NZ’s $70m AI platform: accelerating research to market

Kia ora,

What an incredible week for our AI Forum NZ community. The energy at the Aotearoa AI Summit was inspiring, with leaders from industry, government, research, and the wider community coming together to shape our future with AI. The kōrero was forward-looking, the insights were practical, and the message was clear — Aotearoa New Zealand is shifting from ambition to action.

Adding to the momentum, the inaugural Aotearoa AI Awards gave us a chance to celebrate the amazing mahi already happening across the country. It was a proud moment to recognise the innovation, collaboration and leadership that’s putting New Zealand on the global AI stage.

Ministerial announcement: $70m AI platform to accelerate research-to-market

At the Summit, Hon Dr Shane Reti announced a landmark investment in New Zealand’s AI future — a national AI platform with up to $70 million over seven years, delivered through the newly established New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology.

The platform is designed to seed ambitious research–industry consortia that will connect our world-class research with commercial application. Funding will open in late October, with the first support flowing from 2026. NZTech will keep members updated as more details are confirmed.

Why it matters:

• 💡 Investment on this scale will supercharge Kiwi-led AI innovation, turning ideas into impact faster.
• 🤝 Linking researchers and industry will accelerate outcomes and drive new IP creation.
• 🌏 It strengthens Aotearoa’s sovereign capabilities and skills base, while boosting our global relevance.

Building global connections

Alongside this, the Minister welcomed a new partnership between the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and the Oden Institute at the University of Texas. Together, they’ll advance AI-powered virtual models of the human body — a powerful signal of New Zealand’s intent to collaborate internationally while developing capability at home.

Other highlights from the Summit

Beyond the funding announcement, the Summit showcased how Aotearoa is moving from AI opportunity to real-world impact for our people and businesses:

• Sovereign AI and infrastructure (Cisco, Deloitte, Te Hapori Matihiko)
  Why New Zealand needs its own AI capacity — from data centres to GPUs — and how to build responsibly with renewable energy, efficiency, and heat reuse. The clear takeaway: keep critical computing close to our data, so services stay faster, safer, and more reliable.
• From vision to value (Datacom)
  Making AI practical now starts with clean, well‑governed data. Focus on a few high‑value use cases, and build solutions you can measure and trust. Less “demo chatbots,” more engineered systems that explain their answers and keep costs under control.
• People‑first enterprise AI (Deloitte, DIA, Fonterra)
  The bottleneck isn’t the tech — it’s skills and workflow. What works is giving people safe, easy AI tools in the flow of their daily work, role-based training, and simple review steps so teams can trust AI output.
• Real NZ wins (SupaHuman)
  Short, focused projects are already paying off. Tasks that once took weeks — from reporting in education to documentation in engineering — are now down to minutes. Sales teams are reclaiming hours each day, freeing people up for higher‑value work.
• Convergence panel (Koi Tū, ElementX, Spark)
  AI is set to link up with robotics and, further out, quantum. New Zealand’s edge lies in the areas we already shine — bioengineering, mechatronics, and process design — paired with AI to move faster.

Ngā mihi to the Summit’s 2025 Sponsors who made this important day possible: Cisco, SupaHuman, Datacom, Deloitte, Mott MacDonald, Spark NZ, Zoho, Kōwhai, academyEX, API Connects, AVEC, Callaghan Innovation, Element X and Incredible Software. 

Congratulations to our inaugural Aotearoa AI Awards winners

It was a privilege to celebrate the very first Aotearoa AI Awards, convened by AI Forum NZ, which took place the night before the Summit at AUT. The Awards recognised excellence across research, implementation, innovation, impact, and leadership. This night was a chance to highlight the incredible mahi already underway in Aotearoa and the people and organisations leading the way. 

2025 Aotearoa AI Awards Winners

• AI Research Pioneer | Sponsored by Artificial Intelligence Researchers Association
  Winner: David Rozado — advancing New Zealand’s AI research and exposing bias to make black‑box systems more transparent and accountable.
• AI Changemaker of the Year | Sponsored by the British High Commission
  Winner: Lee Wilson — driving people‑centred AI adoption, turning complex data and governance into better services and trust.
• Outstanding AI Implementation | Sponsored by Enlighten Designs
  Winner: Kiwa Digital — delivering enterprise‑grade, AI‑powered language and cultural platforms with measurable, real‑world impact.
• Te Ao Māori & Pasifika AI | Sponsored by ANZ Aotearoa
  Winner: Kiwa Digital — weaving mātauranga and AI to uplift te reo Māori and Pasifika languages with kaupapa‑led, community impact.
• Rising AI Star | Sponsored by Tompkins Wake
  Winner: Dr Andrew Lensen — advancing explainable, evolutionary AI to develop smarter methods and clearer insights for New Zealand.
• Trailblazer in AI Innovation | Sponsored by Spark New Zealand
  Winner: NZ Institute of Public Health & Forensic Science — ALMA Team — creating Aotearoa’s first large‑scale AI digital twin to inform national, evidence‑based decisions.
• People’s Choice | Sponsored by Aware Group
  Winner: Kiwa Digital — honoured by the community for outstanding contribution and impact.

A huge congratulations to all of the winners, and mihi nui to the sponsors who made this celebration possible. I look forward to seeing the community come together again at the Aotearoa AI Summit and Awards in 2026 to celebrate what we all hope will be a year of accelerated progress. Dates will be announced soon — stay tuned!

There are a few key dates coming up for members across the NZTech Group:
FinTechNZ Executive Council | Nominations are open until 1 October
EdTechNZ annual meeting is on 20 October
AI Forum Executive Council Elections | Nominations are open until 22 October

These are your opportunities to have a voice, get involved, and help shape the future of tech in Aotearoa.

Ngā mihi nui,
Graeme Muller
CEO
NZTech

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