Visionary of the digital age
Ian Taylor says he could have ended up a washed-up rock singer if it wasn’t for a meeting in 1989 which led him to found his business, Animation Research. That meeting was with Otago University professor Geoff Wyvill, who told Taylor the future was about going digital. “I had no idea what he was talking about.”
Wyvill gave Taylor his four top students and together they created a company which has revolutionised the viewing of golf, cricket, yachting, motor sport and baseball with its 3D, datadriven graphics over live pictures from the Virtual Eye sports division that is featured in America’s Cup coverage this summer.
“I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t met Geoff; this would never have happened.”
It’s the team of people behind him that Taylor attributes for being made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and recognised for his services to broadcasting, business and the community.
“This would never have happened without those people.” Taylor who describes himself as a story-teller, shared the good news with his team on Wednesday and says he wanted them to hear it from him first. “It is just wonderful.” He will celebrate with a traditional barbecue which he holds every New Year with friends and family in Wanaka. “We will just do what we did last year.”
Taylor mulled over whether he wanted to be called a Sir but said it came with accepting the honour. “If you are going to say yes you have to respect the honour that it is. I’m very honoured to accept it.” But he says he has been Ian for the past 70 years and that’s not likely to change. “I imagine I will get a ribbing for a few weeks then it will go back to Ian.”
Taylor, of Nga¯ti Kahungunu and Nga¯puhi descent, was born in Northland’s Kaeo in a house without power, and brought up in the East Coast Raupunga community. His path to success was far from straightforward.
He dropped out of a business degree at Victoria University in 1968 to join rock band KalQ-Lated Risk. After four years with the band and a stint of compulsory army training at Waiouru, the jobless Taylor was drawn back to Dunedin.
“In the Risk, we travelled all over the country and the best place we played in was Dunedin — the Ag Hall and Ocean Beach Hotel.”
Taylor worked as a forklift driver at Speights Brewery then as a presenter on the children’s TV programme Play School while completing a law degree at Otago University. He was about to become a lawyer when he was offered a fulltime job as a presenter on the children’s magazine programme Spot On.
He worked as a presenter, producer, writer and director for TVNZ between 1977 and 1989. In 1989 he was offered a current affairs job in Wellington but couldn’t bring himself to leave Dunedin. Instead, he formed Taylormade Productions, making regional television commercials and corporate videos.
When TVNZ closed its Dunedin studios, Taylor bought them with a $500,000 bank loan and made children’s television shows.
Animation Research was founded when Taylor met Wyvill who ran the Computer Science Department, and computer graphics laboratory, at Otago University.
Taylormade formed a joint venture, Animation Research, with the university in one of the first attempts to turn academic intellectual property into a commercial activity; later Taylormade bought all the university shares.
The original students, Craig McNaughton, Paul Sharp and Stu Smith, are still working at Animation Research 30 years later.
Its first TV advertising images included the Bluebird water-skiing penguin, seagulls on a Cook Strait fast ferry, and gannets forming a koru.
This year the business had to evolve to tackle the issue of not being able to travel to sports tournaments and can now cover sport remotely from Dunedin.
Animation Research received the award for “outstanding new approaches in sports broadcasting” at the 2015 Sports Emmy Awards for their development of the America’s Cup mobile application.
Taylor was named the 2019 New Zealand Innovator of the Year and in 2020 was awarded the Deloitte Top 200 Visionary Leader.
Veteran businessman and proud Kiwi Rob Fyfe has been recognised for his services to business and tourism.
Fyfe, who for the past nine months has played a critical role in the Government’s relationship with the private sector during the Covid-19 response, has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit ( CNZM).
The former chief executive of Kiwi merino wool clothing company Icebreaker and Air New Zealand has been credited for helping develop brand New Zealand and its clean, green tourism image.
Fyfe was chief executive of Air NZ between 2005 and 2012. It is in this role his leadership helped to develop ‘brand New Zealand’. As chief executive, he was a key driver in recognising those who lost their lives in the 1979 Erebus and 2008 Perpignan tragedies, as well as their families. In the wake of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake he oversaw Air NZ’s provision of cheap and flexible flights in and out of the city.
Between 2013 and 2018 he was chief executive and chairman of
I’ve been attracted to things that are challenging, often things that are quite risky for me personally in terms of job opportunities. Rob Fyfe
Icebreaker, focusing its efforts on sustainable manufacturing and the future for Kiwi merino farmers.
Speaking of the accolade, Fyfe said it was a “nice way to round out what has been a very tumultuous year”.
Heb would celebrate the achievement with his family, and acknowledged the sacrifices they had made over the course of his career.
“I feel really privileged to have played a role in some really important New Zealand companies and to get this recognition means a lot to me as it ties in so much to my sense of identity as a New Zealander,” Fyfe told the Herald.
After leaving school at 17, Fyfe spent the first nine years of his working life in the Air Force, and has since worked in a number of sectors.
He continues to be the Government’s Covid-19 advisor to the private sector, acting as a liaison between government and business. He was first approached for the role by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern during the lockdown.
He is now focused on the “strategic future” of New Zealand and the rebuilding of the country. He will continue in the job into 2021.
This is not the first time Fyfe has been appointed as an advisor to the government. In 2018, he was an independent advisor on plans for the re-entry of the Pike River drift.
Reflecting on 35 years in business, Fyfe said it had been “a collection of adventures” as he forged his own way in life.
“I’ve been attracted to things that are challenging, often things that are quite risky for me personally in terms of job opportunities ... it’s been a fabulous collection of adventures.”