The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has appointed University of Auckland’s Deputy Dean of Engineering, Margaret Hyland as its new Chief Scientist.
"We are delighted to announce Margaret’s appointment as Chief Scientist. This crucial leadership role will be important as we implement the National Statement of Science Investment, and will contribute to the deepening relationships between the Ministry and the science community," says Paul Stocks, Deputy Chief Executive Labour, Science and Enterprise.
Margaret, who is Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland, holds a PhD from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and has spent her career specialising in aluminium technology, and the chemistry and engineering of material surfaces. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineering and, in addition to her numerous teaching awards, she was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Pickering Medal for excellence in technology by the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2015. Margaret was previously the Director of the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge.
"As Chief Scientist, Margaret will provide science leadership, and work with teams providing advice on science systems, policy and investment. She will be tasked with building on the existing strategic direction of the science system, with a particular eye on the capability of the sector and opportunities going forward. She will also play a crucial role in ensuring that the sector’s expertise and intelligence are captured and communicated during the development of policy and investment plans," Paul says.
Margaret will be seconded to MBIE for 80% of her time for the next two years from February 1 2017.
| A Beehive release | January 27, 2017 ||
An investment of over $270,000 in the technology mentoring programme Shadow Tech Days will help it inspire more young women into technology related careers, Youth Minister Nikki Kaye announced today.
“This programme, run by NZ Tech, connects participants with women working in the tech sector, as well as women studying technology at a tertiary level,” says Ms Kaye.
“By spending a day in the workforce, participants get to experience first-hand what it’s like to work in a technology role.
“Ongoing mentoring and advice is also provided through contact with a tertiary student, to help participants progress their studies towards a tech career.
“The investment announced today is being made under the Partnership Fund which sees the Government co-invest with business, philanthropic, iwi and other partners to grow youth development opportunities.
“The Government will invest $75,000 in Shadow Tech Days, complemented by around $25,000 from NZ Tech towards programme management, and over $170,000 of staff time from participating technology firms.”
To date, Shadow Tech Days has been run in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The Partnership Fund investment will enable it to reach more young women in these areas, and also expand its reach to Hamilton, Tauranga, Palmerston North and Dunedin.
“Time spent with a mentor and seeing how things operate in the actual workforce can be hugely beneficial to inspiring young people’s potential career path,” says Ms Kaye.
“The experiences this programme delivers are about building the confidence of young women, and equipping them with the knowledge and support to make positive decisions about their future.”
Shadow Tech Days is scheduled to take place during Techweek (6-14 May 2017).
| A Beehive release | January 27, 2017 ||
IMAGE CREDIT: KOREN ALLPRESS
Ξ Timaru stone to form part of commemorative garden in Belgium
Ξ Strike action still looming at Lyttelton Port, talks to continue Friday
Ξ 5000 NZ dairy cows heading to China on Saudi businessman's ship
Ξ While you were sleeping: Wall St mixed
Ξ Tony Alexander's Weekly BNZ Overview
Ξ Government accounts ahead of forecast
Ξ Underpinning Mr Thiel’s right to New Zealand citizenship is his passion for Tolkien.
Ξ Phitek sold to NYSE-listed Amphenol in $60M deal
Ξ Callaghan appoints panel to help firms leverage their IP
Ξ NZ budget deficit smaller than forecast in first 5 months as GST, corporate tax beat estimates
Organisers believe a reconfigured Millbrook Resort will provide an exciting finish to the upcoming ISPS Handa New Zealand Open in Queenstown.
Millbrook Resort, which comprises three nine-hole configurations, is the tournament co-host for the 93rd ISPS Handa New Zealand Open on 9-12 March.
Two signature holes from the Coronet Nine and the Arrow Nine have been combined as the finishing holes, to maximise the atmosphere created by the amphitheatre surrounding the Millhouse Restaurant.
“The new layout will create a superb finish and ensure a spectacular spectator experience,” said Millbrook Resort’s Brian Spicer.
The tournament organisers have turned the current final hole of the Coronet Nine to the 17th hole, to be followed by the finishing 18th hole which is the current 9th hole on the Arrow Course.
“We will finish with a reachable par-5 over water as the 17th and a par-3 which is virtually surrounded by water as the 18th, which should add drama to the conclusion,” said Mr Spicer.
“The 18th hole is a relatively straight-forward par-3 but in a tournament like this, you never can tell. It all came down to the last few holes at The Hills last year, proving anything can happen at the close of a tournament.
“It has the potential to be an eagle-3 and birdie-2 finish or dependant on conditions and the situation, it can just as easily be a bogey-6 and double bogey-5. The nerves could tell.”
The first two days of the tournament will be played on both Millbrook Resort and The Hills, with the final two rounds at Millbrook Resort.
Tournament Director Michael Glading is delighted with the course layout plans for the 93rd ISPS Handa New Zealand Open.
“We’re incredibly fortunate to have two great courses to showcase our National Open, and look forward to an exciting event,” he said.
“The configuration of the final two holes at Millbrook Resort will bring new drama to the event.
“The 18th hole at The Hills has been pivotal to the final showdown in previous years, and we’re confident that by creating two climatic holes we’ll add a real sense of theatre this year.”
Two New Zealand Open champions, who won the Brodie Breeze Trophy six times between them, were master-minds of Millbrook Resort’s layout. The original 18-hole course was designed in 1993 by golfing legend Sir Bob Charles, a four-time New Zealand Open winner.
Local Queenstown former professional Greg Turner, the 1989 and 1997 Open champion, designed the Coronet Nine in 2009 and remodelled the existing 18-hole course.
| An ISPS Handa New Zealand Open release | January 26, 2017 ||
The Farming Robots Market Projected to Reach $5.7 Billion by 2024 Brandon Marshall has a look at this market on machinery.com. He writes, Transparency Market Research (TMR), has released a report, “Agriculture Robots Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 – 2024,” predicting a sizeable increase in demand for agriculture robots within the decade.
The report estimates that the agricultural robotics industry has generated USD $1.01 billion in revenue globally as of 2016. Going forward, TMR suggest that revenue for this industry will rise to approximately $5.7 billion by the end of 2024. This estimate is based upon a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.1 percent over the forecast period.
What's Driving Demand for Farming Robots?
According to one TMR analyst, the migration of populations away from traditionally rural areas toward densely populated cities and suburbs has increased the demand for food in these regions. In addition, the population drain from farming communities–combined with the repurposing of former farmland for industry and residences–is driving the need for precision farming. That’s where robots come in.
Opportunities for Innovation in Agriculture
Beginning with the debut of the Rotolactor (a large, rotating, milking machine) at the 1939 World’s Fair and continuing today, the majority of agriculture robots have been designed to perform one specific task. TMR’s research report categorizes robotic farming systems accordingly:
The installation and operational costs of these non-integrated, task-specific systems has, unfortunately, slowed the adoption of automated processes on many farms. Additionally, legal and regulatory concerns continue to pose a challenge for agriculture innovators.
According to TMR analyst, innovations in agriculture technology are likely to take place in the area of wireless telemetry; including sensors used to monitor crop health or the status of machines operating out of view.
Industry Leaders in Farming Robots
The research report found North America currently leading the industry in terms of market share, though strong growth within Asia is likely to continue. Some prominent players within North America include: PrecisionHawk, Inc., Clearpath Robotics, and Harvest Automations, Inc.
SenseFly SA and Naio Technologies dominate in Europe, while Shibuya Seiki is a leading player within the Asia-Pacific region.
TMR has also suggested that competition in the farming robots market will increase around the globe as start-ups continue to push innovation.
The full report is available from Transparency Market Research.
| Originally published on Machinery.com | January 20, 2017 ||
Ed's Note:No mention of technology out of New Zealand. Updates in this arera welcomed.
Higher than forecast tax revenues are the primary reason the Government accounts for the first five months of the financial year are ahead of forecast, Finance Minister Steven Joyce says.
The Government’s financial accounts to 30 November 2016 were released today, and they show that the Crown’s Operating Balance before Gains and Losses (OBEGAL) was a deficit of $768 million, which was $936 million better than the Treasury projected at the Half Year Fiscal Update (HYEFU).
"Stronger economic growth is flowing through to the Government's tax take'" Mr Joyce says. "Tax revenue for the five months to November is $460 million ahead of forecast in the Half-Year Update, and $1.4 billion ahead of Budget 2016 forecasts."
Mr Joyce says that it is appropriate to remain very cautious in terms of what the increased tax receipts might mean for the full-year financial result.
“Treasury's Half-Year Update forecast a $473 million surplus for the whole 2016/17 year,” Mr Joyce says. “It is far too early to say whether that surplus will be able to be achieved.
"These accounts include the first tranche of the Government's expenses related to the Kaikōura earthquake, with just under $700 million of EQC estimated costs being included. It will still be some time before the full cost of the recovery is known."
"The Earthquake again demonstrates the importance of the National-led Government’s prudent financial management. Getting back to surplus and repaying debt in the good times means we are in a position to support communities at times like this when they're in need.
“More generally these accounts underline the importance of strong fiscal discipline as we continue to build up our financial resilience in a relatively uncertain world. We need to remember that Budget 2016 forecast only a small surplus for the full financial year.”
| A Beehive release | January 26, 2017 ||
Fuss about citizenship reminiscent of Takaro Lodge Flap.
Midas Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel backed Facebook, Paypal, and Xero. But his founding of crime and insurgency systems developer Palantir currently valued at $20 billion can be considered less than helpful to floundering New Zealand law-and-order systems producer Wynyard Group.
On Wednesday, 02 November 2016 in:- Wynyard Class Action Must Identify Litigation TargetsMSC Newswire reported: “Wynyard for example walked into this kind of Silicon Valley deep-pocket storm when it found itself confronted with sometime New Zealand resident and Tolkien buff Peter Thiel’s Palantir crime product.”
Underpinning Mr Thiel’s right to New Zealand citizenship is his passion for Tolkien.
The name Palantir comes from the Lord of the Rings in which the Palantir was a magical seeing stone that let you see what was happening in lands far off.
Mr Thiel’s skill has been to see what is about to happen in the rather closer internet era once described by Bill Gates as representing the epoch of “disintermediation” in which people dealt directly with the people and services they required.
Mr Thiel’s strong and highly visible support for the election of President Donald Trump can itself be seen now quite clearly.It was based on an understanding that the new President could communicate directly with voters rather than having to deal with them via the intermediary of the established media.
Mr Thiel’s activist support for President Trump can also be viewed as triggering pique from New Zealand’s Labour Party Opposition to the bestowing upon him of New Zealand citizenship.
Otherwise Mr Thiel is a photofit personified of all New Zealand’s activist yearnings.
He supports openly all major societal alternative and libertarian thrusts, notably the right for people to live on man-made islands beyond legal jurisdictions in a concept known as “seasteading.”
He is an ardent proponent of peoples’ right to privacy and put the pervasive celebrity tittle-tattle internet site Gawker out of business by financing the legal action against the site on grounds of intrusion by showman Hulk Hogan.
He is the leader of the second generation of California innovators who sprang up in the footsteps of Bill Gates and Steven Jobs.
This set is sometimes described as the Paypal Mafia, the network of former employees and co-founders that includes SpaceX’s Eion Musk and LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman.
Mr Thiel now stands identified as the jewel in the crown of the New Zealand government’s campaign to see installed here information technology disruptive-scale investors to seed development in the home-grown industry.
One of the reasons that the government is evasive about this whole daring strategy is that it also encompassed Kim Dotcom.
Like Mr Thiel who emigrated with his parents to the United States, Kim Dotcom was also born in Germany.
It is likely that the government will now informally approach Mr Thiel with a view to his outlining investments other than Xero that can be said to be in the national interest.
Mr Thiel, for example, is said to be actively engaged in life sciences, notably in the field of postponing or even eliminating death.
In some ways the fuss about Mr Thiel’s New Zealand citizenship resonates with the campaign in the 1970s against United States oilman Stockton Rush.
Mr Rush and his family moved to New Zealand to create Takaro Lodge, a hunting and fishing retreat with an emphasis on conservation and located coincidentally in the same Wanaka lakes region favoured by Mr Thiel.
However and all those years ago it became known that Takaro Lodge had been fitted in whole or part with gold plated plumbing fitments.
These gold taps now became a class warfare icon.
Bill Rowling was the first New Zealand Labour Party prime minister from a privileged background.
Newly installed he was determined to publicly demonstrate his working class credentials which now took the form of a campaign against Mr Rush and his lodge and of course his taps.
Meanwhile, out-of-pocket and patriotic New Zealand investors in the until quite recently NZX listed Wynyard Group will find themselves cherishing a singular and not unreasonable hope.
It is that Mr Thiel can be persuaded to put his shoulder to the wheel in restoring their forensic systems producer to solvency.
Mr Thiel is considered the major holder of Palantir.
Wynyard Group had its beginnings in Christchurch with the Jade organisation which in the 1970s invented one of the world’s first programming compilers, i.e. a programme that generated other programmes.
The Wynyard Group investor class action group is currently evaluating its options in regard to the now insolvent onetime NZX main board company.
On their agenda at their forthcoming meeting might now be a motion calling for a formal approach to their newly revealed fellow citizen, Peter Thiel.
| From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk | Thursday 26 January 2017 ||
More reading: Wynyard Class Action Must Identify Litigation Targets
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242