Hello everyone, May has been another busy month NZRise wise, with lively discussions on our members forum and a range of meetings, consultations and events Don and Victoria as Co-Chairs have been involved with. If you have any questions or would like to learn more feel free to email us at [email protected]

AGM Reminder

Today (2nd June) is the AGM for NZRise, we have three officer roles 2 x Co-Chairs and 1 x Treasurer, plus a board of those able to assist with time, mindshare and decision making assistance.

Taxation treatment of Software

Inland Revenue are consulting with industry bodies on the taxation treatment of Software developed for the purpose of commercial exploitation. They will be issuing a discussion paper any day (suggested at the end of May when we met) for submissions from industry. Specifically we as an industry need to consider the implications of when software is classified as an asset (and depreciated, taxed as such) and whether we will be able to continue to expense software. Two major concerns we raised were the misalignment with this suggested course and Callaghan Innovation’s grant rules with regards capitalisation of Research and Development funding, and treatment of Open Source software as an asset.

Trade in Services Agreement

MFAT are consulting with industry bodies on the Trade In Services Agreement they are currently negotiating on behalf of NZ Government. This agreement encompasses a broad range of countries and provides a framework for Services vs Goods or Products. They will be looking to the TPPA for wording and alignment where possible. The main points we highlighted as concerns included services associated with Open Source software, cross border data  hosting implications, the definition of Software as a Service in light of the Inland Revenue consultation noted above.

Support for Internships, Students and our changing workforce

NZRise members have been discussing a range of working models and perspectives for developing the local Digital and Technology workforce. We will be publishing a perspective on how our members are engaging with a range of initiatives and model for what works well later in June.

Many members also attended the Masters of Innovation and Commercialisation, Victoria University of Wellington 2016 student project presentations this month. A programme we are keen to support and provide projects and industry partners for on an ongoing basis.

The ICT Graduate Schools – we are also working closely to provide connections with industry for the ICT Graduate schools. The VUW school launch in Wellington was well attended by many business groups and opened by Minister Joyce during the month.

Digital Talent Forum – Victoria MacLennan and Paul Ramsay are donating their time on behalf of NZRise as representatives on this cross industry, cross Government Agency initiative designed to find collaborative initiatives to address a changing workforce requirement and future projected skill shortage. There are 4 programme streams working on the full spectrum from education initiatives, through to immigration and retraining of the existing NZ workforce. This programme sits within the Digital Economy programme of work and representatives involved are from NZRise, NZTech, IITP, MBIE, DIA, MoE, Immigration, TEC.

Phil O’Reilly talk on Digital and Technology Business

We are pleased to be hosting Phil, recently departed as CEO of Business NZ to talk on his perspective of the impact the Digital and Technology sector has on the NZ economy now and into the future.

You can register for the event here: https://nzrise-presents-phil-o-reilly.lilregie.com/step1

Initiatives with other Industry Groups

NZRise, IITP, NZTech, TUANZ and InternetNZ as industry groups with differing perspectives often find ourselves collaborating on specific initiatives and issues.

NZRise is supporting NZTech in development of an Economic Impact Survey designed to highlight the emerging role of the Digital and Technology industry as it impacts a range of sectors within the New Zealand Economy.

General Discussion topics in May

Blockchain, Regional Economic Development Agencies, The Budget with regards our industry implications, new Innovation Hubs and ongoing funding channeled into Accelerators and Incubators, Oracle vs Google wrt Java licensing, Intellectual  Property Rights consultation / changes required for TPP, NZPolice project and the low success rate of large Government projects – and many more. If you want to join the conversation please come and join NZRise.

ITx Event Updates

Our agenda for ITx on Monday July 11th is shaping up really well. We have a Wellington Mayoral Candidate Q&A where we will ask them for their positions on and aspirations for the Digital and Technology industry. We have Vikram Kumar talking about Blockchain, a session of Lightning Talks on “Disruption” hosted by Ian Apperley.

There are 9 streams of content and you can read the agenda here: http://itx.nz/Programme

Well priced for NZRise Members at $795+GST so please please sign up to attend this great 3 day massive Technology Conference.

Then there is the ITx Awards! Nominate someone in our industry ASAP as nominations close tomorrow. 

http://iitp.nz/Awards

OpenSource Awards

NZRise are sponsoring the OpenSource Awards this year, you can nominate great contributors within this community here.

Coming up in June and July

NZRise co-chairs meet government ministers and heads of departments to discuss many of the issues facing our industry, members and positioning our sector as an aspirational one for the NZ Economy. In June/July we have many of these scheduled.

Mayoral Candidates in the Major Cities – in addition to the Wellington Mayoral Candidates Q&A session we will be posing questions to candidates in NZRise member cities – Auckland, ChCh, Tauranga, Taupo, Oamaru and more – asking for their positions on and aspirations for our sector within the context of their cities. Should be interesting to understand how the candidates view the Digital and Technology sectors.

Members great stories showcase – in June and July our Community Manager (Bronnie) will be talking to members about their great stories and publishing those here as news. Watch out for some really innovative and interesting companies doing cool stuff! Very proud.

That’s all I have time for before heading off on Holiday. Next update will be our year in review. Vic. 

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