Sir Ian Taylor

A tech giant using digital innovation and story to connect tamariki to their STEM roots

From growing up in a house without electricity in the 1950s, to leading an award-winning, globally recognised company at the cutting edge of technology and innovation, Sir Ian Taylor has not lived an ordinary life.

Born in Kaeo to a Pākehā father and Māori mother, Taylor grew up in Raupunga, halfway between Napier and Gisborne, without access to electricity until the age of 8. Ian started his public life as a lead singer of the band Kal-Q-Lated Risk in 1967, before going on to being a television presenter for TVNZ children's programmes like Play School, Spot On, and New Zealand's Funniest Home Videos.

After some time in the army in the 1970’s, he went on to complete an LLB degree from the University of Otago before setting up Taylormade Media, a television production company in 1989. In 1990 he established Animation Research Limited, which quickly became one of the top computer animation companies in New Zealand and known internationally for its television advertising and sports graphics. In 2014, ARL won a prestigious Sports Emmy for “Outstanding New Approaches to Sports Coverage,” and has been recognised by the New Zealand Hi Tech Trust with a special “Life Time Achievement Award.”

Most recently ARL created the Matauranga platform — a free resource to help teachers tell the story of Polynesian voyagers and how they crossed the largest expanse of ocean on Earth to discover Aotearoa. "The reason we have built this platform and are gifting it to all of our young people is that this is a story that has remained untold in our schools for decades," Sir Ian told the Otago Daily Times. "If we wonder why it is that our Pasifika and Maori tamariki do not perform well in science and technology subjects, perhaps it’s because this story has been denied them.” Future earmarked projects for ARL include telling the story of the Land Wars.

Taylor was inducted into the New Zealand Technology Hall of Fame in 2009. In the 2012, Sir Ian Taylor was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to television and business. In 2019, Taylor was named Innovator of the Year at the annual New Zealander of the Year Awards.