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Navigating highs and lows
Kia ora,
Recent weeks have brought highs and lows for our tech community. A low point was the news of the liquidation of Nanogirl Labs. Founded by Dr Michelle Dickinson and Joe Davis, this inspiring initiative exposed over a million students to the wonders of science and technology in just eight years. With a pressing need to foster local tech talent, their absence will be deeply felt.
On a brighter note, despite tough economic times, our tech sector continues to thrive. The latest TIN report revealed impressive growth among New Zealand’s top 200 tech exporters, with revenues climbing 7.7 percent to $17.9 billion in the past year. Offshore revenues surged 8.8 percent to $13.5b and profits rose 21 percent. Investors also continue to show interest in NZ tech with Icehouse Ventures raising more than $100m for their Growth Fund II which will focus on helping supercharge high-growth firms.
As the year comes to a close we are continuing to raise awareness in Wellington of the growth and scale of tech as a critical economic engine for Aotearoa New Zealand. If you like data, check out our annual tech metrics report. Video games exports now outpace wool, software eclipses wine and seafood, and tech contributes more than meat and wood combined! Looking ahead, I hope to see tech featuring prominently in the National government’s ambitious goal to double exports over the next decade.
In other news, blockchain innovation is being honoured on Thursday at the Web3NZ and Blockchain NZ 2024 Awards in Auckland. It’s not too late to register to attend and it’s free! Learn more.
Next Monday, the University of Auckland is hosting the State of Phishing Symposium 2024 With generative AI expected to drive more complex and harder-to-detect phishing attacks in 2025, this is your chance to hear from leading experts on how threats are evolving and the strategies developing to combat them.
If you’re interested in becoming certified in software engineering but don’t know where to start, join the Institute of Data’s free online session on 17 December.
Ngā mihi nui
Graeme Muller
CEO
NZTech
Read full news here: Navigating highs and lows
