Blockchain, AI, Smart Cities and more at the IoT Waikato June Meetup

Over 70 people representing business, government, industry, community and education gathered for the June IoT Waikato Future Tech meetup at Wintec last week.

The evening started off with networking and nibbles with attendees on this occasion also having an opportunity to talk to Wintec Bachelor of IT and Graduate Diploma students displaying their semester one project and internship posters.

Saun Belcher then kicked off formalities representing the NZ chapter of The NEM.io Foundation, a global Blockchain technology not-for-profit that launched in NZ in 2017 and whose business ethos is to provide their smart asset Blockchain platform to enhance enterprise well-being while being “run by the people, for the people”.

Shaun described Blockchain as an “incorruptible digital ledger” and explained how NEM has taken the technology one step further by introducing voting, swift messaging functionality for banks, and Internet of things capability meaning you can easily transfer ownership of a device. The platform also includes customisable name spaces and multi signature capability (similar to smart-contracts) and is harvestable. 

NEM is the native name space, similar to an email address or domain name, and the platform uses the proof of importance algorithm where users earn transaction fees for just supporting the network.

There was a great response from the audience when Shaun asked who had heard about Blockchain and several smiles when he advised that the NEM.io platform is API based, meaning it is easy for developers to build on.

The platform is built from scratch, is supported 24/7 and designed to be fast, secure and scalable, says Shaun, adding “it is ideal for first time developers.”

Several use cases deploying the NEM.io platform were presented including Landstead, Lux Tag, TravelbyBit enabling airports to accept crypto payments and rideshare application Mobi in Australia,, and Choice to Pay here in NZ, who recently participated in the Kiwibank Fintech Accelerator.

Shaun also spoke about a community fund available for projects looking to build on Blockchain. Interested parties need to present a proposal, including specific milestones and timeframes, which is then reviewed by a committee and then if accepted funding is provided in stages as the project is implemented.

“It’s been real encouraging to see the interest in the Blockchain. I had some great discussion at the event. A big thanks to those who attended, along with all the speakers for the night", Shaun Belcher, Nem.io Foundation NZ Country Leader. 

The second speaker of the evening was Ben Reid, Executive Director of the NZ Tech AI Forum NZ, an organisation bringing together a broad group of representatives from the tech sector, corporate NZ, industry, education sector and the government to grow the countries capability in artificial intelligence, maximising the opportunity and addressing some of the changes arising.

Ben presented insights from the research report “Artificial Intelligence: Shaping the Future of New Zealand” released by the AI Forum last month. The research involved looking at the whole of the NZ ecosystem around AI including the work of Professor Geoff Holmes of the University of Waikato in the area of applying machine learning in agriculture. The report found that the industry sectors with the most opportunity for AI in NZ are financial, manufacturing and construction.

Ben explained “New Zealand’s not doing badly, we’ve actually got a thriving young ecosystem, but there are lots of countries around the world that are investing at scale and moving much faster than us”.

Several use cases from around New Zealand were then presented to the audience where AI is being used in the real world including RoboticsPlus, Molemap, and The Cacophony Project which Ben was encouraged to hear involves Tim Hunt, of the Centre for Business, IT and Enterprise at Wintec, as Lead Developer. 

The session concluded with a Q&A touching on risk, bias in datasets, regulation versus innovation, and the importance of transparency.

Ben commented that other countries are investing strategically at a national level in AI capability and NZ’s main call to action is to address the fact that we don’t have a coordinated strategy.

"It's important for the AI Forum's work that the benefits and opportunities from AI reach all parts of New Zealand, not just the major cities - I'm looking forward to continuing the AI conversation with the Waikato community”, Ben Reid.

Next up was Hamilton City Council with Karen Saunders and John Kinghorn presenting Hamilton’s approach to smart cities, which the council has been developing over the last 12 months.

“Becoming a smart city is not something that has a beginning and an end, its more about creating an approach that enables us to respond more effectively to our residents” said Karen, Business Manager City Growth & Smart Hamilton Lead, adding that “technology is just our tool to enable us to use our infrastructure, resources and spaces more effectively.”

Karen went on to cover what are smart cities and why we are trying to be one, emphasising the importance of gaining insights from data and enabling the wider community to access relevant data, and also provide a summary of the strategy and challenges that the Council is focusing on and their alignment with community outcomes.

“Smart Hamilton is about thinking differently through innovation, insight and technology, we want to work with community and industry to improve our communities wellbeing” explained John, Senior Traffic Engineer, outlining key projects making up the Smart Hamilton approach to achieving four desired outcomes – to be a more liveable city, community engagement and open data, economic growth, and smart service delivery and infrastructure

A recent project involved collaborating with Phillips and the Hamilton Astronomical Society to trial the use of LED street lighting, and an upcoming initiative will be a “smart street” as a proof of concept of industry working together and getting public feedback and engaging with the public. The street will likely be in the CBD, be in place for three months toward the end of this year and include an office nearby to facilitate discussion between stakeholders and the public and to gather further input and ideas.

John outlined some work the Council has been involved in with the Design Factory at Wintec around an idea for a new transport initiative and invited attendees to also work with the Council and provide input into the Smart Hamilton approach and projects.

“It is exciting to see how innovative our local technology companies are. Hamilton City Council is keen to support these industries and work together on initiatives to make Hamilton a better place”, John Kinghorn.

“It’s great to see the IoT Waikato meetup and network growing and providing a space for the industry to discover, connect and collaborate”, Karen Saunders.

Our final speaker was Jesse Armstrong, CE of Vaka Interactiv, speaking from the perspective of an early stage start up using technology in the culture, art and heritage sector.

After taking a minute to introduce himself with a traditional pepeha Jesse asked the audience to pay close to attention to how they felt whilst watching a short video of a haka being performed by family members at his younger brother’s wedding reception, a video that Jesse explained went viral and received 350 million views worldwide as an example of a video that made people “feel” something. He then went on to talk about the impact of making an emotional connection with people, using the Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa as an example of an exhibition about people and telling the stories of those people in an effective way.

Vaka Interactiv is focused on developing interactive technology that takes “engagement and the compelling factor of storytelling to a whole new level”. Jesse outlined that a key formula his company uses to ensure they are fulfilling their role as part of the bigger picture in the culture and heritage space is that “people + storytelling + technology leads to impact”.

The team is currently working on a project involving the digitisation and animation of portraits to create an interactive experience engaging passers-by in conversation to help them understand and experience the story behind the photo. A journey that started with the Mahuki innovation hub powered by Te Papa.  

“To some up in one word the meetup was inspiring!” said Jesse, adding “I really enjoyed hearing about different areas of tech coming out of NZ and seeing the potential to innovate in unique and effective ways.”

The IoT Waikato Future Tech meetups are a Wintec initiative and hosted every two months in collaboration with Waikato Innovation Park, CultivateIT and Pepper. An opportunity to hear about digital technology innovation initiatives, network, share knowledge and look for others to collaborate with in developing your project or business.

To join the Meetup visit www.meetup.com/IoTWaikato.

If you are interested in speaking or exhibiting at an event, please contact the organiser Jannat Maqbool by email [email protected]