See the innovation happening in our community and what our future holds at the first Te Wā Heke Festival. Explore how new technology is changing the way we live, how we move around the city, the types of work available, and even the foods we eat.
Exhibits
Here are some of the things you’ll see at Te Wā Heke Festival this year. Check back soon for more details.
Can you run like a rugby player?
How do electric cars work?
What does it feel like to live in a future city?
A (tiny) place to call home
There’s a growing trend in housing, and it’s tiny. Tiny homes are small, self-contained dwellings that could offer a cheaper, and more sustainable way to live. They’re often built with recycled materials, and use clever design to fit everything into a limited space. Come along to Dowse Square to see some on display!
Making a splash
Water will be one of the defining issues of our future cities. Wellington Water will show you why it is increasingly important that we all conserve water, and how you can do that every time you turn on the tap or flush the loo.
Healthy home, healthy life
Whare Hauora is a social enterprise that creates tiny, low-cost sensors that you can use in your home. The units measure temperature and humidity and compare them to World Health Organisation limits for healthy homes. Learn how your home can be more healthy using new, smart technology.
Feel the heat
As our climate changes and populations grow, it will become more and more important we find efficient sources of energy. Hutt City Council’s Eco Design team will showcase some of the differences in heat sources for your home using thermal cameras, and offer advice. If you come along, you might leave with a thermal selfie!
Test drive a car of the future
Most experts agree that cars in the future will be electric. Come and test drive an electric vehicle and find out how they will transform our transportation industry.
How do electric cars work?
To show how electric cars work, EV City have cut a Nissan LEAF in half! Fully functional, the demonstration car XRay is the first exhibit of its kind designed to show the inner workings of an electric car.
Improve your morning commute
Maptionnaire is a fun, online tool you can use to share where you travel regularly and how those trips can be improved. Have fun ‘pinning’ where you like to live, work and play and help us make travel around our city safer, easier and faster in the future!
Explore a city of the future
What does it feel like to live in a future city? PwC London bring this virtual reality experience to New Zealand for the first time. Experience how technology could change your day-to-day life in the future, from getting coffee to your morning commute and dinner plans at night. This is your chance to experience a future world and how your life might change as a result of new technology.
Land a plane at Wellington Airport
Experience virtual reality like you have never felt it before. Eight360’s cutting-edge immersive VR experience gives you all the sensations of flying – and landing – a plane. Your body moves in three dimensions and feels the forces of gravitation and acceleration as if you were really there.
Digital humans of the future
Soul Machines
Soul Machines™ is a ground-breaking high-tech company that is re-imagining how we connect with machines. They are bringing technology to life by creating incredibly life-like, emotionally responsive artificial humans with personality and character that allow machines to talk to us literally face-to-face!
Kilogram of the future
Scientists at the Measurement Standards Lab (MSL) have worked on everything from the world’s largest telescope lenses to the jet engine that powers airplanes. Every aspect of modern industry relies on MSL’s measurements, and this interactive exhibition is your chance to see how they’re redefining measurements of the future.
Can you run like a rugby player?
VX Sport make wearable devices that collect physical data from NZ rugby and netball sport stars. At the Festival, you can take part in their obstacle course, wearing those same devices. Come along and see how you measure up!
AR Sandbox
How can Augmented Reality (AR) help us understand the impacts of things like severe weather and earthworks on land topography? The Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec) has created the AR Sandbox to simulate the effects of natural and human impacts on land contours. The AR sandbox allows users to shape sand into 3D models, which is then augmented in real time by an elevation colour map, topographic contour lines, and simulated water. Fun for kids and aspiring engineers and earth scientists of all ages!
Ford in Lower Hutt
Visit our fabulous Ford container on Andrews Avenue during Te Wā Heke. The Ford factory in Seaview is an iconic symbol of the history of motor vehicle production in Lower Hutt. As well as reflecting on the incredible contribution of Ford in our community we will explore Ford’s City of Tomorrow which showcases a futuristic transportation operating system shaped by total multi-modal mobility. Join us in remembering the past and shaping the future of transport.
Ground shaking technology
Experience the latest technology in measuring how land moves in an earthquake. Interact with EQRNet and see for yourself how a city-wide web of microdata feeds into a high-tech seismic monitoring system. This world first seismic resilience service is a direct response to the lessons of the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes and is helping make our cities safer.