Mrs Twemlow, who is managing director of Firebrand and vice-president of the Otago Chamber of Commerce, is fiercely positive about the city, and excited about this month’s Techweek.
"We already bat above our weight producing globally successful products, solutions and people and Techweek celebrates this," she said.
Dunedin Techweek runs from May 19-27, as part of a nationwide event, and will showcase research, products and industries that have emerged in Dunedin.
It has been organised by a team of representatives from local industry, including Mrs Twemlow, the University of Otago, Otago Polytechnic and Enterprise Dunedin.
The key driver was SIGNAL ICT Grad School’s Kylie Jackson, who had "grabbed [it] with both hands and pulled together an organising committee of awesome people", Mrs Twemlow said.
That bringing together of "minds, motivations and mental schedules" had worked to produce a mammoth week of events. It was about amplifying New Zealand innovation that was good for the world and it was catering for everybody from businesses to students and children, she said.
Mrs Jackson said the events would provide a chance to meet people from Dunedin’s growing tech sector and learn how research could be turned into commercial reality, as well as explore career options within the sector.
"This festival will allow the tech community to connect and share expertise. It will show Dunedin to be an up-and-coming tech and innovation centre.
"We have an abundance of success stories due to the city’s many tech education and research opportunities, and strong ties to industry.
"We also want to promote tech career opportunities for young people and encourage diversity in tech," Mrs Jackson said.
Events included a panel discussion around "is innovation good for the world’?", the panellists being Callaghan Innovation chairman Pete Hodgson, Otago Polytechnic chief executive Phil Ker, Prof Jacinta Ruru, co-director of Nga Pae O te Maramatanga, New Zealand’s Maori Centre of Research Excellence, and Julie Curphey, marketing manager of Blis Technologies.
There would be an overview of how Ngai Tahu individuals and collectives were using tech and research and development to benefit whanau, hapu and iwi and Gavin O’Brien, product design lecturer at Otago Polytechnic, would speak on Ernest and Hannah Hayes and innovation in the Maniototo in the 19th century.
At the Business After 5 networking event, the focus would be on the contribution of research and development to business, while another talk — entitled Ding Not Thud — would focus on success through technology. Mrs Twemlow and Mark Oliver and Jamie Moran from MTF Finance would speak on ensuring the success of a business.
A one-day workshop entitled AGILE Dunedin 2018 would see four internationally recognised speakers deliver information and inspiration on innovation and business practice.
University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic staff and students and local industries would display the city’s many facets of tech at TEXpo.
Mrs Twemlow said she was regularly contacted from people in Auckland and Wellington asking what Dunedin was like as they were considering moving south.
Talking with tech companies, she knew there was going to be a significant issue in the future with the number of qualified people in the city.
"We have to continue to attract these really good people," she said.
Techweek highlighted the start-up community along with existing companies and those going global, of which so many were under the radar. She cited the likes of Timely, which was in "juggernaut mode".
She had focused on building her business but also making Dunedin a good place to live, work and play, which was a "terrible cliche" — but she believed in that, she said.
After eight years, Firebrand was about to implement a repositioning strategy, taking it from a traditional web and graphic design and marketing studio — a "do-er of everything for everyone" — to a digital transformation agency.
The aim was to increase its focus on starting, building and growing carefully selected New Zealand businesses.
That included creating a learning environment within the organisation for young people to work and learn within and alongside the Firebrand team.
Those youth and recent graduates would gain real-life industry experience for 12-18 months. Undoubtedly, they would leave but the future of work would mean they would be able to work alongside or for Firebrand, wherever they were — in another city or while on their OE.
Secondly, an "A team" of experts would "deep-dive" clients’ entire brand and aspirations with long-term strategy-based relationships, committing to key performance indicators and results.
"We need to be pushing our clients to embrace new technology," Mrs Twemlow said.
Thirdly, and her particular passion was for an enterprise/product/investment arm — having already invested much time and funds into half a dozen successful platforms from various industries including content, safety and e-commerce.
Hail, eComPlus and Get Home Safe — which had now branched into corporate safety solutions and had multiple Government contracts — and others "have created the proof we are a team of dreamers and deliverers".
Firebrand’s role in supporting the organising, sponsoring, speaking and attending at Techweek was a clear and purposeful signal that it was committed to Dunedin, collaborating with its eco-system and building enormously successful enterprise and "having a damn good time" while doing it.
"I’m not alone in realising Dunedin is amazing and we’re going to be able to do these things from Dunedin. We’re already telling the world this is the place to be," she said.
