Israeli & Māori Tech partnerships

Josh Brown, founder of the New Zealand Israel Innovation Hub wrote this report on the Israeli and Māori Tech Partnerships and Trade Webinar, held last week.

Achievement Unlocked: On Thursday last week, the New Zealand Israel Innovation Hub in conjunction with the Indigenous Coalition for Israel put on a fantastic webinar to involve Maori and Pasifika communities in creating tech links between New Zealand and Israel.

Hosted by Josh Brown, academic Dr Sheree Trotter and former NZ cabinet MP Alfred Ngaro, the webinar started with an introduction to the work of the NZIIH and ended with a round-table discussion on how to best proceed with the engagement. Some points made:

1. Maori and Pasifika have a large role to play in the future of the country, yet their communities are also disproportionately affected by some of the upcoming challenges (such as climate change) that today's innovative solutions seeks to address.

2. Indigenous peoples, and especially indigenous women, are under-represented in the tech sectors, despite the value they can bring to the domestic tech ecosystem.

3. Involvement in tech is not just about equity (looking down), it's also about re-connecting to culture, language and pride (looking up). Of course, there is also a high demand for manpower in these sectors and tech can bring wealth to families and communities.

4. Ideas put on the table include Maori/Pasifika focused accelerators, delegations or working holidays in Israel, and additional webinars. But there was an acknowledgement by all that the despite the huge interest, we have to start 'doing' rather than keep 'talking'. 

The webinar will be followed up with an engagement with each of the participants for comments, additional ideas and interest in being involved in the NZIIH. All-in-all, only positive feedback has been received thus far and we're going to continue the conversation to the point of action. Much thank you to Alfred and Sheree for your assistance to make this webinar happen and Agnes Fecher for the poster. L'chaim and Kia Ora!

#nztech #nzbusiness #maori #pasifika #maoritech #indigenousbusiness #innovationmindset #nzsmallbusiness