23 SEPTEMBER 2011

REAL NEW ZEALAND FESTIVAL

Since the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup, Auckland’s waterfront has been playing host to the REAL New Zealand Festival. This is a major nationwide technology and innovation showcase of various industries, with interactive exhibitions highlighting food, wine, fashion, marine, aviation, forestry, seafood and aquaculture, agribusiness and ICT.

The festival’s national hub is The Cloud at Queens Wharf. For the duration of the tournament The Cloud will be home to the food and beverage aspect of the showcase. New Zealand is internationally recognised for the range and quality of our fresh produce and innovative specialty food, from dairy, meat and seafood to fruit and vegetables. This is a critical industry for New Zealand’s economy as it accounts for over half of our export earnings.

Another part of the festival is for our marine industry and last weekend thousands flocked to the new Viaduct Events Centre for the annual Auckland International Boat Show. Considered one of the Southern Hemisphere's premium marine events this is an excellent time to promote the industry to our international visitors and target key guests. This year the Boat Show was the biggest it has ever been.

Our increasingly expanding ICT sector will be on display during the Rutherford Innovation Showcase. Held in Auckland next week the main focus is to promoting our leading Hi-Tech and ICT businesses to the global audience that New Zealand is currently attracting. This is a prime time for these businesses to make international connections with potential customers, investors and collaborators. Demonstrating our expertise in this field throughout the next month offers these businesses many opportunities to get ahead here and abroad.

If you would like more information on the REAL New Zealand festival please contact my office or visit http://www.nz2011.govt.co.nz
RUGBY WORLD CUP UPDATE
On Wednesday night last week I had the pleasure of hosting Canada’s Minister of National Defence, Peter Mackay, in Whangarei at the Tonga and Canada pool game. The crowd at the Northland Events Centre were completely absorbed in the game, with most of the attendees decked out in red and white as the two sides went head to head. It was a stirring match and Tonga put on a strong performance. Congratulations must go to Canada for pulling through with the win and getting some hard-earned points on the board.

We have already received a great response from the international community about the tournament. It is excellent to see us maximising the benefits that the Rugby World Cup is bringing to our shores. I look forward to celebrating more of the world-class competition at our doorstep.

INTERNSHIPS FOR INNOVATORS

Last week I announced the Government’s investment of $1.28 million in an Undergraduate Internships programme. The Ministry of Science and Innovation will administer the programme, which enables businesses to hire undergraduate interns to do research, and development projects over the university summer holidays.

Getting our best and brightest undergraduate students into our emerging high-tech businesses is a part of building connections and improving collaboration between science and business.

The Government’s investment will support about 200 of our best scientific, engineering and technology undergraduate students into internships. These students will be able to engage with work in innovative high-tech businesses throughout the summer. In the past, internships from similar investment rounds have resulted in jobs for the interns.
Undergraduate students are able to get hands-on experience and network in developing companies. These organisations can then tap into students’ knowledge, insights and skills to contribute to new products, processes or services. Over the past few years this programme has successfully fulfilled a real business need. We expect it to also be in popular demand this year.

Hon Dr Wayne Mapp

MP North Shore

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