New Zealand Nztech Tender

While the pandemic is currently dominating much of our time we cant lose sight of other important issues. Today NZTech is briefing Minister Shaw Climate Change and Environment about the potential for technology to underpin the Emissions Reduction Plan. The Climate Change Commissions advice released earlier this year included very little about technology. They stated that the technology and tools the country needs exist today and we do not need to rely on future technologies. Theoretically while climate change technology is available around the world there are currently few New Zealand companies developing the tech locally for what will be a massive global market. A Callaghan Innovation report recently identified some great opportunities for home grown climate tech. We would like to see a technology roadmap included as part of the Emissions Reduction Plan similar to Australia. They have produced a Technology Investment Roadmap as a strategy to accelerate development and commercialisation of low emissions technologies.The Governments draft Emissions Reduction Plan will be available for public consultation this month.Later this week I am catching up with the CEO for the newly formed Tech Council of Australia a similar entity to NZTech. The Tech Council will provide a collective voice for the Australian technology industry and we will be looking for opportunities to collaborate.Other interesting activities this week include a session on New Zealand-USA digital trade barriers the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation APEC business leadership group meeting plus executive council meetings for AgriTechNZ and LocationTechNZ. In other news congrats to our member Conical for becoming the first video game company to raise crowdfunded equity investment in New Zealand. The ARVR studio is also a Epic MegaGrant recipient from the creators of Fortnite.