Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
New Zealand’s leading tech organisations today released their manifesto of New Zealand’s Digital Future.
The digital copy of the report has been sent to every member of parliament and to key government officials throughout multiple agencies as technology is far reaching – from health and education to regions, small to medium businesses and social and primary industries.
The collaborative report by 20 major Kiwi tech organisations was led by NZTech, IT Professionals (ITP) and InternetNZ.
Among a dozen manifesto goals is a call for New Zealand to establish a dedicated Ministry for the Future, focusing on positioning New Zealand and all government agencies and society to take best advantage of a technologically enabled future.
NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says the prosperity of New Zealand is inextricably linked to how Kiwis embrace the future as a digital nation.
“As we approach the 2017 election, we strongly encourage all political parties to embrace this manifesto and commit to bringing life to its recommendations.
“The manifesto focuses on three key areas: The future of our people, the future of our economy and the future of our government so New Zealand’s digital potential can be fully realised.
“The tech sector is now New Zealand’s third largest exporter and is growing fast. The tech sector contributes over $16 billion to GDP and employs 100,000 people. But it’s not just about the tech sector as new digital technologies are driving economic and social change.
“For New Zealand to remain competitive in the near future, it needs to plan and prepare for this unprecedented technology change today.
“The prosperity of New Zealand is inextricably linked to how we embrace our future as a digital nation.
“With the convergence of technologies such as fast internet speeds, mobility, big data and cloud computing we are beginning to see a wave of technology change impacting almost every part of society and the economy.
“We know that nine percent of the world had a smart phone in 2011; now more than 25 percent are connected to the internet via mobile. In 2008 the average industrial robot cost $500,000. They now cost as little as $20,000.
“In 1980, solar power cost $30 per kilowatt in the US, now it is as low as 4c per kW. In 2011, the sensors in an autonomous car cost $350,000; they now cost less than $1,000. These are just some examples of how tech is changing the world so rapidly. Tech is crucial to New Zealand’s future,” Muller says.
InternetNZ chief executive Jordan Carter says connection to the Internet is becoming ever-more essential for people's business and personal lives. There's been huge investment in making sure top-quality connectivity is available around New Zealand, he says.
"The challenge in the next term of parliament is three-fold: continuing to boost rural and regional access; making sure there are cost-effective options for those who can't afford huge Internet bills; and making sure that everyone can make better use of time online when they have access. This manifesto provides a route-map for New Zealand's success."
ITP chief executive Paul Matthews says New Zealand has a major opportunity for continued significant economic growth and employment led by the tech sector. But whichever parties are in government post-election, they will need to embrace this opportunity through future-focused policy in a range of areas.
“We hope all parties will support changes needed to ensure a modern future-focused education system, while also focusing on badly needed change to how public research is funded in New Zealand. This collaboration is unprecedented and the 20 tech bodies who have contributed have done so to help New Zealand prosper,” Matthews says.
The 12 manifesto tech goals:
1. New Zealand develops world leading technology by increasing the proportion of digital tech related public research and improving indirect incentives for industry research and development.
2. New Zealand equips every child with the digital technology skills needed to be safe and successful in a digital world through comprehensive digital technology education.
3. New Zealand is recognised as a world leader in equipping its citizens for the changing economy, through in-work training, career transition support, and public sector leadership in the use of new technologies.
4. New Zealanders have affordable access to reliable, high-speed internet, coupled with the skills and equipment to use it. As part of this, there should be parity between urban and rural areas with regards to speed / quality and cost.
5. New Zealand is recognised as having one of the most digitally savvy economies in the world, with tech product and service exports being our top export sector. The majority of New Zealand businesses either sell or engage in business online.
6. New Zealand remains open for business, welcoming genuine skilled migrants in areas of strong need in the digital and technology sector while significantly improving the process of matching the skills of potential immigrants with areas of un-met need.
7. New Zealand continues to be a world leading nation to do business in and with whilst maintaining privacy and data security. This is achieved through a world leading approach to cyber security including education, policy and preparedness.
8. New Zealand develops a transparent framework for buyers and sellers through government wide prequalification standards and low cost, easy to use procurement processes.
9. New Zealand fully embraces open standards and provides a level playing field for technology in general, and IT services in particular.
10. New Zealand continues to be recognised internationally as a bastion for privacy, a country which values and protects the privacy of its citizens through policy whilst still allowing economic growth.
11. New Zealand embraces online digital tools to provide efficient, consultative and inclusive policy-making process or allowing for rapid updating of legislation.
12. New Zealand establishes a dedicated, Ministry for the Future, focusing on positioning New Zealand and all government agencies and society to take best advantage of a technologically enabled future.
| A MakeLemonade release || May 24, 2017 |||
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New Zealand headquartered intangible asset specialist EverEdge expands into Asia through key cooperation with the intellectual property office in Singapore
EverEdge Global Ltd, the New Zealand headquartered, global intangible asset specialist, and IP ValueLab, a subsidiary of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS), have signed an agreement to cooperate on providing strategic intellectual property and intangible asset advisory services in Singapore.
The agreement positions the locally founded, private commercialisation firm well to expand into a burgeoning intellectual property market in Asia, through its new office in Singapore - its first in Asia - joining its existing offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Asia saw the highest number of applications for patents, trademarks and industrial designs of any region in 2015, including 61.9% of patent applications worldwide.
The multi-year cooperation between EverEdge and IP ValueLab aims to support Singapore in its goal to help enterprises scale up and drive economic growth. EverEdge and IP ValueLab will work together to help Singaporean companies unlock the value of their intangible assets through customised advisory services and a suite of intangible asset management tools. These include the identification and audit of intangible assets and risks, protection commercialisation and monetisation strategies and intangible asset valuation, securitisation and financing. Intangible assets, of which IP is a key component, account for over 87% of all company value today.
Paul Adams, CEO of EverEdge Global said “Singapore is at the cutting edge internationally in its approach to commercialising intellectual property and intangible assets. IPOS was recently ranked as the second most innovative intellectual property office in the world. To be selected to partner with IP ValueLab and IPOS is a major recognition of the skills, expertise and tools EverEdge has built over the last decade.”
Singapore has consistently been ranked number one in Asia for its top-notch IP regime by the Global Innovation Index 2016 and was ranked the 6th most innovative country globally in the 2017 Bloomberg Innovation Index (New Zealand ranks 19th).
Daren Tang, CEO of IPOS and Chairman of IP ValueLab said “Singapore’s future growth lies in our ability to create value from intangible assets and intellectual property. This requires world-class commercially focused expertise. EverEdge brings a wealth of international experience and strategic expertise that is unique in this area. The EverEdge team, working with IPValueLab will help Singaporean companies to take a major step up in how they identify, create, manage and commercialise their intellectual property and intangible assets.”
Tan Shau En, Executive Director of IP ValueLab said “This cooperation combines the international reach and knowledge of EverEdge with the extensive local experience of IP ValueLab. Together, we look forward to delivering expertise, assistance and tools that will add tremendous value to companies and entrepreneurs.”
| An EverEdge Global Limited release || May 23, 2017 |||
Dubai, UAE, 22 May 2017 – Emirates announced today that it will be introducing a second daily A380 service between Dubai and Birmingham, beginning 29th October 2017.
Flight EK39/40, currently operated by a Boeing 777, will now be operated by the iconic and highly popular Emirates A380, adding to the existing daily A380 already operating on the route.
Following the suspension of one of its flights to Birmingham, Emirates has decided to operate the new A380 - the world’s largest passenger aircraft, which features 615 seats. This means that from October, the airline will operate a twice-daily, all-A380 service to the Midlands.
Emirates’ decision to use a double-daily A380 service was in part driven by huge demand from passengers to travel on the iconic aircraft. Since the first A380 service from Dubai to Birmingham launched on 27th March 2016, over 300,000 passengers have already flown on the aircraft between the two cities.
The A380’s popularity is partly due to the fact that it features the widest individual in-seat Economy Class screens in the industry, measuring in at 13.3 inches and offers over 2,500 channels on inflight entertainment system, ice. As with the current A380 used on the route, the aircraft will operate in a two class configuration, featuring 58 flat-bed seats in Business Class and 557 spacious seats in Economy Class, as well as Emirates’ popular Onboard Lounge.
And with Emirates offering A380 services to a number of key destinations in the East such as Auckland, Bangkok, Beijing, Perth, Singapore and Sydney, passengers travelling beyond Dubai have an increased opportunity to fly on the A380 on both legs of their journey, experiencing all the benefits that it offers. As with the current service, travellers also enjoy connectivity to Emirates' wide network of 31 destinations in the Indian Subcontinent and Africa.
In 2016 alone, Emirates launched new passenger services to places including Cebu and Clark in the Philippines, Yinchuan and Zhengzhou in mainland China, Yangon in Myanmar and Hanoi in Vietnam. On 1st July 2017, Emirates will also start flying daily to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Emirates started flying to Birmingham on 18 December 2000 as a daily service to Dubai, operated by a 278-seat Airbus A330. Since then, Emirates has carried over 5.2 million passengers between Dubai and Birmingham. An important segment on this route are the international students who travel to Birmingham every year to attend its prestigious schools and universities.
Emirates’ flight EK39 departs from Dubai at 07:25hrs and arrives in Birmingham at 11:25hrs. The outbound flight, EK40, departs from Birmingham at 13:30hrs and arrives in Dubai at 00:35hrs the following day.
A city to discover:
Birmingham is packed with cultural attractions, from historic sites such as the Grade I listed Jacobean mansion Aston Hall, to Villa Park – home of Aston Villa Football Club, and Cadbury World. Travellers can also enjoy the world-class acoustics of Symphony Hall and the Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Hippodrome Theatre. It also has acres of green spaces and miles of rejuvenated canals leading to the stunning new Library of Birmingham and the modernist structure of the Selfridges building at the iconic Bullring shopping centre. In fact, Birmingham is known for its world-class shopping, with an eclectic retail scene that ranges from the renowned Jewellery Quarter to its exclusive mall, The Mailbox. Another point of interest are medieval villages spread across the rolling hills of the Cotswolds.
Birmingham is also a great foodie destination with a diverse dining scene that reflects the city’s cosmopolitan population; there’s everything from Michelin-starred restaurants to a vibrant street-food culture.
Connectivity to cities across the UK:
Emirates’ codeshare agreement with Flybe enables passengers to seamlessly connect to cities such as Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey and Newquay. All codeshare flights operated by Flybe connect with Emirates flights from Dubai to Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham.
The best airline in the world:
This year, Emirates was recognised as the ‘Best Airline in the World’ at the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards for airlines. The award was based on thousands of reviews Emirates received from the TripAdvisor community over the past twelve months. Emirates was the most positively reviewed airline in the industry over that period of time.
Passengers travelling in Business Class also enjoy access to a dedicated lounge at Birmingham Airport as well as Emirates’ convenient Chauffeur-drive service to and from the airport within a 70 mile radius.
Barely five percent of New Zealand companies have taken out cyber insurance, despite a predicted rise in ransomware and other cyber issues, a leading New Zealand specialist underwriting agency says.
Ian Pollard, director of Delta Insurance, says the total potential for the New Zealand Cyber Insurance market in time may reach $500 million in premiums. Delta is New Zealand’s only locally owned and operated specialist underwriting agency specialising in areas such as cyber, technology, environmental and UAV insurance cover.
A Symantec report says New Zealand has the second highest number of ransomware attacks in the southern hemisphere (21st globally) and more than 50 percent of Delta Insurance’s cyber insurance claims all up have been related to ransomware
Pollard has nearly 20 years’ experience in cyber insurance and the company provides hacker theft coverage and provides a special cyber risk management approach. Latest estimates reveal that cybercrime costs US$3 trillion globally and between $nz250 million to $nz500 million in New Zealand.
The government allocated $22 million from its 2016 budget to set up its new Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) in April. The CERT, as a first port of call for a cyber-attack, is responsible for monitoring, tracking and advising individuals and businesses on cyber security incidents or attacks affecting New Zealand.
“Public-private sector partnership is essential to improving New Zealand’s cyber security architecture. Ransomware attacks have made up 40 percent of our insured cyber claims over the last 12 months.
“I predict the number of cyber insurers will double over the next two years (from eight to 16) and peak in 2018, making it the best time for New Zealand businesses to buy cyber insurance.
“The global cyber insurance market will increase tenfold within the next eight years from $US3.5 billion to potentially $US25 billion by 2025. The cost of cybercrime will also grow from $US3 trillion in 2015 to $US6 trillion in 2021. We contributed to the OECD report which investigated the issue.
“Sophisticated cyber insurers are conscientious around understanding accumulations for various cyber disaster scenarios and there are some potential risk scenarios that could have very severe and wide-ranging consequences.
“Examples of these include a major cloud provider outage, global malware or ransomware contagion similar to the recent Wannacry event and a global cyber terrorist incident. Any of these events could be truly global in nature and are perhaps the more concerning incidents being silent cyber scenarios exposing non-cyber insurance products to potential cyber-related losses.
“Ransomware attacks aren’t going away. New Zealand has had hundreds of ransomware attacks this year and we expect more.
“We’re passionate about cyber risk management and helping clients, especially small to medium business enterprises, and insurance brokers to understand the risks associated with cyber threats,” he says.
For further information contact Delta Insurance director Ian Pollard on 027 7008959 or Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188.
| A Make Lemonade release || May 23, 2017 |||
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Air New Zealand and New Zealand Rugby are searching the world for two truly crazy-about-rugby All Blacks Apprentices to join the All Blacks as they take on Manu Samoa in Auckland on 16 June.
These volunteer positions are the first of their kind within the All Blacks camp. The apprentices will stay at the All Blacks’ hotel and assist the team both in preparation for the match and on game day, including:
· assisting in the setting up of the team’s Captain’s Run on the day before the game before joining the team for lunch.· attending an exclusive question and answer session with All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen and players.· helping to set up the All Blacks’ coaches box, sideline and bench on game day.· observing the game from their own private sideline bench.
One lucky apprentice will also be responsible for running the ball on to the field for kick-off.
Air New Zealand will provide transport to Auckland from anywhere across New Zealand or around the world for the successful applicants along with up to three friends or family members each. They will also receive accommodation and apprentices will wear special custom-made uniforms.
All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen says true fans of any age should apply.
“The main thing is these people need to be All Blacks supporters through and through and demonstrate a true love of the game.
“Like any position on the All Blacks team we expect these spots will be hotly contested so applicants really need to sell themselves and show us how passionate they really are.”
Air New Zealand General Manager Global Brand and Content Marketing Jodi Williams says the airline has been a proud sponsor of the All Blacks for more than 20 years.
“Together with NZR we wanted to create a truly awesome opportunity for fans to go behind the scenes with the All Blacks and do their bit to help the team prepare for the test match against Samoa.”
The apprentices will volunteer their services for 48 hours – from 8am Thursday 15 June to 8am Saturday 17 June 2017.
All Blacks supporters can apply now at www.airnz.co.nz/blackout. Fans are encouraged to provide any supporting evidence of their suitability for this position – for example video, photos, written material or artwork.
Applications close 11.59pm Monday 5 June 2017 (NZT).
| An Air New Zealand release || May 22, 2017 |||
SouthMACH is the South Island’s premier technology trade show celebrating the heartland of NZ Manufacturing. If you are an Engineer - Mechanical, Design, Consultant, Electrical. Machinist, Communications Technician/Manager, Supervisor, Technical Operator, Operations Manager, or similar, Southmach offers the tools, technology and services to work smarter.
An exhibitor to look out for this year is Kormax. Kormax hold the largest range of metals for the engineering industry in New Zealand; from Bronze, Brass, Copper, Cast-Iron and Aluminium along with Bronze Bushes, Oilite Bushes and Key Steel. These materials are stocked in various different profiles from solid and round bar, flat bar, hex bar and angle bar among others that are available upon request. Well worth a visit to their stand to get a face to face understanding of how they work.
You can find a preview to SouthMACH17 in the May issue of the NZManufacturer Magazine
Just outside of Hamburg, a monumental experiment is finally coming to life.
Named the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL), the 1.5-mile-long experiment has produced its first laser pulses, signaling that the project is nearly ready for its experimental debut.
According to reports by the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), which operates the laser, the XFEL has produced its first pulses of 0.8nm laser light at a single pulse per second. With this demonstration, the researchers believe that in the coming months they’ll be able to ramp up the lasers pulse frequency to its final state of 27,000 pulses per second.
"The European X-ray laser has been brought to life! The first laser light produced today with the most advanced and most powerful linear accelerator in the world marks the beginning a new era of research in Europe,” said Helmut Dosch, chairman of the DESY Directorate. “The European XFEL will provide us with the most detailed images of the molecular structure of new materials and drugs and novel live recordings of biochemical reactions."At the core of the XFEL is an electron beam generated by a superconducting linear accelerator. A 2.1 kilometer (1.3 mile) accelerator tunnel, accelerates electrons to relativistic speeds along the length of the passage.
The electrons then enter a 210 meter (689 foot) stretch of the experiment where X-ray generating devices built around 17,290 permanent magnets twist the beam. By taking the straight-line electron beam and giving it a rotation through forced magnetic pulses, the researchers are able to create short wavelength X-Ray particles.
These incredibly energetic X-ray pulses carry with them a high degree of luminosity and thus can be used for the various laser experiments that litter the XFEL experimental hallway.
According to DESY, once the laser is fully operation, in September, researchers will begin using it to make pictures and films of “the nanocosmos at atomic resolution.” Beyond biological and medical research, these films might also be capable of showing researchers what conditions within the interiors of planets might be like, lending better understanding of now frequently discovered exoplanets.
For more record-breaking engineering, learn about the World’s Largest Pool for Space Research.
| An Engineering.com release || May 16, 2017 |||
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand today announced the renewal of a reciprocal currency arrangement (swap line) to support the settlement of cross border transactions between New Zealand and Chinese businesses.
The arrangement, first agreed in 2011, aims to promote bilateral trade and direct investment for economic development between the two countries. The size of the swap facility is RMB 25 billion (NZD 5 billion) and it has a three year maturity which may be extended if both parties agree.
Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Grant Spencer said the bilateral currency swap line helps facilitate international use of the renminbi, and contributes to a strengthening of the China-New Zealand relationship.
| A RBNZ release || May 19, 2017 |||
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
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