Hector’s World^® Limited (HWL) is a subsidiary of NetSafe, New Zealand’s cybersafety organisation.  HWL has a company structure and is a registered New Zealand charity.

Hector’s World began as one project of many for NetSafe. In 2002, NetSafe wanted to include a new cybersafety character for young children in their NetSafe Kit for Schools. After much debate, the bottlenose dolphin was selected (for qualities such as intelligence, playfulness, kindness and loyalty) and he was christened Hector Protector^®. Upon publication in 2003, the Kit became ‘best practice’ for New Zealand schools and Hector became New Zealand’s new Cybersafety Ambassador.

At the end of 2003, NetGuide Magazine donated the proceeds of their NetGuide Web Awards to NetSafe to help fund animating Hector. This is when our fantastic collaboration with Auckland-based animation and production company Inkspot Digital Ltd began.

In late 2004, Microsoft became our Foundation Sponsor and project development went into high gear with the successful launch of the Hector Safety Button™.

Development continued with the building of the website hectorsworld.com and the launch of the pilot episode in late 2005, all created with Microsoft’s sponsorship.  The Board of NetSafe and Executive Director Liz Butterfield concluded that Hector’s World had the potential to succeed as a global cybersafety resource for young children far beyond New Zealand, and to achieve this it needed to be a separate business entity with an educational and commercial focus, while also being a charity like its parent NetSafe. 

Liz took up the challenge of developing HWL into a successful educational organisation and Martin Cocker took up the reins at NetSafe.

In May 2006, Hector’s World Limited (HWL), now a separate subsidiary, became a resident in the Start-Up programme of the Icehouse, a government-funded University of Auckland business development programme. Here our new company could evolve with expert guidance as it defined its goals, planned its strategy and then set that strategy in motion. HWL was going to attempt an unorthodox business model for New Zealand – a social entrepreneurship venture.  As a charity we wanted to offer our core content free online, and we wanted to create partnerships with other international government agencies to reach many more children with that content.  The other challenge was our desire to develop commercial partnerships to create educational  merchandise. These books, DVDs, games, etc.  would help us reach more children while generating revenue with which we could make more core content to offer free online.  Not easy!  

In 2006, while at the Icehouse,  HWL received funding from the New Zealand Government’s Digital Strategy Community Partnership Fund to create four new episodes and supporting educational content. These episodes were launched in 2007 and, with the pilot episode, are the crucial core of our content.

In October 2007, there was a great launch at Parliament of new versions of the Hector’s World Safety Button and new posters (picured right).  The new posters in English and te reo Māori were sent out to every primary school and registered early childhood centre in New Zealand with a letter encouraging use of this resource from then Minister of Education, the Hon Steve Maharey.

In 2008, we began developing Government Partnerships with key government and law enforcement partners around the world.  Our first Partner was the UK Child Exploitation Online Protection (CEOP) Centre. Hector’s World is now their Key Stage One resource for 5-7 year old children all across the UK.

In 2009, Hector’s World is being launched by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for use in all Australian schools. Other country partnerships are being negotiated.  HWL’s dream of social entrepreneurship – of someday being able to self- fund our own content – is also becoming a reality with exciting commercial partnerships on the horizon.

Another important development in 2009 has been the expansion of Hector’s World learning objectives to better define the best possible start for young children with ICT.  The launch on 10 July of the newly developed hectorsworld.com, with the incredibly rich online world of Silicon Deep, is a major leap forward in our goal to create a dynamic and interactive environment where children can learn about Digital Citizenship.  The website gives us unlimited ways in which to showcase an endless variety of content formats.