Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Ian Taylor, founder of of Animation Research Ltd.

This week on Business is Boring we have Ian Taylor, a man who’s used science and technology to tell new stories in sports, movies and culture. His company Animation Research Limited has grown to become a world leader in sports graphics (if you’ve watched an America’s Cup race, or a game of golf or cricket, you’ve probably seen his tech).

Now, Taylor and Animation Research are out to tell one of the great, barely-told stories of New Zealand, turning his eye to making sure we all know our history with his new augmented reality project in conjunction with Tuia 250, the nationwide commemoration of the first Māori – Pākehā on-shore encounters in 1769, which kicks off next month.

Aotearoa has one of the world’s most amazing stories of navigation and exploration. Yet for years only Cook and Tasman were named as our discoverers. Kupe has long been written off as a story, a Māori ‘legend’, and the seafaring feats of the first people of New Zealand were labelled an accident.

Everyone’s heard of Cook, but how many know that the great navigator only got his way in and out of trouble with the aid of Tupaia? The Tahitian navigator who he picked up along the way to help the Endeavour find its way here and help with translating the Māori language? Who really knew how murderous Cook’s first visit was, his crew killing people all around the country?

We’ve failed to tell the stories that didn’t make the Pākehā expedition look good, but the tide is now turning: recently the government announced that the history of Aotearoa’s colonisation and Land Wars would soon be taught widely in schools. Ian Taylor mission to bring information about New Zealand’s true discovery by Polynesian navigators to life is now relevant than ever.

To talk about the journey, our stories and what’s next, Ian joined the podcast.

Either download this episode (right click and save), have a listen below or via Spotify, subscribe through iTunes (RSS feed).