Presentation at the announcement of the Finalist for the Hi Tech Awards

The Hi Tech Awards finalists were announced simultaneously in the three main centres of Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland.  As part of this announcement each centre invited some young speakers to give their perspective of how they see technology in our future. 

Emma Taylor, Hattie Compton-Moen and Mia Wright delivered a passionate presentation to a room full of top executives and innovative thinkers at the BizDojo in the centre of Christchurch's tech sector.  This event was a first for BizDojo in their new space.  The girls addressed issues around access to technology which we can take this for granted daily.  They touched on how technology can provide our future with many opportunities and positive outcomes in solving issues.  With all the good that technology can offer, there is also challenge on how it can be used for destruction.  As we are connected globally with devices that are always only an arms reach away,  we need to do a self check on our behaviour online.  At times our ethical decision-making can also be questionable.  STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) thinking is what we now believe our future should be modelled on.  The Arts and Philosophy also are pushing hard to be part of this future direction.  Young minds will be required to think exponentially more diverse and at a pace that is astronomically chaotic.  The measure of future success will be to have the skills to filter large amounts of data, synthesise what you need, and apply it when you need it.

Emma, Mia, and Hattie presenting at the
announcement of the Hi Tech Finalists

  

Hattie and Mia with Kaila Colbin -
Ambassador for Singularity University, Co-founder and Chair of the Ministry of Awesome

Entries into this year's Hi Tech Awards has grown in terms of diversity.  More women have entered and entries outside of the Auckland area have also increased. The sponsors who support this event recognise that women are still under represented. The future remains bright for the minds and skills that Hattie, Emma and Mia are developing.  I can't wait to see where their pathway leads them.