The Māori tech sector is being mapped out to ensure a tangata whenua perspective, with the government setting up regional discussions towards an action plan to help improve the sector.
MEA (Making Everything Achievable), Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and NZ Tech, supported by the Ministry of Business, have initiated the research project.
MEA Director Kaye-Maree Dunn (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) says the government’s Industry Transformation Plan, which creates partnership by business, workers, Māori and government, is focusing on Māori participation. But Dunn wants to move on from participation for Māori into owning, designing and co-creating tech “for ourselves, the nation and the world”.
Having a Māori lens sector is important for Māori, Dunn says, to understand what Māori companies are like in the tech sector, including bringing reo, tikanga and merging them with technology.
Many approaches have been made to see this mahi flourish, including asking newcomers and experienced people in the tech sector for their perspectives and input.
Early adopters
This week, MEA had launched surveys across the motu, “with the hope to get around 500 to 1000 of our people’s perspectives on what they would like to see the tech sector look like to better serve them”.
“We’ve got a lot of Māori involved in e-commerce, running businesses online, learning to code, AI, all the way to hardcore data software specialists, researchers and everything in between.
“The key things that are coming out of this is people are generally focused on people rather than profit. They’re focusing on bringing their whole selves to the workplace, as Māori, and are also looking at rangatahi to enter the workforce.”
Calling herself a “haututu by trade”, Dunn has been in love with technology “because our tūpuna were early adopters of technology from the outset”.
“I love seeing our people succeed. I think we’re doing so well right now with very small resources. I can only imagine what it will look like when the Crown invests equitably in Māori success and tech.”
