Who is Co-Lab

Co-Lab is a council controlled organisation (CCO) owned by councils across Waikato and Bay of Plenty. Our vision is that council collaboration through Co-Lab maximises community outcomes. 

To achieve this, Co-Lab has three main functions. We:

1. act as an “ideas laboratory” – working with councils to investigate and develop opportunities to work together,
2. deliver shared services to councils, and we
3. enter joint procurement arrangements.

By undertaking these activities, Co-Lab provides three key benefits to its councils. We:

1. reduce costs such as efficiency gains in FTE or time; procurement savings; reducing unit cost of product/service,
2. create value such as improving levels and quality of service; increasing skills, expertise or compliance; improving decision making,
3. enable innovation and change such as research & opportunity development; providing centres of expertise/skills; collaboration and regional insights and enabling councils to provide a consistent customer experience.