, or even holistic health businesses like Zestt Wellness and Wild Dispensary.
A hub for startups and innovation
Alongside these established businesses Dunedin has a thriving startup community and innovation scene thanks to organisations like Startup Dunedin, Petridish and its newly completed product design hub Inventor’s Lab.
Startup Dunedin’s goal is to make Ōtepoti the world’s most entrepreneurial small city. They do this by supporting startup business to reach their goals or fail fast in order to learn and fall upwards towards success.
Successful alumni include home coffee roaster manufacturer Kaffelogic, safety data app Scannable and agricultural AI company Ingenum.
Startup Dunedin helps build confidence, community, connections and capability for new businesses and founders as well as providing an incubator programme to scale up and grow startups.
Yvette Shum, founder of award-winning sustainable period product company Coralcone, says she found the startup community in Dunedin has been incredibly supportive.
Supplied
Award-winning sustainable period product company Coralcone went through the Distiller Incubator programme.
Founder Yvette Shum says she found the startup community in Dunedin has been incredibly supportive.
“I went first through the Distiller Incubator with Startup Dunedin and to this day they’ve been so supportive and encouraging of me and my startup which is really important if you’re a first-time founder. I found it really special.”
Growth in key sectors
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services has made the largest contribution to overall growth in Dunedin City between 2022 and 2023. The industry grew by 9.7% over the period and contributed $55.3m to the district's total growth of $165.6m. The next largest contributor was healthcare and social assistance.
These areas along with game development, and the startup space have been scaling up and thriving in Dunedin, Enterprise Dunedin Economic Development Manager Fraser Liggett says.
“You walk around Dunedin, the tertiary precinct or warehouse precinct and within a stone’s throw you’ll have a Emmy-award winning software company, a multi-million dollar indie game studio who’s just made massive global hit and places like CODE, Startup Dunedin and Petridish which fosters this entrepreneurial community. It’s a Dunedin thing, and these successes are a result of that.”
Find out more info on living and working in Dunedin: https://www.dunedinnz.com/live-and-work
