Mark Nichols has been appointed an Honorary University of Otago Enterprise Fellow within the School of Surveying.
Having graduated from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Surveying in 1978, and going on to become a General Manager with Trimble in Christchurch from 2010 to 2023, it’s fitting that Mark Nichols has returned in 2026 to take up the post of Honorary Enterprise Fellow withing the School of Surveying.
Nichols will draw on his decades of leadership and innovation and help serve as a catalyst for the growth and impact of the Trimble Technology Lab, which was launched at the University at the end of last year.
During his career, Nichols grew Trimble’s geospatial business and founded the agricultural and construction divisions within it, focusing on productivity, workplace safety and sustainability.
He was the first of many University of Otago alumni who have worked for Trimble, including more than 60 graduates who are currently professionally connected to the company.
Speaking about the University’s Trimble Technology Lab, Nichols said that “there’s real value in having access to the latest equipment. You can train graduates that are going to come out that are up to speed on current technology.”
“Universities have a luxury that we don’t have in the commercial world, where you have to continue to get products out and continue to advance on relatively short cycles. Longer-term research is harder to do and that is where universities have real value.”
“You always want to try and tie the research to a deliverable goal, something that can actually be turned into something that provides value to society,” he added.
“I’m hoping that out of the collaboration we can achieve some of that high-quality research.”
Encouraging cross-discipline thinking
Nichols is also a big supporter of what he calls “cross-discipline” thinking.
“You have a real advantage in Otago in that you’ve got Computer Science and Surveying co-located. If we’re going to develop technology for the survey industry, we need computer science,” he said.
“I’m trying to encourage what I’d call teaching and multi-discipline collaboration.”
“Can we do a project that involves students in Otago and in Auckland, where the survey students, for example, go out and survey a site, civil engineering students in Auckland then design for that site? The surveyors then set out that site, but they collaborate through a cloud-based collaboration tool,” he added.
“What we would be teaching is how to work remotely and how to collaborate across disciplines. This training would enable New Zealand-based firms to work remotely on projects across the country and all over the world.”
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