ITP Techblog

Techweek '17 launched over the weekend and promises to be the country's largest festival of technology this year.

With over 200 events in 24 towns and cities, Techweek grew out of last year's Auckland-centric event.

Overseen by NZTech in partnership with many organisations and individuals, the festival covers the gamut from augmented reality to blockchain to the future of food and even has something for the hard core hardware crowd in the form of drone racing and robots.

Techweek '17 also includes plenty of opportunities for politicians to don AR/VR headsets and look as foolish as the rest of us, so that's always a welcome break.

The goal of Techweek '17 is to engage the public in a greater understanding of what the tech sector means for New Zealand both as users of technology but also as a fast growing power house of the economic sector. Tech is now New Zealand's third largest export earner and is expected to take over from the traditional New Zealand sectors of farming and tourism in the near future. Quite how New Zealand will define itself in such an environment remains to be seen but one thing's for sure, the future is so bright the PM has to wear shades.