Sir Ian Taylor - A story of the Founderof Australasia’s leading Computer Graphics production houses | Hall of fame businessman | 2012 New Zealander of the year

This is a story of how an iconic Kiwi businessman, developed a global company, from Dunedin!  Sir Ian Taylor is the founder of animation Research Limited, which is one of Australasia’s leading Computer Graphics production houses, turning digital data into pictures. They've won numerous awards for  3D animation and special effects work, and their sports division Virtual Eye specializes in real time sports graphics on television, the web and mobile devices. ARL also develops 3D educational, industrial and urban-planning applications. 2021 was a big year for ARL and in particular, their sister company Virtual Eye who covered: *80+ Golf Tournaments *2800+ Major League Base Ball Games *25+ Days of Test Cricket *1 Massive America's Cup *1 Ocean Race  Ian founded Animation Research Ltd (ARL) in 1990 on nothing more than a handshake with the Vice Chancellor of the University of Otago. They bought their first hard drive to make their first TV commercial in 1991. It cost $15,000 and had 1 GB of memory. The computer they used for the America’s Cup in 1992 was the size of a small fridge and cost $500,000. Everything they did on that computer they can now do on a mobile phone. Ian holds an LLB from the University of Otago and was inducted into the New Zealand Hi-Tech Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2010, he was named North & South magazine’s New Zealander of the Year. In the same year, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the New Zealand Computer Society, the top honour of the ICT sector in New Zealand. He was named a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2012 New Year Honours, for services to television and business, and won the Creative sector of the World Class New Zealander Awards. In 2013, he was named Outstanding Maori Business Leader of the Year. Ian was awarded 2019 New Zealand Innovator of the Year. In 2021, Ian was made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Years honours, recognised for his services to broadcasting, business and the community. It may come as a surprise that Ian claims to have no skills whatsoever, is at a loss to understand why anyone would want to hear his story and believes he has received the accolades he has because he lives at the bottom of the world, where no one has been able to check him out.

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