The announcement of the world’s first self-driving electric air taxi being piloted in Christchurch is just one of the examples of New Zealand becoming a living tech laboratory, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller said today.

The Zephyr Airworks aircraft, financed by Google co-founder Larry Page, is a great testimony to responding to a global challenge around traffic and congestion, Muller says. “New Zealand is a living laboratory and we see many other examples of Kiwi ingenuity being attractive to the global tech market, such as the Incredible Skies autonomous drone testing space in Northland where they are testing the delivery of medicine to isolated areas. “Look at Rocketlab and its launches from Mahia Peninsula turning New Zealand into one of just a handful of nations to successfully put satellites into orbit. “New Zealand is filled with innovative problem solvers who are growing in numbers and playing significant roles in the development of world-class technology. It’s in our DNA.

“Some of the world’s largest tech firms see New Zealand literally as a living laboratory. “Facebook often carry out tests in New Zealand first before introducing new features. “Fairly recently we have seen Apple purchase Kiwi company Power by Proxi for a seven-figure sum and continue to retain their research and development facilities here due to the depth of New Zealand has developed in wireless power. “Christchurch-based Trimble, an international company headquartered in the US, listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, with an annual revenue of about $US2.3 billion and they have around 8500 employees worldwide yet continue to maintain a large R&D presence in New Zealand due to our world leadership in GPS and location data systems. “The top 200 New Zealand tech exporters are now selling more than $7 billion a year into offshore markets while employing thousands of Kiwis here in New Zealand. “New Zealand’s global reputation for technology leadership in space, GPS, artificial intelligence, IoT, agritech and creative technologies like AR/VR is strong and growing. “Such is the attraction of our living laboratory that some of the AI leaders from the world’s biggest tech companies - such as Amazon, IBM and Microsoft - will be in Auckland on March 28 to talk about artificial intelligence at AI-Day,” Muller says. This will be followed in May by Techweek, a showcase of New Zealand best technology, attracting hundreds of international delegates and investors as well as an expected 30,000 locals. Techweek runs from May 19 to 27 and includes nearly 400 events in more than 30 centres all over New Zealand from Northland to Otago.

| A MakeLemonade release  ||  March 15, 2018   |||

In Phoenix, Arizona, cars are self-navigating the streets. In many homes, people are speaking to digital assistants, with the machines responding. Smartphones and apps can now recognise faces in photos and translate from one language to another, to name a few other examples of artificial intelligence (AI). A leading New Zealand geo-AI company, Orbica, says AI is here and it’s bringing exciting new possibilities. But how quickly will they overhaul the way people live and change the way they do business? Much of the work that’s going into AI is behind-the-scenes with applications for organisations and robotics in the health sector, Orbica chief executive Kurt Janssen says. Janssen is one of the speakers at the big AI Day event in Auckland on March 28. “There are a few notable AI trends in the public eye though. Take for example Air New Zealand’s chat-bot Oscar and Ohmio’s self-driving buses. We’re going to see more companies taking advantage of this technology now and in the future. “We can take advantage of AI solutions that are creating efficiencies around the world. But it’s more than that. New Zealanders are good at innovation and we have an opportunity to lead the world in the development of AI solutions. That’s what Orbica is doing. “Environment Canterbury has supported Orbica’s research and development. They’ve been a test-bed for us and supported our vision. “As Kiwis, the environment is always at the forefront of our minds whether it’s the built environment or the natural environment. Our geo-AI solution takes imagery collected by planes, drones and satellites and detects and classifies features such as building outlines, water bodies, trees and roads. “It can be trained to identify pretty much anything. That means it’s possible to measure water bodies over time, forestation, desertification, informal settlements, roads. Imagine if you could map out the nameless roads of Africa or identify how to get disaster relief supplies to remote areas. You can’t manage feature detection of that scale without AI.” AI Forum NZ executive director Ben Reid says AI will continue to make incremental inroads into the daily lives of all New Zealanders, saving people time and effort. “We’re seeing things like shopping and movie recommendations which will get faster and even more accurate. “Doorbell cameras can now automatically let delivery drivers into homes based on facial recognition. “Right now, New Zealand needs to continue to invest in our talent pool: not just technical AI skills but also a digital literate workforce with soft skills, empathy and critical thinking.” “Machine learning is the most in-demand skillset in the workforce right now and commands a premium salary. New Zealanders may not be aware that they can take world-class online AI courses for free? For example, Google launched their Machine Learning Crash Course a few weeks ago. AI Day is being organised by NewZealand.AI and the AI Forum NZ, which is part of the NZ Tech Alliance, bringing together 14 tech communities, over 500 organisations and more than 100,000 employees to help create a more prosperous New Zealand underpinned by technology.

| A MakeLemonade release  ||  March 15, 2018   |||

A meeting of the World Customs Organization’s E-commerce Group. In order for the US CBP to successfully implement its new strategy, it will have to work with Customs departments worldwide.

The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, has woken up to the same issue that many in the air freight and express industry woke up to several years ago: e-commerce has gone cross-border. That is, instead of imports to the US consisting mostly of big shipments brought in by big companies, there is an increasing volume small shipments – all the way down to single packages – being brought in by individuals.

The problem: In CBPs own words: “E-Commerce shipments pose the same health, safety, and economic security risks as containerized shipments, but the volume is higher and growing. Additionally, transnational criminal organizations are shipping illicit goods to the United States via small packages due to a perceived lower interdiction risk and less severe consequences if the package is interdicted. Furthermore, new or infrequent importers often possess less familiarity with U.S. customs laws and regulations, which can lead to the importation of non-compliant goods.”

The solution: Again, in the agency’s words: “To address these challenges effectively, CBP has developed an e-commerce strategy. This strategy highlights private industry and foreign governments as key resources in CBP’s continuous assessment of the e-commerce environment. The strategy includes efforts to educate the public and trade community to ensure they understand their responsibilities as importers to comply with customs regulations. The strategy also emphasizes enforcement initiatives, such as streamlining enforcement processes affected by increasing e-commerce volumes, leveraging enforcement partnerships with partner government agencies and foreign governments, and improving data collection from CBP targeting systems and field personnel.”

CBP says this strategy is based on four “primary goals.”

• Enhance legal and regulatory authorities to better posture CBP and interagency partners to address emerging threats.
• Enhance and adapt all affected CBP operations to respond to emerging supply chain dynamics created by the rapid growth of e-commerce.
• Drive private sector compliance through enforcement resources and incentives.
• Facilitate international trade standards for e-commerce to support economic prosperity.

All of which sounds great, in a motherhood-and-apple-pie way, but could mean just about anything. After reading the official 10-page strategy document (it’s available here), our sense is that what CBP is aiming for is modeled on a combination of something similar to the TSA’s “Known Shipper” program, a requirement for advance sharing of shipment data, and stiffer penalties for non-compliance.

While some of this is possible through hard work at the CBP itself (data analysis that flags certain shipments as potentially non-compliant, for example), much of it is dependent on cooperation from non-US governments and businesses.

Cross-border e-commerce is not going to go away. Nor will it shrink. And CBP is correct in its perception that “e-Commerce shipments pose the same health, safety, and economic security risks as containerized shipments.” So, clearly, there is a need for a new strategy – and not just in the US, but everywhere. Equally clearly, CBP recognizes the need to work with the rest of the world.

For example, in its explanatory notes to the fourth of the above goals, the agency says: “E-Commerce trade is a global challenge and CBP’s engagement with its international partners can facilitate communication between foreign customs administration and lead to unified enforcement efforts. CBP will partner with foreign governments and international bodies such as the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the B5 countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to set international standards and develop best practices for e-commerce import processing.”

Gaining this sort of cooperation may not be easy. It was difficult enough in the immediate post-9/11 period – a time when political and business relations between the US and the rest of the world were relatively good. But the increasingly protectionist stance of the current US administration may make it increasingly difficult to gain such cooperation in the future.

It is an odd situation. US consumers are increasingly demanding a borderless shopping world, but at the same time, the US government is throwing up, or threatening to throw up, ever higher barriers to imports.

If you are interested in learning more about the impact of growing cross-border e-commerce on the air freight and express industry, and on the world economy, join us Cargo Facts Asia, 23-25 April, at the Mandarin Oriental Pudong in Shanghai. This year’s event will feature several sessions devoted to e-commerce. For more information, or to register, visit www.cargofactsasia.com

| A CargoFacts release   ||  March 14, 2018   |||

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