Sunday 1 March 2020: With over 100 attendees now registered, Tuesday’s Auckland ITP workshop at the ANZ Centre has officially SOLD OUT. There remain some seats at both the Hamilton (Monday 9 March) and Lincoln (Tuesday 10 March) workshops. You can register for your free place at one of these workshops via the Eventbrite links below.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment published the long-awaited Agritech Industry Transformation Plan (ITP) to its website. This is the final draft. You can view and download a copy here. For the country’s agritech sector, this is massive.
It’s been almost a year since work on the Plan began in earnest. Over that time, Agritech New Zealand has been working closely with the ‘All of Government’ taskforce to ensure that the voice of industry has been heard. I can confidently say that the Plan published yesterday reflects many of the inputs that industry made during the ITP’s extensive consultation process.
The focus then over the past 12 months has been on constructing ‘The Plan’. Now comes the really important task: Preparing for its delivery. To support this process, Agritech New Zealand and the ITP taskforce are hosting three new workshops next month. They are designed to share details of some of the key actions and initiatives contained in the Plan…together with an invitation to the sector to help ensure its delivery. If the New Zealand agritech sector is to scale, then it will be the entrepreneurs, the researchers, the investors, the farmers and growers and the major agribusinesses that will make it happen. Government can support and facilitate this activity but it needs industry to take the lead role. It’s in this spirit that the three workshops next month are being planned.
David Downs, the ITP taskforce lead, will facilitate the workshops, seeking industry input into how best to deliver the Plan’s recommendations. I will share some insights into the next phase of the Plan’s delivery and what support Agritech New Zealand will be providing to help make it happen.
This post is an invitation to everyone connected with the country’s agritech ecosystem to attend and participate. The Plan is not just a piece of paper. It sets out a number of actions and initiatives that we believe will offer massive value to the sector and its different constituent parts. These workshops are FREE to attend and you can register for them right now.
Just click on the venue and date that is best for you and complete the Eventbrite registration form to secure your seat. This is your opportunity to help make a real difference.
David and I very much look forward to meeting you next month.