The community, which will be managed through the Tech for Good New Zealand on Meetup.com, is now part of a global Netsquared movement of innovators that spans 70 countries.
Tech for Good will include regular themed and bespoke events designed to foster ideas in the not for profit sector, social enterprise, social impact initiatives, as well as the tech sector, changemakers and businesses needed to make it happen.
The group will be managed by a number of supporters including founder Anne Legge, ClearPoint NZ CERO Hamish Rumbold, and TechWomen executive director Edwina Mistry.
“We firmly believe this network has the potential to develop meaningful collaboration, partnerships and technology solutions to respond to social challenges across New Zealand,” comments Rumbold.
“There are some fantastic, high-profile and homegrown examples of how tech has delivered meaningful outcomes in this space, which we hope will inspire and encourage communities from both sectors to get involved with Tech for Good.”
He explains that Eat My Lunch is a good example. Recently ClearPoint helped the Eat My Lunch team deliver its millionth free lunch to school children.
“ClearPoint created the technology solutions that enabled Eat My Lunch to scale to reach this great milestone. Another fantastic example of tech enabling social good is Dr Lance O’Sullivan’s iMoko an innovative, digitally enhanced healthcare programme developed to increase access to health services for children,” he says.
The first meetup will be held in Auckland this month. The topic will be “How Technology Enables Connecting Need with Help”.
Here are Tech for Good’s primary functions:
• Brings the not for profit sector, social enterprise and social impact initiatives together with the technology sector, changemakers, foundations and businesses across New Zealand, through regular thematic-based and bespoke events.
• Provides a platform that enables and drives collaboration and action across the social innovation and tech sector.
• Provides a platform for social impact initiatives to voice their needs and share both the opportunities and strategic tech challenges they face.
• Provides a platform to showcase examples and case studies of successful tech enabled initiatives and their impact, to inspire others and shared learning.
• Provide support by connecting people with opportunities for training and project support.
• Provide a platform to strengthen communication and develop tech enabled partnership opportunities