The New Zealand Tech Alliance is a group of independent technology associations from across New Zealand that work together to ensure a strong voice for technology.
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The week in review with NZTech Chair Mitchell Pham
Last week was a vibrant week of FinTech activities. Firstly, congratulations to Payments NZ for another successful Payments conference. Along with the runners up, finalist and winner of the Fintech Innovation Award, very cool new businesses disrupting the payments sector in novel ways. Congratulations also to SavvyKiwi for a successful inaugural Finnotec conference. This event brought together attendees from a diverse range of organisations in both technology and financial services. The conference was sold-out with a long wait list, clearly indicating the high level of interest across the FinTech community in coming together. Let’s support this event to happen again next year and hopefully in a bigger venue.
The 2016 TIN 100 report shows that FinTech is New Zealand’s fastest-growing technology sector, at 31 per cent per annum. This is almost twice that of the overall ICT sector, three times higher than AgriTech, and four times higher than the BioTech sector. Our financial innovation ecosystem is also very diverse, ranging from smart-payments start-ups, crowd-funders, peer-to-peer lending platforms, to large institutions like banks and insurers. We have seen the power of collectives in other sectors and countries, subsequently we are 100 percent behind bringing together the FinTech community for New Zealand. FinTechNZ will give members an opportunity to better collaborate, engage and grow, both domestically and internationally. New Zealand is well-positioned to succeed in the global FinTech sector and it will happen faster when more Kiwis work together.
This week is another busy week in growing New Zealand’s tech sector. I am delighted to be in the trenches, directly involved with a collaboration between Augen Software Group, Kiwi Connection tech hub, Asia New Zealand Foundation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, to take a group of Kiwi tech entrepreneurs to visit, connect and explore the Vietnam market for new opportunities. This exercise is part of the bigger programme managed by the Asia New Zealand Foundation and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to build business connections between NZ and the ASEAN region.
Wishing everyone a productive week in growing your business.
Mitchell Pham
NZTech Chair
