Wellington, once a vibrant hub for New Zealand’s tech innovation, has faced stagnation in recent years. Last week, a packed audience at a Vision for Wellington event on Wellington’s waterfront heard from the city’s tech luminaries about how the city can embrace its strengths, particularly in technology, and foster a more supportive, connected ecosystem. Sitting in the audience was Ralph Highnam, founder of breast screening software maker Volpara Health, which was started in Wellington in 2009 and, after listing on the ASX, was bought in 2024 by South Korean AI medical imaging company Lunit in a deal valued at around $300 million. On this week's episode of The Business of Tech, Ralph outlines his own vision for Wellingtion and his plans for WellyForge, a new organisation started with the aim of breathing new life into the city's tech ecosystem.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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42:59
Art or algorithm? Navigating the creative crossroads in the age of AI
If the novelty of seeing AI-generated videos popping up in our newsfeeds has started towear off, Google has something new for you to feast your eyes on. Last week, the AI giant released Veo 3, the latest version of its AI content generator. Its claim to fame? Veo 3 not only generates short video clips based on prompts from users, but also audio, syncing sound effects and character dialogue with the video. That’s yet another step towards generating entire video clips solely with the use of prompts fed into a chatbot, and serves as a stark reminder of the disruptive power AI represents for the creative industries. On this week's episode of The Business of Tech, Datacom’s Director of AI, Lou Compagnone, who last week hosted an AI Forum summit on AI's use in the creative industries, outlines how the creative sector canembrace AI to enhance productivity, foster new forms of creativity, and address existential dilemmas.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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How Litmaps is supercharging scientific research
Litmaps, a Wellington-based startup that’s just raised $1 million in a Series A funding round, is redefining how scientists navigate the sea of academic literature by merging citation network analysis with generative AI. Founded in 2016 by Axton Pitt and Kyle Webster, the platform now serves over 2 million researchers globally, including institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Cambridge. Its mission? To "accelerate impactful science" by helping researchers identify gaps in knowledge and avoid redundant work. The playbook is the same pursued by many Kiwi startup founders with Kyle and Axton, who was a University of Auckland biomedical and computer science student at the time, growing frustrated with legacy systems poorly equipped to meet the needs of modern researchers. “We just found the tools that you had to use very clunky,” Axton told me on this week’s episode of The Business of Tech. The acquisition of rival Research Rabbit now gives Litmaps an audience of millions worldwide. Find out how better scientific research discovery, powered by AI and visualisations, is changing how science is done on episode 99 of The Business of Tech.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Tech skills - upgrade now or fall behind
The Technology Users Association has issued a stark warning that New Zealand risks falling further behind in the global digital economy unless the government urgently reforms its approach to digital and technology skills, with a particular focus on vocational training. In a wide-ranging interview on this week’s episode of The Business of Tech, TUANZ CEO Craig Young expressed deep frustration at the lack of strategic leadership and investment in building the local tech talent pipeline, calling current government proposals “disappointing” and “a step backwards” for the industry. “We’ve missed a trick here,” Young said, referring to the government’s plan to wind down the Workforce Development Councils and replace them with new industry standards boards that largely ignore the unique needs of the digital and creative sectors. We also delve into AI, cybersecurity, and the digital divide as we unpack the pressing issues outlined in the latest TUANZ digital priorities report. All that and more on episode 98 of The Business of Tech.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Labour: back Kiwi brains, don’t cut them
Reuben Davidson, Labour’s new spokesperson for science, innovation, technology, broadcasting and the creative economy, isn’t shy about the scale of the challenges facing New Zealand’s high-value sectors, or the damage he says the current government is doing. In this week’s episode of The Business of Tech, the former TV producer, who won the Christchurch East seat in the 2023 general election, is scathing of the coalition Government’s approach to science and innovation, particularly funding cuts and redundancies, and the “rolling change” that’s left researchers and innovators in limbo. “It feels very much to me… that this is a crisis that’s been created. If it’s unintentional, then that doesn’t make it any better,” he told me on the podcast. So what would Labour do differently? Tune in to find out on The Business of Tech featuring Labour MP Reuben Davidson in his first major interview on science, innovation and media.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Business of Tech, hosted by leading tech journalist Peter Griffin. Every week they take a deep dive into emerging technology and news from the sector to help guide the important decisions all Business leaders make.
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