2017 Symposium all about connecting rural New Zealand

2017 Symposium all about connecting rural New Zealand.

26th April 2017

The Rural Connectivity Symposium is back for 2017, on 23rd May at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

This year’s symposium is again being held as a in partnership with the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ), the Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHĀNZ), and New Zealand Young Farmers (NZYF) and will build on the previous successful events held in 2015 and 2016. Given the importance of this issue in an election year, the event will kick off with an opening Ministerial address followed by a panel of politicians to provide their views on future policy developments.

And being in the middle of the Rural Broadband Initiative phase 2 (RBI2) discussions, leaders from various communications technologies will present their visions on what can be achieved within the framework of the RBI2 process.

Each of the day’s speakers come from varied backgrounds, including health, farming, businesses and technology, and will share their thoughts about the future of connectivity in rural New Zealand.

TUANZ CEO Craig Young says that the focus of the day is going to be on how rural connectivity can provide better outcomes across rural New Zealand including health and farming.

“The symposium provides a unique opportunity for those affected by the quality of rural connectivity in New Zealand to present a unified voice in an election year as the government and other parties develop their thoughts about the next phase of investment in rural connectivity”, says Mr Young.

“RHĀNZ in partnership with TUANZ and NZYF is committed to influencing the debate and policy decisions around rural connectivity with the input of those most affected by the issue – the rural residents of New Zealand”, says RHĀNZ Chief Executive, Michelle Thompson.

Attendees will be actively involved during the symposium with round table discussions throughout the day. The partners will also publish a post-symposium paper as a summary of the major themes to emerge out of the day, both for distribution to attendees, and to help shape the thinking of internet providers and government policy makers.

This year there is also the opportunity for participants attendees to participate in a second one-day event which focuses on the new technologies making their way into the Health sector. Run by NZHiT and HINZ, the Emerging Tech in Health day is being held at the same location (Westpac Stadium) on the 24th May (further details are available from their websites http://www.hinz.org.nz/page/futuretech17 and http://www.healthit.org.nz/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=275699).

If you are interested in helping rural communities be part of the 21st century in New Zealand, you can register to attend on the RHĀNZ and TUANZ websites.

This year's Premier Supporter is the Rural Connectivity Group (made up of Vodafone, Spark and 2degrees). Other major supporters include Go Wireless NZ and IPStar. The symposium is on Tuesday 23rd May from 9am–5pm, at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium, and will be followed by an evening event including networking drinks. Registration costs $149 for TUANZ, RHĀNZ and NZYF members, or $349 for non-members. Member pricing is also available for NZHiT and HiNZ members as well as discounted pricing for the two one-day events.

ENDS

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