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News
December 2011:
- SODA Inc. facilitates weightless export to the Czech Republic with knowledge intensive client Divergent. Read More.
November 2011:
- SODA Inc. Wins Plaudits from the International Business Incubator Association. Read More.
- TechoPolicy Network delegates visit SODA on an innovation tour of the Waikato. Read More.
October 2011:
- NZTE Partnership - SODA partners with NZTE to increase the number of high growth Start-ups in the Waikato. Read More.
- International attention for Waikato's Digital Cluster - CEO & Cluster Relationships Manager present to business leaders on the world stage. Read More.
September 2011:
- ORA - Premium Natural skincare product first out of SODA stable. Read more.
- Can Hamilton win the international intelligent community award? Find out what international commentators think. Read more.
August 2011:
- SODA will host 80-100 international Techno-Policy conference delegates on November 30 to learn about the Digital Industry Forum cluster and meet the industry leaders. Read more.
- SODA hosted the second Waikato Designers' Union meet-up on August 2nd. Read more.
- SODA's chair Dame Cheryll Sotheran talks about how the Waikato is placed to move NZ forward. Read more.
July 2011:
- Video resources from FORUM 2011 available to public. See videos.
- SODA CEO & Cluster Relationships Manager, Cheryl Reynolds & Petr Adamek, presented at the Local Government NZ conference in Wellington on digital strategies for creating a smart region.Read more.
- SODA entered into talks with the Summer of Tech programme organizers to bring this graduate programme to Hamilton. Read more
- 150 people and over 50 companies were taken through the branding process with Brian Richards the at The Digital Industry Forum's, FORUM 2011 event on 5th July. Read more
June 2011:
- SODA Inc. hosted their fourth Digital Industry Leadership Group (DILG) meeting for the year on 29th June with 15 industry leaders attending to participate in industry growth talks.
- SODA Inc. hosted the first Innovation Waikato meeting to talk about wider industry growth and how support organizations can work together to ensure no duplication and cross over. Attending organisations included: SODA Inc, Waikato Inc, Prima Group, Innovation Park, NZTE, Opportunity Hamilton, HCC, Waikato Regional Council, Wintec, Waikato Link, Waikato University etc.
- SODA Inc. hosted the Digital Industry Action Group meeting on 24th June
- SODA secured industry sponsorship from Gallagher's, Cisco, Wintec, Net Value, Ultra Fast Broadband, Bold Horizon, ASB and Norris Ward Mckinnon for FORUM 2011. Thanks sponsors.
- SODA Inc. formed a membership task-force to talk about a sustainability model for the Digital Industry Forum.
- SODA Inc. launched its new look Digital Industry Forum cluster website. This website will be a place where companies can access information about the Waikato's digital industry and showcase the regions digital success stories that will put us on the map for being known as a smart, innovative and creative region.
- Fortnightly organizational meetings for the Innes 48 Hour business start-up competition have been happening @ SODA Inc. Contact us if you would like to be a part of the organising team.
May 2011:
- SODA has “comfortably passed” the NZTE Benchmark. This excellent news follows the in-depth audit and benchmarking process that SODA has been going through over the past three months. The NZTE benchmark is high, so this means that that SODA can now proudly claim to be fully accredited as a world class business incubator for Hamilton, alongside the seven other outstanding New Zealand incubators including The ICEHOUSE, Creative HQ and Powerhouse Ventures. For only being 21 months old, this is a massive achievement.
- SODA Inc. welcomes Emily Russell of Riff Raff e-magazine as their newest pre-incubation client. Find out more...
- SODA Inc. will be hosted Dr Clive Gilson for a Club SODA VIP day of coaching & mentoring on 10 May 2011. Clive is an honorary Club SODA mentor who most notably is Director of Inspiros Worldwide Ltd, Director of Peak Performance Worldwide - Saatchi & Saatchi, Managing Director of Gilson Consulting Lts & Professor of Human Resources Management at the University of Waikato, NZ. Read more..
- SODA Inc. hosted their third Digital Industry Leadership Group (DILG) meeting on the 4th May for the year with over 25 digital industry leaders guiding the executive team around the Annual Digital Industry Forum event. The group finalized the date of the forum to be 5th July 2011.
- The communications Taskforce first started meeting at SODA Inc. to plan the Digital Industry Forum and the communications strategy around getting these digital success stories out to the world. To see what communication leaders are involved in the communications task force click HERE.
April 2011:
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SODA Inc. CEO Cheryl Reynolds attended the International Business Incubator Conference (NBIA) in Silicon Valley, San Jose, California from April 10-13, 2011. The event featured sessions on the future of the industry, best practices in incubation, coaching clients, helping entrepreneurs find investors and much more. Over 600 incubation and economic development professionals from around the world gathered to learn, share ideas and network with colleagues. Find out more and see photos HERE.
March 2011:
- SODA Inc. hosted their second Digital Industry Leadership Group (DILG) meeting for the year at Wintec’s Atrium on 30 March 2011. The purpose of this event was to present the findings from the Digital Industry sector study prepared by Petr Adamek. The study aims to develop a better understanding of the breadth and scope of the region’s digital industry. This event saw the attendance of nearly 50 CEO’s operating in the digital sector in the Waikato Region. The Digital Industry Action Group received overwhelming feedback regarding the need for what the DIF aims to achieve and the need for sustainability of this project. See Photos..
- A dedicated group of enthusiasts have been planning a 48 hour Business Start-up Competition which will run from 19-21 November 2011. The idea of the Innes 48 Hour Business Start-up Competition is for entrepreneurs to form teams and work together to create an innovative start-up business in just 48 hours. More information about this is to follow. If you would like to know more about this and be involved in making this happen, a planning group meet each Wednesday at 4.30pm in SODA Inc. ..
- SODA Inc. announces ASB as their newest parter at the St Patricks Day Business After Five event. See Photos.
- SODA Inc. hosted their first Business After Five event in collaboration with the Waikato Chamber of Commerce on St Patricks Day, 17th March. The night was a great success with nearly 130 guests attending. Guests got the chance to meet SODA's innovative clients and learn more about SODA's vision to accelerate the Waikato's economy through business growth as well as enjoy traditional St Patricks Day entertainment. Guest speakers included Dame Cheryll Sotheran (SODA Inc. Chair), Nick Tuffley (Chief Economist, ASB) and Cheryl Reynolds (Chief Executive, SODA Inc.).
- Rachel Wark joins SODA Inc. as PR Events and Office Coordinator.
February 2011:
- SODA Inc. welcomes Julie Hardaker, Hamilton City Mayor, and Julian Elder, CEO of WEL Networks, to SODA's board of directors.
- SODA Inc. have been busy planning the Business After Five networking event which will be held in the Meteor Theatre on 17 March 2011.
- Amanda Neal resigned as SODA Inc’s Office Manager to focus on growing her photography business, amandashootsbands.com.
- SODA Inc. held the second Digi-coffee session on 25 February where planning got underway for the ‘Innes 48-hour’ challenge.
January 2010:
- Soda Inc. held the first Digi-coffee session for the year on 25 January where the 48-hour IT entrepreneurship challenge was discussed. The challenge has been named the ‘Innes 48-hour' challenge, which will be held in November 2011.
December 2010:
- SODA Inc. hosted the third Digital Industry Leadership Group session including over twenty of Hamilton's thought-leaders.
- Partners and shareholders of SODA Inc. were invited to celebrate the end of 2010 at SODA.
- SODA Inc. will be closed from 24 December 2010 - 5 January 2011. Happy Holidays!
November 2010:
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Honorary Club SODA mentor, Marcus Powe joined SODA Inc. for the day. View Photographs...
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Cheryl Reynolds attended the Better By Design CEO Summit in Auckland.
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Honorary Club SODA mentor, Brian R Richards joined SODA Inc. for the day which included a lunchtime presentation for VIP guests.
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SODA Inc. enjoyed providing a presentation on the history of SODA Inc. to the EDANZ study tour group.
October 2010:
- The first Digital Industry Forum Leadership Group meeting took place at The Long Room at Wintec House including over twenty of the region's thought-leaders.
- The story of Mary Jane Innes / SODA Inc. featured on the cover of Waikato Business News.
September 2010:
- SODA Inc. hosted a 'Capital Raising' lunch time SODA Stream session with GM of the Escalator Service, Mark Robotham. Read More...
- CEO, Cheryl Reynolds attended the Economic Development Leadership Forum in Wellington.
- Petr Adamek of Berman Group Limited joined SODA Inc. Read More...
- Planning has begun on the Digital Industry Forum.
- Cheryl Reynolds took part in writing for The Waikato Times' column titled Two Wise Men.
August 2010:
- Marcus Powe and Rod Oram have become the first honourary members of CLUB SODA.
- SODA Inc is proud to be hosting the Incubators NZ Association AGM, a day-long gathering of the CEO’s directors and managers of all business and technology incubators in New Zealand. View Photographs...
- The SPARK Festival workshop T-shirts & Suits: steps to setting up a creative business, led by CEO Cheryl Reynolds is now fully booked.
- As part of SPARK week, Cheryl Reynolds took part in the Graduate Forum. Read More...
July 2010:
- Matt Currie of Divergent appeared in the Waikato Times in an article about Better Services by Design. Read More...
- SODA Inc. hosted a lunch-time SODA Stream session with Cisco's Martin Stewart-Weeks. View Photographs...
- Cheryl Reynolds CEO gave a lecture on Strategic Innovation at the University of Waikato Management School.
- Divergent successfully graduated onto the full business incubation programme.
- ORA Innovation Group signed up as a new incubator client.
June 2010:
- Cheryl Reynolds CEO attended the World Expo and CISCO’s 'Partnerships in Urban Innovation' global conference in Shanghai, China.
- SODA Inc. celebrated its first birthday in June 2010. To coincide with our first birthday, SODA Inc. also held its inaugural AGM on 14 June 2010 attended by our Shareholder representatives Mayor Bob Simcock, Michael Redman, CEO Hamilton City Council, and Steve Perdia, Wintec Director of Planning & Development.
May 2010:
- Neil Richardson and Chris Williams agreed to become SODA Mentors.
- Cheryl Reynolds CEO has been invited to attend Cisco’s 'Partnerships in Urban Innovation' global conference in Shanghai, which coincides with the Shanghai World Expo.
April 2010:
- Cheryl Reynolds CEO was invited to become a member of Hamilton’s Economic Development Leadership Forum.
- SODA Inc. hosted a Chinese business delegation from Wuhan City, China.
March 2010:
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Cheryl Reynolds CEO gave a presentation on the subject of 'Creative Leadership' at the Ministry of Research Science & Technology (MoRST) Wellington.
