By Bayswater marina (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
It was announced by communications minister, Simon Bridges, in a press release headed, rather vaguely, “Digital sector and Government alliance launched,” in which Bridges said he “welcomed the launch of a digital sector and government alliance to explore the economic and social benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT).”
The release went on to say: “The alliance is one of several new initiatives included in the new Building a Digital Nation report, which Minister Bridges released at the alliance launch event.” However at the time of writing no other details of the alliance had been announced, other than those contained in the report.
The report said MBIE [The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment] was supporting NZTech [The New Zealand Technology Association] to form a New Zealand IoT Alliance. “This Alliance will be a collaboration of industry and government working towards accelerating the adoption of IoT technologies for the economic and social benefit of New Zealand. The Alliance will utilise the research into IoT in the New Zealand market as its knowledge base to set focus and direction.”
The report listed participants as being MBIE, NZTech, TUANZ (the New Zealand Telecommunications Users Assocation) and InternetNZ and said the aim was to “Accelerate the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in New Zealand through market research and the establishment of an IoT Alliance.”
Reseach report in preparation
It said also “MBIE is partnering with NZTech to undertake a research report considering the opportunities for IoT within the New Zealand market. This research will provide a stocktake of current applications of IoT and will further explore how New Zealand can better utilise this technology in a secure way.”
That initiative was announced by NZTech in March with TUANZ and InternetNZ as participants but was described only as “a national research project to better understand the potential benefits and risks of the Internet of Things (IoT) for the New Zealand economy,” not a formal alliance.
Speaking generally about the report, Bridges said: “This report sets out how the Government is partnering with New Zealand’s digital sector, with other sectors of the economy and the wider digital community, to enable New Zealand to become a leading digital nation.”
He added: “This is the first time the full programme of activity has been pulled together in one place, serving as a focal point for ongoing engagement with the digital community and for shaping and driving New Zealand’s digital transformation.”
