As I’ve written before, one organisation I feel pretty lucky to be involved with is the Icehouse.

Its people are making a real difference to the future development of New Zealand by encouraging entrepreneurial thinking and fostering innovation and business capability.

Last month we hosted the Ice Angels investor evening at Telecom Place in Auckland.

The event brought together over 260 potential investors and 16 post-startup players we selected out of a 100 as the best to present for funding.

Interestingly, a few people commented that it was unusual for a big corporate to be hosting a bunch of angel investors and startups.

My response was that it should be very natural for a large Kiwi organisation like us to get engaged with what’s needed to make a genuine difference for NZ Inc.

Everyone one of us has been to a seminar where we nod sagely and agree the answer for growing our economy is creating higher value jobs, higher value exports and higher value intellectual property.

Then we walk out and get busy running networks, cutting costs, shearing sheep and milking cows.

But what is needed is some real action from companies and individuals. Events like the Ice Angels investor evening are an example of the action that’s required.

As significant players, contributors and employers in the economy, most large New Zealand businesses have a genuine interest in supporting the growth, export, technical and business capability of Kiwi organisations.

We also have a real responsibility to get involved, as well as providing the resources, scale and influence to make a difference.

We should all have an interest in growing the future market for our services.

This quote from Sir Peter Blake sums it up well: “Having vision is not enough. Change comes through realising the vision and turning it into a reality. It is easy to espouse worthy goals, values and policies; the hard part is implementation.”

Chris Quin (@chrisjquin) is CEO of Gen-i Australasia and a board member and trustee of Icehouse. He has a passion for how innovation and technology can enable brilliant economic and social outcomes of the region’s people, businesses and communities.