N E W S 10 March 2016 Wellington hosts key tech summit A major government and tech industry summit was held at Te Papa in Wellington in February tasked with looking at how government and the tech sector can work together to deliver better outcomes. According to the government’s Sector Reports more than 100,000 people are employed across the technology sector, with annual growth rates exceeding any other sector. The summit looked at partnerships, commercial strategies, and understanding new technology trends and how they can be applied to deliver better government. The key summit was organised by NZTech and its chief executive Graeme Muller says that better use of technology by government has the added benefit of supporting the growth of New Zealand tech businesses, the fastest growing export sector in New Zealand and now our third largest export sector behind agriculture and tourism. “Helping New Zealand businesses grow through better use of technology, while helping tech companies successfully export and grow internationally, is important and the government’s approach to technology is paramount. About 40 percent of all the money spent in New Zealand on ICT technology is spent by the government, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars,” Muller says. The summit in Wellington was about enabling agen- Innovators on show The University of Canterbury Innovators’ Summer Start-Up Programme has culminated in the top ten teams presenting their projects to a panel of judges, coinciding with the official opening of the UC Centre for Entrepreneurship. The 2015/16 summer programme saw 33 students working on 31 ventures including for-profit, charitable and social enterprises, spanning across health, engineering, clothing, food and agriculture industries. At the official opening of the UC Centre for Entrepreneurship, instead of a traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony, the students were challenged to come up with something innovative in a 24-hour challenge. They designed and built a clever illuminated sign with three Edison bulbs representing the centre’s main components for success: the community, UC and the students. Businesses need to be on their toes this year New Zealand businesses are going to have to be on their toes this year, RiskNZ says. RiskNZ is the sector body in New Zealand bringing people, businesses and organisations together to manage risk and ensure New Zealand prospers. Given the volatility and uncertainty created by a raft of unusual and challenging factors that are manifesting as risk and so is making planning for 2016 a significant challenge, RiskNZ chairman Geraint Bermingham says Intelligent chair Using a similar principle that allows drivers to park their vehicles using automatic steering, Nissan has modified office chairs respond to hand claps. In the automotive world, Intelligent Park Assist uses four cameras on the car’s front, rear, and both wing mirrors. According to Nissan, the system converts video footage from the cameras and composites a virtual bird’s-eye view image that allows automatic steering. Similarly, the so-called Intelligent Parking Chair uses four cameras placed in four corners of a room’s ceiling where they locate the chair’s current position in order for the system to calculate the chair’s route to its original position. The UC Centre for Entrepreneurship operations director, Dr Rachel Wright helps progressively light up the UC Entrepreneurship sign at the opening ceremony helped by entrepreneur, mentor and UC Innovators judge Peter Montgomery Graeme Muller cies to share innovative ways of using tech to drive better public services and to discuss successful partnerships and collaboration across agencies with the tech sector. “Creating a vibrant future with government is a core strategic focus area for NZTech as it is critical for the future prosperity of New Zealand. As the pre-eminent voice for the technology sector, NZTech has established a strong working relationship with government and its business agencies. “Our challenge requires a holistic approach ranging from improving the immigration of talent into the country, through to longer term actions to improve the education of Kiwi kids to increase the number of people entering the tech sector in the future. “The summit included executives from most government departments, a number of local governments, health boards and NGOs. Senior public sector leaders, including chief executives, chief information officers, chief financial officers and service delivery executives were in attendance as was deputy prime minister Bill English, who opened the summit. NZTech represents more than 270 tech companies throughout New Zealand from startups and local tech firms to multinationals across ICT and high tech manufacturing. World’s first toxic liquid chemical waste stabiliser A New Zealand design stabiliser that protects the environment from toxic leeching is garnering attention internationally. The new device was developed under controlled conditions over the last 22 months using advanced CAD modelling and engineering techniques. Fitted to an excavator, a high-flow mixing head draws hazardous liquid chemical waste in to a vortex where dry powder binders are introduced using an electronically controlled pressure feeder. This prevents pockets of unmixed liquid chemical being left untreated, to later leech out in to the environment, says Ken Borg, senior technical designer, NZ Stirrers. “The process is safer and up to 80 percent faster than current stabilisation methods. It’s a true win/win for consumers and chemical waste treatment facilities,” he says. Interest in the new system has been overwhelming. Each device is purpose-built, and the current lead time is up to twenty, four months due to demand and the customisation process. “It is a game changer for the liquid chemical waste industry – a safer, easier, faster way to manage a growing problem. Consumers can feel safer knowing companies are doing more to protect them from hazardous liquid chemical waste leeching in to the environment.” Geraint Bermingham
EN feb16-HR-nocrops
To see the actual publication please follow the link above