Newsletter: Founder Insights for January 2026
Welcome,
It’s finally 2026, and we’re preparing for a big year.
At the top of the agenda, I would like to recap what the NZ Government covered in November 2025 during the Science, Innovation, and Technology debate to remind us of what’s on the forefront of their minds:
$75 million to boost infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness
$80 million into 107 Marsden Fund research projects
$42 million in a biodiscovery platform
$70 million for AI
$71 million for new materials and magnets
$46 million into Endeavour Smart Ideas (early-stage, high-risk research)
$183 million into broader Endeavour research programmes
One of the most important shifts raised during the debate was around intellectual property. A new policy will give university researchers the first right to commercialise their inventions, either independently or with their university as a partner. This is such a meaningful change. Until now, IP ownership has often defaulted to the institution, limiting how quickly and freely discoveries can move into the world, and is also a snub to those who do the backbreaking thinking. This move signals a genuine push to unlock innovation and celebrate minds, not institutions. Huzzah.
This change also hits something personal for me as it’s one of the main reasons I’ve been hesitant to ever pursue a PhD, and why so much of my own research has stayed in my own hands. For many years, I’ve been predicting that universities would need a serious shake-up in how they handle their structures, research models, and post-graduate access.
I’ve long believed we need two changes in how universities approach learning and research:
First, an increase in the one-year, intensive, skill-based master’s that’s practical, tutored, and focused. This gives people high-level learning and applied experience in a condensed timeframe to increase skills and knowledge.
Second, universities should open access to research for those working in industry or independently, allowing opportunities to tap into university resources, networks, and mentorship without committing to a full master’s or PhD. This approach bridges the gap between academia and industry, keeps people as lifelong learners, and allows them to build a career while engaging with research. Also might solve a funding problem or two…
Make research sexy and accessible again, instead of slow, locked away, and institution-controlled. This new IP policy feels like a first signal that the system is starting to move in the direction I’ve been talking about for years.
On top of this, RHC has made formal submissions on two key telecommunications Bills currently before the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee. You can read our submissions here.
These submissions are important because the frameworks set today will determine who gets to build, connect, and participate in New Zealand’s digital economy for decades to come. By taking a future-focused, systems-level perspective, we’re advocating for a landscape where innovation, ethical practice, and global participation can thrive, while protecting public trust and digital sovereignty.
Keep building, keep thinking, keep being inspired. It will all be worth it for the story.
Best,
Alison Mackie
Founder & Managing Director
RobinsonHewitt Consulting
FIELD NOTES & FOUNDER INSIGHTS
FIELD NOTES FROM: Auckland, New Zealand
Field Trips: Get away from the computer and out into the world to let the nudges and unexpected moments inspire you. A different way of gathering insights and ideas, to create the primary source material for the future we’re building.
This month, we’re still on the island, and we stayed close to home in the heart of Auckland CBD. Our field notes came from time spent at Point Chev Beach, the Three Muses in the Auckland Domain, Daily Bread Café, and the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Skimming back through my observations, one clear theme emerges: the founder’s journey is about recognising and responding to what keeps pulling at you. Whether it’s the hidden gold beneath the surface, a story the muses are asking you to tell, or a bridge you’re being invited to cross… your work is to notice it and take action. Action completes the circuit.
Make sure to follow along on Instagram and YouTube to keep up to date with our field trips.
THINGS THAT MIGHT INSPIRE
Recently, a single opening line has been echoing in my mind. One that inspired a story about a cunning man and his homecoming.
“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns, driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy”
Homer, The Odyssey
I recently watched the trailer for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming interpretation of The Odyssey, which sent me back to another favourite film, The Reader, where a young man reads The Odyssey to the woman he’s having an affair with. “Sing to me of the man, Muse” has stayed with me since I first encountered the story at 15.
Odysseus survives ten years of war, is the cunning mind behind the Trojan Horse and sacks Troy. All of this to then spend another ten years fighting his way home to Ithaca. Even after war, another journey begins. Transformation doesn’t end with victory; it asks you to keep going.
And that’s what I keep thinking about for founders. Every breakthrough, every milestone, every “win” is simply a threshold to the next chapter. So I invite you to ask the muses to shape your journey as one of wonder and curiosity. To tell your founder’s story as a comedy, not a tragedy, even when the road twists.
Sing to me, Muse.