AI Innovation Programme
🚀 4 days. 4 workshops. Join for free or take part in the full innovation experience.
The KNN AI Innovation Programme 2026 is a four day student innovation experience designed to help participants move beyond basic AI use and start thinking more clearly about real business problems, practical use cases, and how ideas can be turned into something worth building. 🚀
From 17 to 20 April, we are running 4 workshops covering practical AI use, business foundations, systems thinking, and real world innovation.
To help more people discover and access this meaningful programme, we have decided to open the workshops for free. The guest speakers and workshop content are genuinely strong, and we strongly recommend people come and learn.
One of the highlights of the programme is Wellington’s first practical Claude workshop 🧠, where participants will get hands on exposure to how Claude can be used in real workflows rather than just casual prompting. The programme will also include workshops on business foundations 💼, systems thinking 🔗, and practical innovation 🛠️, helping students understand not only what they can build, but also why it matters and how it fits into a real business or organisational context.
This is especially relevant for people in software engineering, development, and related technical fields. If that is not your area, that is completely fine, but for those in software, this is a rare learning opportunity.
This is not just promo language. The guest session is genuinely high level. For people in software related fields, the learning value of this workshop alone could easily feel like something worth hundreds of dollars, if not more in industry training terms. As someone with a full stack development perspective, missing this session would genuinely feel like a waste of a rare opportunity.
This programme has two ways to join:
🎓 Workshop Only | Free
You are welcome to attend the workshops for free as a learner. This option is ideal if you simply want to listen, learn, and gain practical exposure to AI, business thinking, and innovation.
Please note that the free workshop option only includes access to attend during the allocated workshop time. It does not include food, mentorship, team project participation, Demo Day judging, prizes, or a certificate.
🏆 Full Programme Participant | $25 NZD
For students who want the full experience, you can join as a paid participant and work in a team across the programme. This includes project participation, team collaboration, Demo Day presentation, judge feedback, prize eligibility, and a certificate of participation and completion. Food and drinks are also included for paid participants.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1yBKpFv0OcvgwbjA8ocRhRK-drdv5pM4F1AOmEn-YXkI/edit#responses
Please bring your own phone and laptop 📱💻
Whether you join as a free workshop attendee or as a full participant, this is a chance to learn from genuinely strong sessions and see what practical AI work can really look like.
What to expect
🧠 Wellington’s first practical Claude workshop
💼 Business foundation sessions
🔗 Systems thinking and use case exploration
🛠️ Practical innovation workshops
👥 Team based project experience for full participants
🏆 Judge feedback, prizes, and recognition
📜 Certificate for full programme participants
🍕 Food and drinks for paid participants
Who should attend
Students interested in AI, innovation, software, business, startups, product thinking, operations, and real world problem solving.
Hosted by
Kiwi Neural Network (KNN),VUW
Collaboration Parters
Datawhale, BDO, Industrial Innovation Park, Atom,Bizezi
Wellington Chinese Postgraduate Students’ Association
Vic Uni Clubs
VEC, VicHRM