The information below provides details of the travel expenses for the staff and directors of ATEED and its subsidiary World Masters Games 2017 Ltd in the 2015/16 financial year, with comparative figures for the previous two years.

ATEED Leadership Team travel

ATEED’s chief executive and general managers are periodically required to travel as part of their roles. Detailed information on the costs and strategic purpose of journeys undertaken by ATEED’s leadership team are outlined in the document below.

Flights and accommodation are – wherever possible – booked through Auckland Council’s travel agents to take advantage of preferential customer rates. The staff members incur expenses (both overseas and domestically) such as taxis and meals. The costs below are those recorded in ATEED’s financial system and are part of ATEED’s overall audited financial statements.

View details about the ATEED Leadership Team’s travel here*.

*Please note, ATEED Leadership Team travel costs included here are also included in the ATEED organisation-wide totals listed below.

Staff travel costs

Domestic ATEED

 

Domestic World Masters Games 2017 Ltd

 

International ATEED

 

International World Masters Games 2017 Ltd

 

To ensure ATEED and World Masters Games 2017 Ltd (WMG2017), a subsidiary of ATEED, are able to secure the best price for bookings, international travel is booked either via Auckland Council’s Travel Coordinator or directly with partners. WMG2017 has secured Air New Zealand as the ‘Airline for the Games’.

The cost provided in this response include airfares, accommodation, and ‘other’ (which includes disbursements and expenses such as taxis, parking and meals for staff) while traveling internationally and domestically.

A manual process would need to be undertaken to itemise travel expenses individually by staff member, or by destination, and these costs would need to be on-charged to individual requestors. Therefore costs have been provided without being broken down further.

Analysis of total ATEED international travel – by staff excluding WMG2017

 

ATEED’s annual operating budget for the 2015/16 financial year was approximately $57.5 million. With this budget the organisation was responsible for delivering against six key priority areas on behalf of Auckland Council:

  • Build a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Attract business and investment
  • Grow a skilled workforce
  • Enable education and talent
  • Grow the visitor economy
  • Build Auckland’s brand and identity.

Some of the targets for these priority areas included expanding the visitor economy to more than $7 billion annually by 2021, annual targets for 2015/16 of attracting $265 million of international deals through business and investment including the screen sector, and $1.56 billion annual value from international students based in Auckland.

To achieve its publically stated targets, ATEED staff were required to travel offshore to do business in our key markets. This travel includes being part of multi-agency trade delegations, and attending key global conferences or trade shows – including screen festivals – to grow connections and secure deals for Auckland’s key growth industry sectors which include international education, food and beverage, ICT and digital media, screen production, high-value tourism, marine and advanced materials. They are also required to travel to present bids for major sporting events.

ATEED staff also travel domestically, mainly for national industry conferences, and for crucial national policy meetings held in Wellington with government agency partners to ensure Auckland’s economic growth policies align with the Government’s economic agenda.

As part of its stated objective of delivering at least $30.8 million new GDP for Auckland from the event, WMG2017’s goal is to secure half of its 25,000 target participants from offshore. An important method to secure this level of participation is raising awareness of the Games through attendance at significant international events.

In addition, WMG2017 staff travel domestically to meet national sports bodies, along with other stakeholders, and as part of operational programme design. Domestic travel also involved attendance at sports events around the country, given the target of attracting 25 per cent of participants from outside Auckland.

The annual spend by ATEED (excluding WMG2017) on international travel in 2015/16 equates to approximately 1 per cent of ATEED’s annual operating budget.

Directors’ travel costs

Domestic ATEED

 

Domestic World Masters Games 2017 Ltd

 

International ATEED

 

International WMG2017

 

Background

Franceska Banga is one of New Zealand’s most respected and accomplished business experts in the fields of innovation and venture capital. As an ATEED director, Franceska represented ATEED and Auckland on a delegation of more than 50 business professionals who took part in New Zealand’s inaugural ‘innovation mission’ to Israel in May/June 2016.

The Trans-Tasman Business Circle organised the mission in partnership with the Israel Trade Commission. The group included Sir Peter Gluckman, the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, and senior New Zealand executives from sectors including telecommunications, agriculture, government, education, and venture funds.

The delegation met Israeli venture capital firms, heard from prominent Israeli entrepreneurs, spent a day at a world-renowned cyber-security innovation centre, and visited Start-Up Nation Central in Tel Aviv, which connects companies and countries to the people and technologies in Israel that can solve their most pressing challenges.

The mission was designed to serve as a launch pad for collaborations between the two countries, and Franceska was able to forge important connections between Auckland and Israel. Tel Aviv is emerging as a potentially significant Auckland partner for city to city trade. Her involvement on the mission is anticipated to have wide-ranging long-term benefits for Auckland’s innovation ecosystem. Following the mission, Franceska reported back to the ATEED Board a number of valuable insights including: how the Israeli innovation ecosystem operating model (which could be adapted for Auckland and New Zealand) works on the ground, ideas for fuelling innovation, observations about the impact of good urban design, and ways to publically showcase Auckland’s vital food and beverage industry.

Franceska provided significant input into the post-mission report compiled by Spark Managing Director Simon Moutter which highlighted opportunities for New Zealand to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative ideas, and a number of key initiatives to unleash New Zealand’s potential – some of which were already underway within three months of the trip.

The collaboration will be developed during a reciprocal Israeli delegation to New Zealand in 2016.

Sir John Wells is Chairman of WMG2017. In August 2015, Sir John, accompanied by WMG2017’s Chief Executive and Marketing Manager (whose travel costs are included in the staff costings above). They undertook a roadshow of Canberra and Sydney to increase awareness and obtain new channels to promote WMG2017 to Australians. This included meetings in Canberra with the NZ High Commissioner, Australian Sports Commission, Confederation of Australian Sport, the chief executives of Rowing Australia, Orienteering Australia, and Touch Football Australia.

The Chief Executive and Marketing Manager also held meetings in Sydney with the NZ High Commissioner, Volvo Australia, Tourism NZ, Rugby NSW, Waratahs Rugby, Surf Life Saving Australia, Water Polo Australia, Hockey NSW and the Australian Paralympic Committee.

The vast majority of the meetings were positive, with organisations expressing their willingness to provide access to databases and digital channels, and to cross leverage opportunities at their regular events to promote WMG2017.