What an exciting Techweek it’s been so far! On Monday, I joined my wonderful colleagues at NZTech at our launch event at Google, ‘Digital Nation 2023: Shaping our tomorrow, today’. We discussed the current state of New Zealand’s digital transformation and explored all the challenges and opportunities for the future. I was lucky enough to speak to the room (and those virtually attending) about blockchain technology and the incredible opportunities New Zealand has to become a web3 hub. We also had a special guest, Minister of Digital Economy and Communications, Hon. Ginny Andersen, to launch the New Zealand Digital Technologies Industry Transformation Plan.
This morning, I had the pleasure to sit down with two of our members, Scott Lawrie from Scott Lawrie Gallery and James Cochrane from Lane Neave, to have a chat about digital art in our Techweek TV session ‘From Paint to Pixels: The History and Future of Art’. It was a great session where we delved into past art movements and discussed the influence and impact these movements had on current art forms explored through NFTs, and touched on where we think the future of digital and decentralised art will go. Make sure to check out our website where you can watch it on demand – hopefully later this week!
Later today, I’ll be speaking at the Retail:Tech 2023 conference on blockchain and its role within the retail space, alongside Jerome Faury, CEO and founder of Immersve, where he will talk about the role of crypto in retail payments. The retail sector has such an opportunity to explore the world of blockchain and crypto-payments with so many use cases already being seen within our own backyard.
And finally, tonight our friends at Callaghan Innovation will be hosting their very first Web3NZ in-person networking event! Make sure you sign up as a member of Web3NZ and we’ll see you there!
I also want to give a huge thank you to all of those who set up and hosted some incredible events across Aotearoa for our 11th Annual Techweek. Can’t wait for next year!
As always, my emails are always open, so let me know when you’re free for a chat and so we can keep up to date with all the exciting things you’re doing in the blockchain and web3 space.
Ngā mihi nui,
Alison Mackie
BlockchainNZ Executive Director
Read full news here: Highlights from Techweek23
