What a month we’ve had at EdTechNZ. As part of the NZ Tech Alliance, we had the immense pleasure of being part of the team to bring Techweek to life. This year, Techweek launched the Tomorrow Expo, where on the final day the expo was open exclusively for school children to see tech in action and be inspired. We’re also proud to say that EdTechNZ had the highest number of events hosted throughout the week. In case you missed any of them, you can view our webinars on our website:
- Techweek Launch Event – Digital Nation 2023: Shaping our tomorrow, today.
- A New Digital Era of Education – Latest EdTechNZ Insights
- Breaking Barriers: A Teacher Panel on Digital Technology in Education
- AI is here to stay: Its impact on online, flexible, and distance learning
- EdTech Exporters – The ‘know how and know who’ of NZ Inc agency support
During the launch event, Digital Nation 2023, we had the pleasure to have the Digital Economy Minister, Hon. Ginny Andersen launch the Digital Technologies Industry Transformation Plan. This plan was created in part by industry and government to create actions and a vision to help grow the tech sector. Later last week, the Labour government also announced their latest budget, which has a few of us very excited as a $160 million tax rebate scheme has been announced for game developers. The gaming sector, which brought in over $400 million to our economy in 2022, is surely set to continue to grow with the current government investing heavily within it. We also had our very own executive director, Alison Mackie, sit on the TVNZ Breakfast couch ahead of the budget to discuss her hopes for the budget and to inspire young girls and Māori to get into tech, as well as a quick shout-out to EdTechNZ.
This tax rebate can literally be a game-changer in our EdTech sector. There has often been an interesting and unique interplay between the gaming sector and education, where the learner becomes an active participant in their own learning, that allows for greater retention, motivation, and a personal connection in what they’re learning. By creating a competitive gaming sector, we hope to see a pool of skills and talent emerge that can create a talent pipeline that our EdTech’s can take advantage of, as well as more mainstream adoption of gamified learning experiences from the advancements in gaming being made right on our back door-step. Even though it’s a rebate for the gaming sector, let’s use it to our advantage!
Last month, we also launched our EdTechNZ Survey to help capture the latest information from our EdTech community to help inform our research and upcoming sector report. Our last report, released in 2021, helped us produce six insights that have grounded our advocacy work. Now a year and a half since its release, we’re interested to see how we’ve grown as an industry, and how we can help better inform government in growing digital education. Keep an eye out for more updates on our latest research!
Ngā mihi
The EdTechNZ Team
Read full news here: Highlights from Techweek23
