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NZTech Inform: Our digital future
Kia Ora,
Currently, much of the political discussion revolves around how to spend the limited amount of money we have as a country, whether it’s cost-cutting or providing tax breaks. Surely, we should also focus more on planning how to fund the future we want. The next Government must support the use of technology to transform the economy, lift the performance of our productive sectors and create high-value jobs.
Last week, NZTech released its manifesto, New Zealand’s Digital Future, citing six key areas the next Government must focus on to enable and grow Aotearoa as a Digital Nation: education, inclusion, sustainability, digital safety, growing exports and lifting productivity.
Highlights include:
- Developing a national Digital Skills Strategy to coordinate public and private sector initiatives to lift digital skills.
- Providing affordable internet access to all New Zealanders, including free internet access in all public housing.
- Developing a climate technology roadmap for New Zealand’s Emissions Reduction Plan.
- Enabling biotechnology investment through modifying New Zealand’s genetic modification laws.
- Increasing investment in critical cyber security infrastructure and education for New Zealand businesses and the public.
Meanwhile, the NZTech Group and its many members won’t sit back and wait, we are getting on with doing what we can to help create a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous Aotearoa New Zealand underpinned by good technology.
For example, the 2023 ShadowTech Day initiative is a successful programme introducing more year 9-11 girls to what it’s like to work in a tech job. This month, the TechWomen community hosted over 600 secondary school girls for a day at their organisations across the country. Read more.
Last week’s AI Summit was also a huge success with over 300 attendees. My highlight was the panel discussion on the regulatory safeguards and policy incentives required to help AI drive economic growth. Hosted by Microsoft, the discussion between National’s Judith Collins, the Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster and the Productivity Commissioner Dr Ganesh Nana showed we will need strong leadership if we are to harness AI for New Zealand’s benefit.
Enjoy the school holidays, either with some time off or simply less traffic on the roads.
Read full news here: NZTech Inform: Our digital future
