Nov 28, 2017  -  The Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge Board has provided $2m in funding for a two-year interdisciplinary research programme to examine how next-generation robots can work with humans in a safe and flexible manner.

The Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge Board has provided $2m in funding for a two-year interdisciplinary research programme to examine how next-generation robots can work with humans in a safe and flexible manner.

Researchers will focus on developing robots to work in small-scale manufacturing and unforgiving outdoor environments. The board said such technology could become a global specialty of New Zealand robotics businesses, with great export opportunities and long-term solutions for the country’s economic needs.”

Robotics experts from Lincoln Agritech and Scion along with researchers and PhD students from the universities of Auckland, Canterbury, Massey, Otago, Victoria and Waikato will take part in the programme.

The project will be coordinated by Lincoln Agritech group manager in precision agriculture, Dr Armin Werner, Will Browne, associate professor at Victoria University of Wellington, and associate professor Johan Potgieter of Massey University. They will work with an industry advisory group that will include robot manufacturers, food and manufacturing industries, Māori businesses and government funding agencies.

The board said the programme would lay the groundwork for follow-up projects over the next few years that would focus on making New Zealand a competitive country for the production and use of robots in small-scale, flexible manufacturing businesses and challenging environments such as those found in agriculture and forestry.

Dr Werner said the programme would advance the science required for a new generation of industrial robotic solutions. "These robots can provide enormous benefits to the primary and manufacturing sectors,” he said.

“Both industries require fast adaptation to different products and markets, and constant responsiveness to changing outdoor environments. The robots can assist with complex tasks such as pruning tree or vine crops, safely felling trees on steep slopes or assembling small batches of appliances on demand."

To develop the technology, researchers will investigate how sensors and artificial intelligence can allow robots to perceive and understand their surroundings, flexibly handle new situations through learning or training by humans or other robots, and work in challenging environments.

Werner said that, throughout the project the robots would work collaboratively with humans and behave safely around both people and animals.

"The robots will be adaptable and create new solutions for the often small-scale and highly flexible production environment in New Zealand and many other comparable regions in the world,” he said. “The targeted innovation represents a major shift from the notion of isolated robots solving single tasks."

The technology is expected to help New Zealand’s industries thrive globally and create an international hub for innovative robotics development.

| A Computerworld release  ||  November 28,  2017   |||

Nov 28, 2017 - Alliance Group is investing almost $800,000 in a new blood processing room at its Mataura plant in Southland to help meet the growing demand from the pharmaceutical industry.

The new facility at the plant will collect and process adult bovine blood into serum for blood products, which are used in the development of vaccines, cancer treatments, and drugs to treat neurodegenerative, haematological and endocrine disorders.

Demand from the pharmaceutical industry for New Zealand blood products has increased significantly due to the country’s disease-free status and world-leading agricultural systems.

David Surveyor, chief executive of Alliance Group, said blood products can create value for the co-operative’s shareholders.

“Our strategy is maximising revenue, diversifying our products and strengthening our market channels.

“This investment is another example of how we are developing opportunities to capture more market value for our shareholders.”

| An Alliance release  ||  November 28, 2017  |||

Nov 27, 2017  -   New Zealand accounting software CashManager is the first to achieve one of the holy grails in accounting software: direct GST integration with Inland Revenue.  Filing GST returns will become a whole lot easier for businesses using the accounting software from today — they’ll be able to send their GST return to Inland Revenue in less than a minute.

CashManager is making this service available to both its online customers and its PC-based customers.

CashManager is the first accounting software programme to successfully offer this feature on Inland Revenue’s new Gateway Service.

The Gateway Service is the portal between the private sector and Inland Revenue allowing software developers to integrate their products with the tax department’s.

 CashManager Managing Director Grant Hewson says the new feature will make filing GST a breeze for users.

“Integrating directly with Inland Revenue’s Gateway Service eliminates the common risk of human error when manually transferring data from one system to another. Thanks to CashManager, filing tax returns is just a few clicks away; it’s seamless.

“On top of this, amendments to GST filing periods can be actioned from within CashManager instead of having to go through Inland Revenue.”

Other big name cloud based software companies have worked with Inland Revenue for some time on this GST integration. It took CashManager just two months to achieve this result on the new Gateway Service.

“Our system is smart and built for constant development,” says CashManager developer Penny Slater.

“Data security and systems reliability are our two most important priorities so we’re pleased to say the integration is fully tested and robust. Our clients can rest easy and enjoy the extra time they will free up every year thanks to the integration.”

The CashManager team worked closely with Inland Revenue to deliver the feature, a coveted task amongst software gurus, says Hewson.

“CashManager is the first in the industry to connect via Inland Revenue’s new Gateway Services — this really is quite a feat for us as one of the smaller players.

“Automation is something Inland Revenue is really focussing on and it is great to see them working so closely with the private sector.

“The less time Inland Revenue staff have to spend manually handling things like GST returns, the more time they can spend assisting New Zealanders in other ways.”

| A Cashmanager release  ||  November 27,  2017   |||

Nov 27, 2017  -  New Zealanders increasingly think we're moving to a cashless society. So why has the amount of cash held in New Zealand more than trebled in the last 20 years? Lynn Grieveson looks at whether criminals, tradies or abusers of migrant workers are responsible.  Half of New Zealanders think that we won't be using cash in ten years' time, and over two-thirds rarely carry cash now, yet new research shows that the amount of cash in circulation has grown over the past decade, outpacing the growth in GDP.

The Federal Research Bank of San Francisco released research last week into cash use around the world.

After looking at the amount of cash in circulation in 42 economies including New Zealand, the Bank found that in nearly every country the amount of cash being held grew as fast or faster than GDP over the past ten years.

In New Zealand, the amount of cash in circulation rose by 76 percent over the past decade, while GDP only rose by 54 percent - a 21.5 percentage point difference. Over the same period, the average household wage grew only 42 percent.

This increase in cash in circulation gave us a ranking of 27th in the list of 42 countries, which was topped by troubled economies such as Argentina (where the rise in cash in circulation was 769 percent more than the rise in GDP), the Sudan (454.5 percent) the Ukraine (368.2 percent) and Afghanistan (206 percent).

The two outliers in the survey were Norway and Sweden, where cash use is declining.

Why so much cash?

The Bank had some theories for the results, which it conceded "may come as a surprise" given technological innovations in the payments sector and a widely-held view that cash is nearly dead.

In countries in economic and political turmoil it clearly makes sense to have a store of cash. But the Bank suggested that the low interest rates in many countries since the global financial crisis may also be factor, as people worry less about the interest they are losing out on by keeping a stash of cash that could otherwise be in a savings account or investment.

New currency designs, as we have had in New Zealand, can also bump up the amount of cash in circulation.

But it seems unlikely to be a major factor, and the statistics show fewer people carrying cash and ATM use falling. ATM use fell 22 percent in Australia over the past five years, even as the amount of cash in circulation there rose 17.7 percent faster than the rate of GDP growth.

Continue to read the full article by Lynn Grieveson on Neewsroom here  ||  November 27, 2017   |||

Nov 27, 2017  -  When China's Haier bought Fisher and Paykel Appliances in 2012, Rod Oram worried the New Zealand company would shrivel and die. Five years on, Rod reports the New Zealand operation is actually thriving under Haier's ownership.  A space half the size of a rugby pitch in East Tamaki tells you a lot about the history and future of Fisher & Paykel Appliances.

Built 20 years ago, the cavernous building on its Auckland site first housed electronics manufacturing for its healthcare division. Back then, that was the height of product and technology sophistication for the company.

In 2001, healthcare was spun off as a separate, and highly successful company. Meanwhile Appliances took a big strategic gamble of its own. Seeking to turn itself into a global maker and seller of kitchen appliances, it bought or built plants in Mexico, the US, Thailand and Italy.

But the strategy was still far from paying off when the Global Financial Crisis hit, saddling F&P Appliances with half a billion dollars of bank debt it couldn’t refinance. Teetering on the edge of collapse, it was rescued by Haier, the Chinese appliance maker, taking a minority stake in 2009. Three years later, Haier bought full control.

Today, the cavernous space is F&P’s sleek global design centre for refrigerators, laundry appliances and kitchen exhaust hoods. Adjacent areas in the same building house its testing facilities for prototypes and production models made overseas, and its global customer service and support centre, staffed 24 hours a day.

Down in Dunedin in the Wall Street Mall on Castle Street, a space almost as large houses F&P’s global design centre for cookers and dishwashers.

Continue here to read the full article on Newsroom  ||  November 27,  2017   |||

Nov 24, 2017  -  New Zealand structural log prices rose to the highest level in 24 years and A-grade export logs hit a record as local mills compete with the export market to secure supply for the domestic construction market amid strong demand from China.

The price for structural S1 logs increased to $130 a tonne this month, from $128 a tonne last month, marking the highest level since 1993, according to AgriHQ's monthly survey of exporters, forest owners and saw millers. Export log prices lifted between $2-to-$5 a tonne for the majority of grades, with the price for A-Grade logs touching $128 a tonne, up from $127 a tonne last month and the highest level since AgriHQ began collecting the data in 2008.

New Zealand is experiencing strong demand for its logs from China, which has clamped down on the harvesting of its own forests and reduced tariffs on imported logs to meet demand in its local market. AgriHQ said Chinese demand for softwood logs remains strong, lifting back to record levels in the latest data for September with Chinese imports of New Zealand logs currently tracking 10 percent ahead of last year.

"Those trading in the domestic log market are continuing to receiver near-record returns and there's nothing to signal that this situation will change anytime soon," said AgriHQ analyst Reece Brick. "Looking forward, all prospects will be determined by the direction the export log market takes."

Brick said wharf gate values climbed through October and early November and will likely hold high until the Chinese New Year period. Also known as the 'spring festival', the Chinese New Year falls on Feb. 16 next year, and the festival will last until March 2, about 15 days in total. As an official public holiday, Chinese people can get seven days' absence from work, from Feb. 15 to 21.

"Beyond that point, it's still a wait-and-see situation," Brick said.

He noted the latest situation and outlook report released by the Ministry of Primary Industries continues to shed a positive light on forestry's prospects over the next two years.

"They predict strong Chinese interest in logs over the short-medium term, underpinned by its ban of commercial logging of natural forests, falling Russian log supplies, and a 2 percent reduction on its imported log tax."

Brick said "the only proper negative" when it comes to the export market is shipping rates, which are rising faster than log values. However, this was being masked by a weaker New Zealand dollar, he said.

"There is still a level of uncertainty as to whether shipping rates have reached their peak or have a little more upswing to come," Brick said.

Still, he said "in terms of market fundamentals it is all still quite positive."

| Source:  Sharechat  ||  November 24,  2017  |||

Nov 24,  2017  -  The OECD Digital Economy Outlook examines and documents the evolutions and emerging opportunities and challenges in the digital economy. It highlights how OECD countries and partner economies are taking advantage of ICTs and the Internet to meet their public policy objectives.  You can read the full report online here http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264276284-en with a summary of New Zealand highlights here http://www.oecd.org/newzealand/sti-scoreboard-2017-new-zealand.pdf

| Source: The OECD  ||  November 24,  2017   |||

Nov 24, 2017  -  According to Gartner, blockchain will generate $176 billion in business value by 2025.  HPE is setting out to capitalise on the rise of blockchain by releasing the first member of its HPE Mission Critical Blockchain family – a Blockchain-as-a-Service solution for enterprises.

HPE’s Mission Critical Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) aims to make it easy and simple for customers deploying blockchain solutions.

Mission Critical DLT is used to record transactions across a decentralised network of computers and has a wide range of potential applications.

HPE claims that enterprises evaluating blockchain solutions are finding that generic infrastructure and public cloud environments cannot support the requirements they need in terms of performance, security, scalability and resiliency.

Aiming to solve the problem, HPE says its Mission Critical DLT solution offers availability and fault protection for enterprise-grade applications, and scalability and SQL integration that cannot be realised with workloads running in a public cloud environment.

The Mission Critical DLT solution is a part of HPE’s overall strategy to bring enterprise-grade capability to blockchain workloads.

The solution is offered on HPE Integrity NonStop platforms, which HPE says is behind two out of every three credit card transactions in the world.

Developed in partnership with enterprise software firm R3, the solution integrates the company’s distributed ledger technology with HPE's mission-critical platform.

“Enterprises interested in blockchain are realizing that public cloud alone does not always meet their non-functional requirements”, comments Raphael Davison, HPE’s Worldwide Director for Blockchain.

“As they look to scale, they recognize that, for mission-critical processes, on-premise infrastructure must be part of the mix of traditional IT, private and public cloud that’s needed to meet the requirements of enterprise-grade blockchain workloads.”

HPE Mission Critical DLT is expected to be commercially available in early 2018. Customers also will be able to purchase access to this solution in a “DLT as a Service” environment for serious trials and production use later in the year.

| A ITBrief release  ||  November 24, 2017   |||

Nov 24, 2017  -  Australia has reiterated the importance of New Zealand to its foreign policy direction in its latest white paper, with particular emphasis on the role it sees New Zealand playing in its economic engagement with Pacific island countries.  In the Australian government's 2017 foreign policy white paper, released this morning, the relationship with New Zealand is described as "our most comprehensive" and the authors say Australia is committed to deepening it further.

Australia sees itself as "delivering a step change in our engagement with Pacific island countries", with an aim for "more ambitious engagement, including helping to integrate Pacific countries into the Australian and New Zealand economies and our security institutions". Its long-term angle is a region-wide free-trade area that includes all major economies.

The partnership with New Zealand will be central to advancing that agenda, the white paper says.

"New Zealand will remain an essential partner in support of the economic growth, stability and security of the region. Australia and New Zealand will align our approaches to the Pacific," the paper says. "Our cooperation has wider regional and global dimensions. We have high levels of police and military interoperability and collaborate on strategic planning, capability development and intelligence. This will continue to be essential to prosecuting shared interests, including in the Pacific."

The paper discusses the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus, an agreement signed in April this year by New Zealand, Australia, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. It built on existing trade deals and will come into force in mid-2019. As part of PACER Plus, both New Zealand and Australia committed to spending at least 20 percent of official development assistance as "aid for trade" in the Pacific region, to help address supply-side constraints and build Pacific island countries’ capacity to trade.

"Economic integration within the region and with Australia and New Zealand is vital to the economic prospects of the Pacific," the paper says. "Growth is constrained for most countries because of a combination of remoteness from markets, limited land and resource bases, the dispersal of people over many islands and environmental fragility.

"When in force, [PACER PLUS] will lay the ground for stronger trade and investment, increasing business confidence through transparent and enforceable rules. Australia will work to improve opportunities for growth and jobs and to strengthen the economic resilience of the region by increasing opportunities for labour mobility to satisfy unmet demand in our labour market, investing in skills, and helping countries to capture growth potential in sectors such as tourism."

The paper stresses the importance of Australia's relationships with the US and China for its interests in the Pacific, and its drive to forge closer relationships with both, even as the two super powers jostle for dominance in the Pacific region. New Zealand is still Australia's biggest tourism market, with 1.4 million Kiwis visiting the country in the latest year, but China was close behind at 1.3 million and had a growth rate of 10 percent compared to New Zealand's 2 percent.

Australia's alliance with the US is central to its approach in the region, and it will broaden and deepen its cooperation with that country, but the government is "committed to strong and constructive ties with China" and wants to strengthen its partnership there as well.

"To support a balance in the Indo–Pacific favourable to our interests and promote an open, inclusive and rules-based region, Australia will also work more closely with the region’s major democracies, bilaterally and in small groupings. In addition to the United States, our relations with Japan, Indonesia, India and the Republic of Korea are central to this agenda," it said.

| Source:  Sharchat   ||  November 24, 2017   |||

Nov 23, 2017  -  The Packaging Council of New Zealand is launching a new annual Scholarship program, in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP), that will enable one packaging technologist, designer or engineer in New Zealand the opportunity to complete a Diploma in Packaging Technology to the value of $9,000.

“The association is extremely proud to be able to offer the scholarship to a New Zealand packaging professional each year,” commented Harry Burkhardt, President of the Packaging Council of New Zealand.

“The packaging industry is dynamic and diverse, offering career opportunities across a wide scope of disciplines. PAC.NZ has been representing businesses in the packaging industry in New Zealand since 1992 and recognises that investment in the packaging industry starts with investment in its people. We strongly encourage everyone in the industry to apply for this scholarship.

“The Diploma in Packaging Technology is a Level 5 qualification which is internationally recognised for those wishing to pursue a career in the packaging industry or for those who are already in the industry and who wish to extend their knowledge and expertise. The Diploma in Packaging Technology prepares students to take responsibility for packaging operations at any level through the supply chain. The qualification is comprehensive, and provides an opportunity to study the principles of packaging, packaging materials and packaging processes.”

Diploma in Packaging Technology students come from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, and are typically experienced practitioners or managers in technical, sales/marketing, QA, purchasing, engineering or design.

Completion of the Diploma in Packaging Technology demonstrates a commitment to your career and to the industry. Delegates who successfully complete the Diploma are equipping themselves for senior positions within the packaging industry.

Entries are now open with submissions closing on the 23rd of February 2018. The winner of the inaugural Packaging Council of New Zealand Scholarship will be announced at the 2018 Packaging & Processing Innovation & Design Awards; which will be held alongside of the prestigious international WorldStar Packaging Awards on 2 May.

| A NZ Packaging Council release  ||  November 23,  2017   |||