The new BlockchainNZ
After a lot of behind the scenes work we’re excited to be officially re-launching BlockchainNZ (previously known as the Blockchain Association of New Zealand) under the Tech Alliance family. New name, brand, website and social media channels (Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook) are now live with youtube channel coming soon..
The Blockchain (now an umbrella term that includes a number of technologies and concepts including smart contracts, Initial Coin Offerings, Security Tokens, Distributed Ledger Technologies, decentralised systems) offers a fundamentally new way to build software that has the potential to change the way organisations, government and society operate. Our mission is to help New Zealand become a global hub for Blockchain innovation by connecting, promoting and advancing the blockchain ecosystem.
We will be producing monthly newsletters to keep everyone informed on what is happening in the New Zealand Blockchain space. If you know anyone who would benefit from receiving these, please forward this edition to them and get them to sign up to our newsletter.
We are building a team of people passionate about this space and have a number of parallel work streams starting up. But we need your help.
Your Blockchain news and content
Our aim is to become the central point for all Blockchain related content, news and events in New Zealand. Our blog is now live and our first step has been to contact authors of existing content and asking them to republish. Going forward we are looking to build up a network of content creators who can contribute to our blog. This is a great way to increase your personal/company profile, our site is starting to get international attention.
If you create or come across any other relevant news or events please let us know and we’ll push it out to our social media channels.
Education – new courses coming
Education is critical to achieving our vision. This education needs to happen at all levels from politicians, senior managers, business owners, CEOs and, board members through to new or existing Blockchain developers. BlockchainNZ wants to become the first port of call for all quality Blockchain related training in New Zealand. We will do this by working with education providers to qualify courses, negotiate deals for members, and promote courses via our website and social media channels.
We are excited to announce that we have negotiated a deal with Consensys Academy to provide a significant discount to their courses (initially online but later in the year there will be in person options). We can also provide in-house executive “101” presentations/workshops as needed. Please check our website or social media channels for details as they emerge, or let us know if you provide training or are interested in more information on course options.
Auckland and Wellington meetups
The Auckland and Wellington meetup groups have grown over the years to have significant membership numbers (as of today 1835 in Auckland and 1176 in Wellington). We are working with the organiser groups in both cities to put in place some best practices and increase the number of events. Events will continue to range from small, informal ‘let’s get a few people to a bar to chat about x’ through to paid/sponsored events with international speakers. These meetup groups are open to everybody, whether they are members of BlockchainNZ or not.
From March, we’re looking to run monthly events in each centre. And no, we haven’t forgotten Christchurch and the rest of the country. Watch this space for details and let us know if you want to get involved.
Students (you may already be members)
We are really keen to have students participate in the Blockchain conversation. If you are enrolled with the University of Auckland then you are already a member of BlockchainNZ! If not then contact your faculty heads and suggest they join, or let us know who to contact about joining.
Join the Slack conversation
We have a Slack group (banz.slack.com) that gives members an opportunity to connect and share information. As membership grows we’re hoping that this will become a key knowledge sharing resource. Currently we have #general, #news-events, #developer and #crypto-buying-trading channels setup. If you are a member and want access to this please drop us a line and we’ll set you up.
Blockchain experts wanted
We are getting regular requests for information from the mainstream media, politicians, government, and international organisations. We are looking to build up a small team (around five people) of experts with specialist knowledge in a number of Blockchain areas so that we can provide quality and timely responses. These people will be profiled on our website, get access to a private Slack channel and have the opportunity to potentially get paid consulting work. If interested please let us know.
Blockchain and Digital Identity Event: 14 March, Wellington, 21 March, Auckland
We are combining forces with the Digital Identity NZ team to run an event in Wellington, 4.30pm – 7.30pm 14 March at Bizdojo and in Auckland 4.30pm-7.30pm at IBM. We’ve got some great speakers and panelists lined up. So hold that date, further details and registration are coming soon.
New Frontiers Blockchain Day: 11 March, Wellington
New Frontiers is a unique conference/gathering that brings world changing entrepreneurs and founders, investors, policy experts and government decision-makers together with business and industry leaders, artists, creators, and storytellers. The next one is 11-13 March in Trentham near Wellington. BlockchainNZ has partnered with the organisers to create a Blockchain focus on the first day (Monday 11) and have a limited number of discounted ticket for members. This is an amazing opportunity to hear from and meet some key people (including Naval Ravikant) in the international Blockchain space. More details on the Blockchain day here. Please drop us a line if you’re interested in discount tickets.
Discount on international conferences
An important way that we can help our members is to inform them about the best Blockchain conferences (with a special emphasis on events happening in the APAC region) and encourage them to attend. This will involve identifying the best events, negotiating deals with conference organisers and promoting events and deals to the community. As these emerge we will post details on the website and social media channels. Currently we have deals in place for New Frontiers (above) and www.token2049.com we’re also in negotiation with the organisers of Edcon. More to come….
Blockchain ISO standards
In April 2018, New Zealand became a Participating (P) member of ISO/TC307. ISO is the International Organisation of Standardisation with Technical Committee 307 focusing on Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. Standards New Zealand has set up a NZ International Review Group (IRG) to act as New Zealand’s main liaison with ISO/TC307. The primary purpose of the group is to advise Standards New Zealand on how it should vote on international standards and other documents produced by ISO/TC307. Shortly, BlockchainNZ will be providing more information on our website about the IRG for TC307: why we need it, who is involved and where you can find out more. Please drop us a line if you want more information or want to get involved.
Why join?
Different organisations will benefit differently from being members of BlockchainNZ. BlockchainNZ is a vehicle enabling members to do what individual organisations can’t do alone. More benefit can be expected from growing membership and participation. Key benefits for members include the ability to:
- Directly shape the New Zealand Blockchain agenda and calendar of activities;
- Participate (at discounted costs) in activities throughout the year, both domestically and internationally;
- Get promotional opportunities for yourself and your business in relevant activities and events;
- Gain visibility of who is doing what and direct opportunity to connect/collaborate with others;
- Get sponsoring opportunities in Blockchain related activities and events;
- Be part of the wider New Zealand Technology Alliance
Please contact us either via the website or email team@blockchain.org.nz.
Mark Pascall
@BlockchainNZ
Other events of interest
- Create connections in the AI and FinTech ecosystems. Join us on 21 February in Auckland and 27 February in Christchurch.
- What does the future of New Zealand’s public sector look like? Register to attend the Future Government Summit, 26-27 February, 2019 and help create a roadmap for the future.
- Thinking of getting involved in Techweek19? Event submissions are now open.
- Considering entering the 2019 Hi-Tech Awards? Here’s six reasons why you should enter. Entries close 4 March and finalists will be announced on 27 March. Save the date for the Gala Dinner, 24 May in Auckland, during Techweek19.
- Register for the TechMarketers 2019 Conference on 28 February in Auckland, or forward to your Marketing colleagues. Email now to get your NZ Tech community discount code.
- World changing ideas are born in New Zealand! Meet the UpStarters and learn more about New Zealand’s tech and innovation story. Watch videos and download the showcase booklet.
