Callaghan Innovation welcomes new board members

Callaghan Innovation Board chair Sue Suckling welcomes incoming members George Gong and Stefan Korn to the board.

Suckling pays tribute to outgoing board members Alison Barrass and Richard Janes.

"Alison and Richard have contributed greatly to our organisation and I wish them well for their future endeavours.

George Gong is an entrepreneur and angel investor with more than 20 years' rich business experience in the information technology industry.

In 2016, he started Zino Ventures, the first Chinese angel fund in New Zealand.

Gong has strong connections to China, where he began his career, and notably co-founded Beyondsoft.

Stefan Korn has a strong understanding of Callaghan Innovation's role in the innovation system as he was a member of the Callaghan Innovation Stakeholder Advisory Group.

He currently runs CreativeHQ, a leading business incubator that works with more than 190 startup ventures, and was a founding investor in Lightning Lab.

"Mr Gong and Mr Korn will bring diverse and complementary skills to the Board," Suckling says.

"Both are unique leaders in the innovation ecosystem who will add to the collective strength and wider acumen of our Board.

"We are keen to share this progress for our organisation and we look forward to working with them.

Callaghan Innovation is the government's business innovation agency.

The organisation aims to connect businesses to the networks, capability and funding they need to make their ideas happen.

It challenges both its customers and New Zealand to step up to the challenge of technological change. Callaghan Innovation has more than 200 of New Zealand's leading scientists dedicated to solving tough technical problems.

Its programmes help hundreds of companies improve their ability to innovate, and it boosts business research and development through more than $140 million a year in grants.