IoT alliance forged by government, digital sector

An alliance has been formed between the digital sector and the New Zealand government that will help to harness the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT).

IoT is a concept that involves connecting devices to the internet, enabling them to ‘talk’ to each other and to people.

“IoT is a transformative technology, one that promises to boost productivity across all major sectors of the economy, assist in monitoring our health, make transport and logistics more efficient, help reduce energy consumption and tackle environmental issues,” said Communications Minister Simon Bridges.

“The government has a key role to play in ensuring that New Zealand can take advantage of what IoT has to offer. The alliance will provide a forum for enabling us to better understand the benefits and potential issues of IoT, such as privacy and cybersecurity.

“Initial research by the alliance, which will provide an evidence base for future work, already suggests potential economic benefits to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars for the New Zealand economy through the deployment of IoT across a variety of sectors.”

The alliance is one of several new initiatives included in the new Building a Digital Nation report, which Minister Bridges released at the alliance launch event.

“The digital economy is a key focus of the government’s business growth agenda. This report sets out how the government is partnering with New Zealand’s digital sector, with other sectors of the economy and the wider digital community, to enable New Zealand to become a leading digital nation.

“This is the first time the full program of activity has been pulled together in one place, serving as a focal point for ongoing engagement with the digital community and for shaping and driving New Zealand’s digital transformation,” said Bridges.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/vege

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