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FLINT Alumni Insights: Relocating our careers from New Zealand to the South of France #3

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How a large company stays agile (reflections from Amy)

As my first quarter of a year at Airbus flies by, I’ve really gained an appreciation for this amazing beast of a company I now work for. While supply chain challenges and post-COVID resource issues remain prevalent in the aerospace industry, I’m consistently impressed by how genuinely future focussed Airbus are and how they maintain their ambition and agility at such a large scale. 

There are two main areas of the company which shine bright in this domain – Airbus UpNext and ZEROe.

Airbus UpNext is a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus which has a mission to evaluate, mature and validate potential new products and services that encompass radical technological breakthroughs. They get to develop all of the exciting stuff, working on projects from autonomous aerial refuelling, to testing of cryogenic and superconducting technologies to boost the performance of electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems of future aircraft. 

 The teams at Airbus UpNext bring together a whole range of specialist skills. The people working here are dedicated to their project for three years (most are on fixed term contracts for this time period) and they have a single goal of demonstrating the technology they’re working on in this time. They work in an agile way, running sprints, holding stand-ups and regularly reviewing their work to establish the progress they’ve made. This way of working promotes a start-up mentality within the teams and means that they progress a lot quicker than you’d expect from a traditional OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer).

ZEROe is the name of Airbus’ hydrogen aircraft project, which has been running since 2018. This project is fully embedded in Airbus, under Airbus Commercial, and currently has over 1000 people working on it. To me, this level of resource alone is enough to show that Airbus are serious about their commitment to a decarbonised aviation future, but since joining the team I’ve been further impressed by the genuine passion and drive that I see from each and every person working on it. 

I believe this level of maintained momentum comes from the autonomy that each person in ZEROe has to do their job. Being part of such a large organisation means that some element of a hierarchy and reporting structure is inevitable. However, for ZEROe, there is also a constantly reinforced culture of speaking up and sharing your ideas and insights. For example, right from day one in the team I was invited to share my thoughts, feedback and ideas on the current strategy, I was given the Asia Pacific customer portfolio to lead, and the responsibility and flexibility to “to “make it my own”. The leadership team of ZEROe is also very transparent and open. I’ve already had numerous opportunities to interact with the ZEROe Vice President as well as others from the lead team, and feel that I could comfortably approach them with issues or opportunities at any time.

Hydrogen’s Role in Sustainable Aviation (Reflections from Amy)

Aviation is one of the most challenging industries in the world to decarbonise. However, with climate change becoming ever more prevalent, we’ve reached a point in time where we have to start doing things differently if we want to do right by the planet and maintain our license to operate (both with the public and with governments too). We’re already seeing some people and businesses choosing not to fly for sustainability reasons, but in many cases flying is the only practical solution if we want to keep our people and products connected globally. 

However, there are very few technologies that exist today that can decarbonise aviation, and there is no silver bullet to ensure the aviation industry can reach its net-zero by 2050 target. Hence we need to make use of all the available solutions to help us get there – SAF Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF, an alternative fuel made from renewable feedstocks), hydrogen and electric aircraft technologies, operational efficiency improvements as well as carbon removal solutions. 

Maybe I’m a little biassed given I’m working in this specific segment of the industry, but to me hydrogen is the most exciting option, given it has the potential to be truly zero emissions (using green hydrogen with fuel cell technologies), it’s scalable and it’s versatile (hydrogen can be used to directly power an aircraft, or as an ingredient of power-to-liquid synthetic fuel also known as eSAF). Hydrogen is also a technology that is being adopted by many other industries, particularly within transport, so we have the opportunity to develop and scale it together through a multi-sectoral collaborative approach.

Airbus has publicly announced an ambition to bring the world’s first hydrogen powered commercial aircraft to market by 2035. We are also seeing start-up companies such as Universal Hydrogen and ZeroAvia developing hydrogen aviation technologies, as well as airlines and airports such as Air New Zealand and Christchurch International Airport looking at possible hydrogen aircraft operations. If you are interested in learning more about hydrogen aviation in New Zealand, you may like to read the New Zealand Hydrogen Aviation Consortium’s report here.

Embracing Technology While Settling Abroad (Reflections from Amy and Jack)

On a personal note, the last three months have been a whirlwind. Setting up a new life in a foreign country takes an overwhelming amount of time and energy, with multiple layers of hurdles to overcome. We’ve been trying to balance work, building a community, and expanding our international education through travel, while also dealing with hours of administration and bureaucracy to ensure we can stay in the country and live comfortably.

We genuinely don’t know how we could have done it without technology. Apps such as Duolingo and Google Translate have been vital for learning to communicate in France. Travel planning platforms such as SkyScanner and Google Mapshave allowed us to quickly evaluate options for our weekend trips and holidays. Social media has helped us build our own little community in Toulouse, largely via a post made to an expat Facebook page. We’ve met many wonderful people and had incredible experiences. We’re pleased to say we’re through the worst of the bureaucratic hurdles now and are excited to see what the European summer brings!

Thank you for reading. In our next article, Jack will share his initial experiences working in the French agricultural ecosystem and his insights from two global technology conferences.

Amy Strang is a Market and Customer Strategist in the ZEROe team at Airbus, currently based in Toulouse, France. Previously, Amy held the role of Chair of the FLINT Auckland Lead Team and worked for Air New Zealand as a Fleet Strategy Specialist.

Jack Keeys is an agri-food-tech specialist, currently working remotely from Toulouse. Additionally, Jack is also co-founder of a NZ-based start-up, Chair of the IFAMA Young Board, and has previous experience with the Aotearoa Circle, KPMG New Zealand, and in agri-technology.  

FLINT Alumni Insights: Relocating our careers from New Zealand to the South of France #2

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Chapter Two: Palmerston North to Paris

Reflections from Jack – a glimpse into agri-food accelerators on opposite sides of the globe

As we settle into our new lives in the South of France, my first contract project involved evaluating 35 food-tech start-up businesses from across Europe. Having been similarly involved in the New Zealand entrepreneurial ecosystem, this undertaking proved to be a fascinating initiative.

So why the move from Palmerston North to Paris? Each city has its quirks, but as you’re likely aware, there are some stark differences. This comes as no surprise, given the 2200-year age gap and the 18,929.6km distance separating the two cities. But what’s something they have in common? Interestingly, both are home to their country’s largest Agri-Food-Tech start-up accelerators: Shake Up Factory in France, and Sprout in New Zealand.

Comparing the similarities and differences between these two has been eye-opening to say the least.

Access to investment – the EU vs NZ chasm

After evaluating the applicants from a dozen countries across Europe, the difference in availability of funding is massive. The majority of the start-ups in Europe had already accessed a sizable grant, ranging from a minimum of EUR€40,000 (NZD$71,000) up to EUR€2.5m (NZD$4.4m). The majority had also bootstrapped their way to the final pitch podium, and any grants received were smaller and co-funded.

In short, European start-ups have access to a lot more early-stage cash.

This contrast in ease of access to grant funding might be expected given the gap between the size and scale of the economies, but the more interesting insight is where and how these funds are targeted.

In the European-based examples, investment was available for longer periods, could be spent more flexibly, and required a lot less (or sometimes zero) co-funding. This means that businesses could focus on innovation rather than reporting, and many applicants were under 35 (or even 25) years old, because the innovation ecosystem had been made accessible to them even if they didn’t have personal or professional means of gaining initial investment.

In New Zealand, it’s common for businesses to apply for co-funded grants across different government agencies, each with different restrictions, expectations, and reporting requirements (often taking many months to review and process). These grants are on set cycles, often overlap, or require a minimum of annual reviews to keep a pipeline open (e.g., R&D grants such as the SFFF fund, and Non-R&D grants such as the Callaghan Arohia Trailblazer grant). The 40-60% co-funding requirements also mean that earlier-career entrepreneurs who don’t have the savings balance or developed networks are excluded from the ecosystem.

As a result, EU entrepreneurship is more accessible, agile, and rapid.

These economic differences were apparent across the ecosystem, not just in startup funding. In New Zealand, a startup evaluator is a voluntary position conducted at your own cost (though generally through industry partnerships seeking to gain a first peek at applicants). In Europe, a multi-country accelerator hub has been established and coordinated by an impressive organisation, EIT Food, whereby diverse evaluators are paid per application reviewed, supported by government and international co-funding (via the European Union). At the other end of the acceleration pipeline, investors in Europe have a significant incentive to support startups with their cash too, benefiting from up to 50% tax relief or up to 25% rebates on qualifying spending and business investments.

The highlight – economic benefits aren’t limited to the start-ups, but the network of judges, advisors, and investors too – enhancing the whole ecosystem.

However, while this all appears to shine a bright light of positivity on Paris, there are some perks to the Palmerston North approach too.

I was surprised to see several start-ups that I’d scored in the bottom quartile in Europe (due to a lack of any intellectual property, understanding of their own value chain, and a validated business model) had already been awarded from EUR€100,000 up to EUR€500,000. Though there were some exceptional applications, I had been expecting a higher overall quality from a population of 750 million.

Aotearoa’s five million manages to push out numerous entrepreneurs who know they need to compete for every dollar, and as a result, the depth of detail in preparation for an accelerator, strategic positioning of a business, and planning for the future was generally of a higher quality, showcasing that New Zealand has a small but deep talent pool of well-rounded and practical entrepreneurs.

Start-ups from New Zealand also had a much stronger tendency to seek collaborative relationships with organisations from right across the value chain. This interest in collaboration helped to fill knowledge, technical, or value-chain gaps for entrepreneurs, allowing them to focus on their core value proposition and competitive advantage. I was surprised to see several start-ups which I’d scored in the bottom quartile in Europe (due to lack of any intellectual property, understanding of their own value chain, and a validated business model) had already been awarded from EUR€100,000 up to EUR€500,000. Though there were some exceptional applications, I had been expecting a higher overall quality from a population of 750 million.

New Zealand’s 5 million manages to push out numerous entrepreneurs who know they need to compete for every dollar, and as a result, the depth of detail in preparation for an accelerator, strategic positioning of a business, and planning for the future was generally of a higher quality.

Showcasing that New Zealand has a small but deep talent pool of well-rounded and practical entrepreneurs.

Start-ups from New Zealand also had a much stronger tendency to seek collaborative relationships with organisations from right across the value chain. This interest in collaboration helped to fill knowledge, technical, or value-chain gaps for entrepreneurs, allowing them to focus on their core value proposition and competitive advantage.

Whereas European applicants generally made assumptions that any gaps would be future problems to be solved, and that this would be done internally through more funding and expansion rather than leveraging relationships and existing market expertise.

New Zealand start-ups seek-out and act on collaboration, rather than only talking about it, or ignoring business model gaps.

More recently the New Zealand start-up ecosystem has been accused of lacking the drive to strive for global scale and success, in comparison to their EU and US counterparts. On the contrary, I haven’t observed any distinction in the level of ambition between NZ and EU entrepreneurs, and expect this is a stereotype perpetuated more on the practical stumbling blocks that occur. It’s easy for a NZ business to enter a domestic supermarket chain, but difficult to get across most international borders. Whereas a European business can expand across international EU borders with more ease than a NZ business can expand between the North and South Island!

Ambition is everywhere, the key to unlocking this ambition is delivering an empowering environment.

In conclusion, the best of both worlds?

Increasing expectations, incentivising collaboration, and asking tough questions could all benefit start-ups in Europe who are looking to leverage their investments and increase their chances of scale and success.

Taking larger and longer investment bets on committed young entrepreneurs, encouraging international capital, and increasing incentives for innovation investment to facilitate a greater domestic venture capital market would all help to boost the level of entrepreneurship from New Zealand.

And creating international innovation networks that transcend these geographic borders and allow European and New Zealand tech entrepreneurs to access, visit, and learn from each other’s ecosystems could perhaps bring the greatest value of all, creating a true connection across those 18,929.6 kms.

Thank you for reading this chapter of our journey! Next month, Amy will share more detail about her tech, cultural, and career experiences from her first two-months at Airbus.

Amy Strang is a Market and Customer Strategist in the ZEROe team at Airbus, currently based in Toulouse, France. Previously, Amy held the role of Chair of the FLINT Auckland Lead Team and worked for Air New Zealand as a Fleet Strategy Specialist. Jack Keeys is an agri-food-tech specialist, currently working remotely from Toulouse. Additionally, Jack is co-founder of a NZ-based start-up, Chair of the IFAMA Young Board and has previous experience with the Aotearoa Circle, KPMG New Zealand, and in agri-technology.  

FLINT Alumni Insights: Relocating our careers from New Zealand to the South of France

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Over the next few months, Amy and Jack will be sharing short some highlights, insights, and opportunities from their experience of relocating from New Zealand to the South of France. They’ll share what they learn about the European tech ecosystem, and other stories of their experiences along the way.

Chapter one: Flights, France, and First Impressions

Preparation… paperwork. To start at the true beginning, our first insight from this experience of relocating to the other side of the world was… get ready for the paperwork! Despite our globalised and digitally connected society, we spent many weeks preparing official documentation from ID copies and insurances, to employment contracts and application forms. A compulsory interview at the French Embassy in Wellington topped it off. Our visas arrived three days before our flights – and before long we were waving goodbye to our families and friends from the Auckland international Airport terminal.

Take-off… a Taste of American Technology. Our first stop was actually Chicago, USA where we spent two days not only sampling the deep-dish pizza, hotdogs, and other famous foods, but the technology scene of this huge city too. On day two we found ourselves standing in the middle of a live tornado, wind whipping at our clothes and faces, and mist billowing around us. However, we weren’t in any danger – because we were inside the Chicago Science and Industry Museum! This famous destination genuinely brought science to life, and was a showcase of how technology can be such an engaging tool for education. In addition to re-creating mini tornadoes – you could participate in digital debates on artificial intelligence, test the physics of air-pressure vs bowling balls, and enter a screen room of a plastic polluted ocean.

We also got to check-out the new Apple Vision Pro goggles, currently only available in the US. You could trial the goggles by booking in 30-minute guided experiences in the glass walled apple store on the shores of the Chicago river and get a glimpse into the next generation of virtual reality. This experience got us thinking: How could New Zealand leverage its blend of cities and scenery to excite international visitors, customers, and investors through more interactive technology experiences? Could technology tours and digital experiences be a great collaborative offering for an organisation like TUANZ to facilitate?And, how do we make New Zealand the go to technology test-bed again?  We were the first country in the world to test eftpos, and we should be able to leverage our advantages to continue to be a first mover rather than an early adopter, to stay on the leading edge of the technology curve.

Landing… the Scale of Airbus (reflections from Amy)My role at Airbus is a strategy role in the ZEROe team. Together we’re working on electric and hydrogen aviation so we can find a way to decarbonise one of the most challenging industries in the world, aviation. Specifically, I’ll be working with airline customers as they plan and prepare for a ZEROe future, and to take their feedback to help to shape the Airbus ZEROe market strategy moving forwards.

But, two weeks in and I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of this massive company that I’m now a part of. Toulouse, France is the location of the head office of Airbus and home to 28,000 of its employees. The offices are massive, surrounding the whole of Toulouse-Blagnac Airport and include an internal bus system complete with an app to track their timings and at least 15 different staff restaurants with payments all linked to our employee card. There’s also an internal aircraft shuttle between Toulouse and another major Airbus base in Hamburg, and we often see Beluga’s flying in carrying various aircraft parts between the bases. All of this is to say that it’s big, we don’t see scale like this in little New Zealand. But I believe that what NZ lacks in scale we make up for with agility and collaborations – two days in and I was having dinner with my old boss who was visiting Airbus, so really the aviation world is small! We don’t need to be the biggest to be the best, so continuing to build relationships across international borders through projects and people can be a great way for New Zealand to leverage our future-focus mindset, flexible approaches, and friendliness while benefiting from the scale of partnerships to help drive positive impact in the world of technology.

Thank you for reading, in our next article, we’ll talk about the European start-up ecosystem, and other experiences we’ve had along the way.

Amy Strang is a Market and Customer Strategist in the ZEROe team at Airbus, currently based in Toulouse, France. Previously, Amy held the role of Chair of the FLINT Auckland Lead Team and worked for Air New Zealand as a Fleet Strategy Specialist. Jack Keeys is an agri-food-tech specialist, currently working remotely from Toulouse. Additionally, Jack is co-founder of a NZ-based start-up, Chair of the IFAMA Young Board and has previous experience with the Aotearoa Circle, KPMG New Zealand, and in agri-technology.