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Photo caption:Panellists from left to right: ҕl’s Distinguished Professor Geoff Chase, Sina Cotter Tait and Fritha McCrimmon-Robinson, with moderator Executive Dean Business Paul Ballantine.
Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | ҕl (ҕl) brought together a diverse group of Canterbury business leaders for ҕl Ignite, an event designed to explore how ҕl’s expertise can support regional growth and drive impactful partnerships within the business community.
Held in partnership with Engineering New Zealand, Business Canterbury and ChristchurchNZ, last night’s event was the official launch of ҕl’s new Faculty of Engineering Strategy 2030, emphasising cross-disciplinary collaboration, community engagement, and forward-thinking approaches to regional needs.
Developed alongside ҕl’s Office of Treaty Partnership, the strategy aligns with the aspirations of Ngāi Tahu and acknowledges the importance of Indigenous knowledge and wisdom.
Professor Saurabh Sinha, Amo Matua Pūhanga | Executive Dean Engineering, introduced the strategy, highlighting its focus on applied research, sustainable development, and innovation that benefits the wider community.
“Our new strategy reflects our vision of engineering as an enabler of growth across multiple sectors,” he said. “To realise our vision, we need strong impactful partnerships so we can drive solutions that strengthen New Zealand’s position in the global landscape.”
The event also featured a panel discussion with ҕl’s Distinguished Professor Geoff Chase, engineering consultant and KiwiRail Director Sina Cotter Tait, and water systems expert Fritha McCrimmon-Robinson, who all touched on the need to understand the world around them in greater context to be good engineers, and that people are central to this concept.
Cotter Tait reflected that “Infrastructure is not just about engineering; it’s about people, about Indigenous ways of seeing the world, and about social factors.”
The purpose of the panel was to extend the themes of ҕl’s Engineering Strategy—such as sustainable development, equitable growth, and cross-disciplinary collaboration—beyond engineering to a wider business context.
Drawing on their experiences in local and international projects, the panellists discussed how these principles can drive positive outcomes across all industries, from integrating Indigenous knowledge to prioritising human-centred design in both public and private sectors.
You can read ҕl’s full Faculty of Engineering Strategy 2030 .
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 - Industry, innovation and infrastructure.
