From rock’n’roll singer, to children’s TV presenter, to tech mogul – Ian Taylor has done a bit of everything.

Now he will also become a knight.

In this year’s New Year’s Honours, Taylor will be appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to broadcasting, business and the community.

But the Dunedin-based innovator said the credit really belongs to, “the wonderful group of people who’ve been around me for the past 35 years”.

Animation attempts to visualise possible Wanaka airport plan [ODT, 27/12/19]

“Really, this is an honour for all of us. I’ve always been a storyteller, but the people I work with, they wrote the story,” he said.

But it is his work as one of New Zealand’s foremost technology innovators which earned him his knighthood.

Taylor founded television production company Taylormade Media in 1989, and internationally acclaimed computer animation company Animation Research a year later.

Animation Research developed the Virtual Eye real-time sports animation system, which changed the way the world watches sports like sailing, golf, and cricket.

Read this in full here.

This brief animated video was created in 2019 by Ian Taylor and the team at Animation Research alongside Wanaka Stakeholders Group. The aim of the video is to raise awareness and stimulate discussion about key issues surrounding the future of Wanaka – specifically the planned development of Wanaka Airport into a jet capable airport for the district.