Speech to Liz Dengate Thrush Foundation - Inaugural Internet Industry Awards Dinner
As Acting Minister for Communications and Information Technology, I'd like to extend a special welcome to Peter Dengate Thrush, Chair of the LizDengate Thrush Trust, and his fellow Trustees.
I would like to congratulate you for setting up the Foundation and hosting the inaugural awards. I know the Foundation will play an important role in fostering a wider understanding of the Internet, both through the awards and the funding of educational Internet projects, giving our people the tools to express their enthusiasm for, and make the most of, the digital world.
I would also like to warmly welcome Dr Vint Cerf. I appreciate you being with us here tonight to lend your influence in support of these awards, and the Foundation, both of which I know are going to make a great contribution to the culture of innovation in our ICT Sector.
It is very fitting that both Peter and Vint are here tonight. As many of you know, Peter succeeded Vint as Chair of the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned names and Numbers, more commonly known by its acronym, ICANN.
ICANN is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation that was formed in 1998 to keep the Internet secure and stable. It oversees the technical foundation of the global Internet on which we are now are so dependent.
I would also like to recognise the distinguished panel of judges who are here this evening. Having glanced through the finalists in each category I can see that selecting the best entry would have been a challenging task. It's very encouraging to see the amount of enthusiasm and innovation that's being generated in the ICT sector by the talented entrepreneurs and developers being recognised here tonight.
In my ministerial portfolios I have a great interest in the Government's digital initiatives. It demonstrates to me how the digital world is driving innovation throughout government and society generally.
In my Internal Affairs portfolio, the Department is responsible for much of the government's Internet services including the government's online portal newzealand.govt.nz. Access to public information online is vital to a modern democracy.
So is the protection of online rights, freedoms and safety of New Zealanders. Internal Affairs is responsible for monitoring and ensuring online safety through the Censorship Enforcement Unit.
I am also the Minister responsible for Archives New Zealand. I recently helped to launch the Digital Continuity Action Plan - which mandates a unified public sector approach to digital continuity. Maintaining long term digital records is, of course an enormous problem. Digital media have a much shorter lifetime than traditional paper records.
We need to plan carefully to ensure that public sector digital information is accessible, usable, and reusable by those who need it for as long as it is needed.
These are just some of the challenges and exciting opportunities that the digital world presents me with on a daily basis.
Our future is dependant in many ways on how confidently we as a country can deal with the challenges and grasp the opportunities of the digital world. Maintaining, developing and nurturing that culture of innovation and enthusiasm for the digital world and all it offers, is vital for us.
THE AWARDS: REWARDING INNOVATION
In this context, the Liz Dengate Thrush Foundation and these Awards provide just what is needed: rewarding and recognising innovation and offering role models to young and emerging entrepreneurs and developers.
Tonight, we are awarding the first set of awards presented by the Foundation.
The awards we are here to celebrate tonight are important for all of us. We all recognise that the Internet has become an essential part of our economic and social lives in an amazingly short time. It is the key to many of the most innovative developments both in the New Zealand and the global economy.
It is difficult to think back to a world without email. But that is almost ancient history compared with Google Earth, Wikipedia, YouTube or Skype. Rapid innovation and the Internet go hand in hand.
The Internet has changed the way that we live. We take it for granted that we can communicate with family and friends on the other side of the world though Facebook or Skype. Anyone can access university by studying online from the comfort of their home, or work remotely from home if they have a sick child.
The Internet is now our main source of information. Wikipedia, for better or worse, has for most people completely replaced paper-based encyclopaedia.
The government's broadband investment initiative will open up access to ultra-fast broadband providing new opportunities for the next generation of Internet applications. Of course, it is difficult for us to envisage what some of these will be.
I would never have imagined a couple of years ago that an application based on sending messages less than 140 characters long would set the world a-Twitter.
As you will know, the Liz Dengate Foundation is established in memory of Liz Dengate Thrush who tragically died three years ago. Liz was involved in early discussions about how broadband could be developed and extended in New Zealand.
She helped to facilitate discussions between a wide range of people from government business and the Internet industry. These discussions helped shape many of the developments which have greatly expanded the availability of broadband in the years since then.
The objectives of the Foundation closely match Liz's vital interests in entrepreneurship and education.
The objectives of the Foundation are firstly to promote educational programmes using the Internet.
Secondly to promote the confidence and capability New Zealanders to use the Internet in business.
And thirdly to promote entrepreneurship using the Internet.
These objectives of the Foundation closely parallel the priorities of the government in encouraging innovation, investment in critical communications infrastructure and enhancing digital literacy. So it is very fitting that these inaugural awards are to be presented in this setting.
AWARD CATEGORIES
The four categories for the awards are well chosen to represent the wide range of Kiwi ingenuity which we need to fully extend into the digital world.
The Societal Impact Award recognises the impact the Internet is having on our private lives. It recognises the very positive impacts on society such as access to websites about our hobbies, such as travel or sport.
More importantly, ultra-fast broadband will enable real improvements in the quality of healthcare available to everyday New Zealanders. Telemedicine has the potential to make a huge difference to the quality of health care available to rural New Zealanders. And that's just one example.
The Best Education Product or Service Award recognises the capability of the Internet to revolutionise the classroom experience in our primary and secondary schools, as well as extend the reach of education in terms of age and, of course, distance.
The government wants to ensure New Zealand has a skilled and productive workforce, with truly digitally literate people. Improving digital literacy is one of our key priorities.
Ultra-fast broadband and the content and services that will be available over it will transform the way we educate New Zealand children. It will ensure that New Zealand's school students have access to the same information as their peers around the world. It will enable the school room experience to be fun and more interactive.
But ultra-fast broadband isn't the answer by itself. Our investment in broadband infrastructure needs to be supported by the professional development for teachers, on-line educational resources, appropriate hardware, suitable internal networks and technical support this award recognises.
The Best Business Application recognises the opportunities for transforming traditional business models and creating new business opportunities.
With our distance from overseas markets, the Internet offers New Zealand business and entrepreneurs previously unimaginable opportunities to access the world and sell products and services in new ways.
New Zealand businesses are already using the internet in innovative ways that are becoming successful on the international stage. We need to recognise these innovators and encourage and facilitate others to do the same.
And the Internet Entrepreneur of the Year is there for those truly new innovations that have the potential to transform everything we do and the way we think. I'm very pleased to see that these innovators and entrepreneurs have an award to recognise the huge contribution they are making to our country.
I congratulate all the finalists and thank them for the very high standard of the submissions.
Finally I want to extend my thanks to everyone who submitted entries to the Internet Industry Awards, and to the many people responsible for making this evening a huge success. I particularly want to thank the hardworking judges for their sagacity.
Like the rest of you, I look forward to meeting the award winners.
Thank you and please enjoy the rest of your evening.