Bay of Plenty's economic development strategy group has received $70,000 from Te Puni Kokiri, to help develop Maori assets in the region.
Bay of Connections is a partnership between the regional council and economic development agencies and will use the money to produce an action-focused strategy.
John Cronin who chairs the governance group which oversees the Bay of Connections regional strategy says in 2010 TPK produced a report on the region's Maori assets including land trusts, iwi settlements and Maori businesses.
He says it found there were success stories flying under the radar, but that assets were under-utilised, costs were duplicated and there was a lack of good information available.
Mr Cronin says Bay of Connections decided there was an opportunity to dig deeper into Te Puni Kokiri's findings and further develop the Maori asset base in the Waiariki region.