The days of serendipitous encounters are dead as we are now fed through the tubes of algorithms.

Sometimes, that possibility of serendipitous encounters -and I don't mean in the meat market -is the principal lure.

Much has been written about the power of serendipitous encounters to fuel innovation, a serendipity encouraged by physical proximity and density.

Serendipitous encounters Lucas Silva moved to New Zealand from football-mad Brazil in 2005 when he was 19.