In July 2015, Central Government, in consultation with Horizons Regional Council and district and city councils, commissioned a Regional Growth Study which identified a number of opportunities and key enablers to help realise economic prosperity in our Region.
The implementation programme from this study is known as Accelerate25. Under this implementation programme, the Manawatū-Whanganui Economic Action Plan was created by business, iwi, and local and central government. The Plan’s purpose was to unlock the potential within the region to create opportunities through the means provided by enablers, identifying priorities to implement and key agencies to work with.
Then in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Accelerate25’s resources were redirected to support the Regional Economic Recovery Taskforce as they worked with numerous community groups, businesses, and agencies to aid recovery in the Manawatū-Whanganui Region. Information on the activities the Taskforce undertook, along with indicators and statistics on how COVID-19 impacted our regional economy, can be found at www.mwri.co.nz.
With five years to achieve Accelerate25’s overarching goal of achieving a prosperous Manawatū-Whanganui Region by 2025, Accelerate25 commenced a review to set a refreshed Action Plan for our region’s economy. That review resulted in a series of refresh recommendations which were adopted by the Accelerate25 Lead Team in early 2021.
Accelerate25’s Lead Team Led will continue to facilitate initiatives, encourage thought leadership, enable investment and drive growth off central government funding programmes and strategies. To achieve this, the Accelerate25 Lead Team will remain focused on our work plan to continue to provide regional coordination and support to strategic opportunities across the region. We will also continue to work closely with central government as it develops its new priorities for regional economic development.