News from us: The Mind Lab partners with Inspire Impact

The Mind Lab (including Tech Futures Lab) partners with Inspire Impact, an Impact fund based in Australia. The fund has secured a fifty percent stake in The Mind Lab as the two entities work together to respond to the unmet education needs of the professional development market in Australasia.

The Mind Lab and their sister brand Tech Futures Lab is New Zealand’s leading education organisation focused on upskilling postgraduate students for the demands of the future economy. Focus areas of The Mind Lab include technology, education, digital and sustainability. The Mind Lab has offered applied postgraduate qualifications since 2014 to over 7000 postgraduate students and tens of thousands of short course adult students.

Inspire Impact is based in Sydney, is a profit for purpose organisation that seeks to invest in businesses that explicitly and positively impact society and the environment in which we live.

The partnership between Inspire Impact and The Mind Lab will continue to deliver quality education outcomes and will see further development of education programmes committed to upskilling professionals in areas such as organisational resilience, natural resource management, digital transformation, and entrepreneurship.

The Mind Lab’s students are typically professionals aged 30 - 55 years, who hold roles of responsibility. Their students are strategic decision-makers looking to further understand the levers of change, including technological advances, digital disruptions, societal shifts and environmental responsiveness.

The Mind Lab's courses are designed by industry experts using real-life practical experiences and contemporary knowledge and are fully accredited by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). All course content is available and delivered online however The Mind Lab also operates a campus in Auckland. This, together with the focus on part-time courses and building micro-credentials, improves accessibility and affordability for students, the majority of whom are female from across all regions. The Mind Lab also offers targeted scholarships to Māori, Pacific and over 60s learners, along with an Impact scholarship.

The investment by Inspire Impact into The Mind Lab will enable further growth into new markets beyond New Zealand and the ability for offshore professionals to connect into an Australasian network of professionals who respond proactively to the changes in the world around them through a lens of creating impactful futures.

The Mind Lab founder and Chief Executive Frances Valintine commented that many executives' have knowledge gaps and limited understanding in areas beginning to dominate business processes such as artificial intelligence, data capture, and predictive analytics. She said, “at a time when user experiences, customer journeys, sector engagement and staff recruitment and retention are paramount, all business leaders need to lead with knowledge and a deep understanding of the changes that are redefining the economy and the workplace”.

The Managing Partner of Inspire Impact Jonathan Lim said “this partnership signals the significance we believe education has in preparing professionals for changing market expectations and a changing world. We are particularly interested in the rapid global rise of micro-credentials as a highly responsive and accessible alternative to traditional degrees. The world of education is changing as we are excited to be part of an organisation at the forefront of progress”.