NEWS & ARTICLES
13
Aug
Aug
This week looks to be a busy one. Today, we start interviewing for the Techweek partnership manager. It’s not too late to throw your hat into the ring if you’re looking for a change.
On Tuesday we will be working with NZTE to integrate the UpStarters and Tech Story work with the Techweek team. I am delighted we can bring together these two exciting initiatives. It means the Techweek team can promote NZ tech and innovation all year round, not just during Techweek!
On Wednesday, following catch ups with members, I look forward to the relaunch of the NZ Story by the Prime Minister at Park Road Post Production. We simply do not spend enough money marketing New Zealand exports overseas. The NZ Story budget is a mere $3.5 million, while our . international competitors invest significantly more. For example, the Irish Government spends over $70 million a year promoting their primary sector exports.
08
Aug
Aug
Major international agritech announcement expected for NZ
Georgia Taylor 0 comments Agritech, Media Release
They will be part of the international 2018 Silicon Valley agritech immersion programme and Conference, involving Silicon Valley Forum, Tauranga’s Wharf42, Agritech New Zealand, Callaghan Innovation, and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.
Agritech New Zealand executive director Peter Wren-Hilton says the four-year-old Silicon Valley agritech connection will have a significant and long-term impact on New Zealand’s emerging agritech sector.
“Agritech New Zealand is helping build a world class agritech ecosystem but New Zealand needs to integrate agriculture and technology to strengthen its primary export sector,” Wren-Hilton says.
06
Aug
Aug
For the past four years we have been working on three major projects with various government agencies to help grow tech exports.
When I started this job I looked into how other countries got famous for being good at tech. What did Israel do? What about Ireland? One of the common features of successful tech countries is that they have a shared story. Israel has been showcasing the Start-Up Nation story for over a decade.
Then I discovered that we now invest more than $100 million a year into promoting tourism so it’s no wonder we are known as a beautiful place to visit. Yet, at the same time, we only invest $3.5 million a year into a shared New Zealand Story for exporters. Until recently, this was mainly focused on traditional exports. In saying that, the latest marketing video for the New Zealand Story is awesome!
30
Jul
Jul
Role for an experienced Partnership Manager to secure sponsorships and create partnerships with organisations in the New Zealand technology ecosystem to support the delivery and growth of the annual Techweek festival.
Our vision is for New Zealand to be globally recognised as a beautiful country where world-leading solutions are born. It’s not just about showcasing leading edge technology, but amplifying brilliant ideas that are solving the biggest global challenges – innovation that’s he pai mo te ao – good for the world.
Techweek Overview
In May 2018 Techweek delivered 540 events to 21,000 event attendees across 24 New Zealand locations. From workshops to hackathons, breakfast to discovery sessions, Techweek had it all.
Planning for Techweek’19 is now underway and we’re looking for a Partnership Manager to join the Techweek management team. In 2019 the Management team will work together to build on the successes of Techweek’18 to grow the national festival, increase international visitors numbers and to work with organisations to ensure the sustainability of Techweek in future years.
The role
The purpose of the Partnerships Manager role is to sell sponsorships and strategic corporate partnerships for Techweek’19, leveraging Techweek headline events, the festival programme, delegation and platform to create attractive, mutually-beneficial partnership agreements.
The Partnerships Manager will act as a connector and relationship builder in the tech ecosystem, obtaining both financial and non-financial partnerships across the country.
Key responsibilities
The Partnerships Manager is responsible for:
- Value proposition development – develop sponsorship packages to generate additional partnerships and revenue opportunities
- Collateral creation – create material such as sponsorship proposals and pitch decks
- Pipeline and partner management – identify prospective partners and work with them to find the best-fit sponsorship packages to win their business, ensure handover of confirmed partners to Techweek team and follow-up with partners post-event for feedback.
Success factors
We’re looking for someone with:
- At least ten years in sales and marketing roles
- A proven track record of building relationships and acquiring new customers
- Experience with selling sponsorships and partnerships at a corporate level
The ideal candidate is someone with:
- Exceptional relationship management skills and the ability to engage and influence
- In-depth knowledge of the New Zealand technology industry and ecosystem
- Proven planning, marketing, sales and communications skills
- A high degree of initiative, autonomy and resourcefulness
- A professional, confident and articulate presentation style and approach
The small print
- Hours across Monday to Friday can be flexible and will be agreed with the successful candidate.
- This is a contract role through to end June 2019, based in a shared working space in central Auckland.
- You must have the right to live and work in New Zealand to apply for this job
- You must be able to travel within New Zealand as required
- You must be able to attend events and other off-site functions outside of normal business hours, as required
- You must hold a valid driver’s license
How to apply
When applying, please tell us a bit about yourself, how you match up to the Partnerships Manager characteristics outlined above and what makes you a great person to have on the team. All applications will be treated in full confidence.
30
Jul
Jul
NZTech Update – GovTech export potential for New Zealand
Georgia Taylor 0 comments NZTech Newsletter
At Thursday’s NZTech AGM, it was a pleasure to host several members of the Digital Economy Digital Inclusion Ministerial Advisory Board who provided an update on their work. I was pleasantly surprised to learn of their strong focus on the role of Government procurement. Not only the $1.3 billion a year the Government spends on ICT, but how a more agile approach to most procurement may be the solution to a more adaptable country. While this Ministerial Advisory Group is very passionate about the potential, anyone who has been involved in trying to encourage the Government to change its approach to procurement knows this is an incredibly difficult thing to do. It’s not for lack of desire within the Government, it is a system wide cultural challenge.
27
Jul
Jul
NZTech reports phenomenal annual growth
Georgia Taylor 0 comments Media Release, NZTech News
NZTech, the national non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation for tech, has reported phenomenal growth of the New Zealand tech ecosystem in the last 12 months.
At last night’s annual meeting in Auckland, chair Mitchell Pham said NZTech now has an alliance of 20 tech communities and more than 800 organisations across the New Zealand technology landscape who collectively employ almost 10 percent of New Zealand workforce.
23
Jul
Jul
Kia Ora
This Thursday, we host NZTech’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). What is NZTech trying to achieve and how do we know if it is working? I was recently asked how I know if we’ve been successful? Given that much of the work we do is long term and often intangible, sometimes it is hard to be sure we are making a difference. However, when its collated in one place, you can certainly see the impact.
As I prepared our annual report I was amazed to see how much has been accomplished in the past few years. Eight years ago, the tech ecosystem was very fragmented. Now, NZTech supports and coordinates a network of 20 tech associations that represent over 800 organisations and about 10% of the workforce. This Alliance shares resources and experience to improve its efficiency and impact. During the last 12 months we have delivered more than 120 events, helping various tech communities connect and share experience. Together, we also produced six major summits, three detailed research reports and half a dozen briefing papers to help identify technology that can help improve New Zealand’s prosperity.
NZTech also partnered with Government on multiple initiatives in the past year including:
- supporting the introduction of the digital technology curricula in schools,
- developing the Upstarters campaign, an international positioning for New Zealand as a hi-tech nation,
- helping populate a digital platform to help our tech firms scale up and access capital,
- coordinating 540 tech and innovation events during Techweek, a week long festival throughout New Zealand to help inspire the next generation into tech and help our tech firms grow and export,
- analysing the countries current and future digital skills needs,
- and feeding into work on the trade agenda.
Ultimately, the measure of success is the contribution of technology to New Zealand’s prosperity. While the tech sector continues to grow, the real opportunity is the digital transformation of our traditional economy. Personally, I am confident that a tipping point has been reached as major agri-firms such as Fonterra, Farmlands and Gallagher Group recently combined with other agribusinesses and tech firms to create AgriTech New Zealand. I have always believed that our country’s future success lies in the beautiful blending of our traditional strengths of agriculture and technological innovation. All we needed was a bit of coordination to help agri meet tech. Let’s see what they can come up with.
Come along to this Thursday’s AGM to chat more about this, and meet the Minister’s Digital Economy and Digital Inclusion advisory team.
Ng? mihi
Graeme Muller
CEO
NZTech
CONNECT
Join the Tech Marketers Converse and Connect events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch on 25 July. Save the date for Tech Marketers conference, 28 February 2019.
Join CanterburyTech on 7 August in Christchurch. Join NZSA on 14 August in Auckland for their annual An Angel at my Table pitch competition.
Attend The Impact of AI on Governance on 23 July in Christchurch. Join the AI Forum Connect Events on 24 July in Wellington, 7 August in Auckland and 8 August in Christchurch.
PROMOTE
Join TechWomen’s Edwina Mistry at the Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Forum New Zealand, 27-29 August in Auckland. For a 10% discount use promo code: TW10.
FinTechNZ welcomes opportunities for free trade with the UK post-Brexit. Join FinTechNZ for their winter Connect Event series on 1 August in Auckland and 2 August Wellington.
Join EdTechNZ on 25 July in Wellington for The Future of Education is Now panel discussion. Christchurch based? Contact EdTechNZ if you would like to be invited to the next meetup.
ADVANCE
Applications for the Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF) four cohort close on 2 September, apply before 1 August for early bird pricing. The Flux Accelerator is also accepting applications.
Support New Zealand’s digital transformation by adopting TechLeaders Digital Principles. Read our Meet the TechLeader series, profiling Craig Columbus, David Godfrey, David Kennedy and Angela Nash.
Entries for the 2018 New Zealand Spatial Awards (NZSEA) close on Friday. Attend NZGDC18 in Auckland 1-3 August. Save the date for the New Zealand FinTech Summit 2018 on 29 November in Auckland.
Want to know more? Sign up for the NZTech weekly update, it’s free and will take less than a minute!
19
Jul
Jul
Potential to NZ fintech exports huge
Georgia Taylor 0 comments FinTech, Media Release
The potential for New Zealand tech exports will be huge when direct free trade post-Brexit opens with the United Kingdom, a leading fintech expert says.
James Brown, general manager of FintechNZ says it’s so encouraging to see the government working proactively to set up free trade with the UK post-Brexit.
“The UK is a very important market for our agricultural, food and beverage exports, as well as high-value manufactured products,” Brown says.
16
Jul
Jul
NZTech Update – Growing the tech sector
Georgia Taylor 0 comments NZTech Newsletter
Kia Ora
I hear the pending decision of New Zealand’s CTO is close, so all things going well, I expect we should learn of the appointment soon, as the Minister did promise to appoint by the beginning of August. Regardless of who is appointed, I’m looking forward to working with the new CTO, as the focus areas for the role – reducing the growing digital divide and growing the tech sector – are both highly important for NZTech and our members. Neither of these can be solved by just one person, so hopefully we find ourselves with an engaging and inclusive CTO to help lead the charge.
Tomorrow, I am in Wellington attending the Digital Skills Forum as we continue to gain momentum on the challenges of placing interns and preparing more work ready graduates for tech roles. The survey about internships closes tomorrow so please help us help you and share your thoughts about internships here. It’s quick and is taking on average, only three minutes to complete.
I’m looking forward to meeting our newly elected NZTech board members next week at our AGM. The AGM is always a great time to pause and reflect on the past years work. This morning, as I was finalising my presentation slides it was encouraging to see over 90 percent growth rate in representation. Please don’t forget to register to attend the AGM on 26 July in Auckland. Come along and meet the Digital Economy and Digital Inclusion Ministerial Advisory Group.
Ng? mihi
Graeme Muller
CEO
NZTech
CONNECT
Join FinTechNZ for their winter Connect Event series on 1 August in Auckland and 2 August Wellington. In the wake of global banking issues FinTechNZ’s James Brown calls for more transparency locally.
Join CanterburyTech on 7 August in Christchurch.
Join EdTechNZ on 25 July in Wellington for The Future of Education is Now panel discussion and a tour of Te Papa’s H?n?tore Learning Lab.
How should board directors be preparing for AI driven change? Attend The Impact of AI on Governance on 23 July in Christchurch. Join the AI Forum Connect Events on 24 July in Wellington, 7 August in Auckland and 8 August in Christchurch.
PROMOTE
NZSA is seeking expressions of interest for their annual An Angel at my Table five minute angel investor pitch competition. Entries close 20 July. The pitching event is 14 August in Auckland.
Did you miss the headline events at Techweek’18? Watch the presentations from the Fourth Revolution, Creative Realities, 10 Billion Mouths and more from Techweek TV here.
Meet the next wave of startups at Massey’s ecentre Innovation Showcase on 18 July in Auckland. Attend the ChristchurchNZ 2018 Hi-Growth Launch Programme on 24 July.
ADVANCE
Applications are open for the fourth cohort to join Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF). Applications close on 2 September, apply before 1 August for early bird pricing. The Flux Accelerator is also accepting applications for its third cohort.
TechWomen’s Edwina Mistry explains how the award winning ShadowTech programme helps girls consider tech jobs they didn’t know existed! Also, register your internship listing with Summer of Tech now.
Entries for the 2018 New Zealand Spatial Awards (NZSEA) close 27 July. Attend NZGDC18 in Auckland 1-3 August. Save the date for the New Zealand FinTech Summit 2018 on 29 November in Auckland.
Want to know more? Sign up for the NZTech weekly update, it’s free and will take less than a minute!
11
Jul
Jul
NZ fin services need to be even more transparent
Georgia Taylor 0 comments FinTech, Media Release, NZTech News
Now is the time for Kiwi financial services to be more transparent following banking issues in the United Kingdom and Australia, a leading New Zealand financial tech expert says.
Normally bank employees must meet sales incentive targets on lending, deposit attraction, payment protection insurance, life insurance and Kiwi Saver funds to achieve a financial bonus.
