Govt to invest $70m in contestable AI research funding
Plus: Our very first Coffee & Conversation meet-up in the Mount.
Happy Thursday!
Kia ora Caffeinators,
Another busy day and a particularly big one in Auckland with the AI Summit on right now. I ducked out to write this newsletter for you though because I can’t leave you high and dry. Some welcome big money moves by Govt in AI this morning along with a new event from our mates at Notion and the results of the inaugural Best Workplaces Awards. Let’s get into it!
Here’s what’s brewing in your Daily Shot:
Govt to invest $70m in AI research
Event: Scaling Notion Across APAC - A Fireside Chat with Andrew McCarthy
New Zealand’s 20 Best Workplaces revealed (as voted by employees)
Our very first Coffee & Conversation meet-up in the Mount
As always, thank you to everyone who has upgraded to a paid subscription or simply recommended Caffeine to friends and whānau. We couldn’t do any of this without you.
Finn and the CAFFEINE team
Govt to invest $70m in contestable AI research funding: At the Summit this morning I was particularly interested to hear what Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti had to say as I’ve made no secret of my opinion NZ is behind the 8 Ball when it comes to state level action.
So was more than pleased to see hear him announce $70 million over seven years through the Newly minted Institute for Advanced Technology. The funding isn’t exactly new money and falls under the budget earmarked in Budget 2025 for R&D. But with the funding reprioritised from Callaghan Innovation and contestable funds to form the Institute of Advanced Technology, the Government will still be more than doubling its contestable AI funding.
Implementation will roll out in two phases, with one granting seed funding to a certain number of ambitious proposals and then a second phase where those proposals are developed into full platforms is finalised.
The Minister noted in his speech that with this budget set aside, direct Government funding in AI is now well over $100 million which as a proportion of Government funded R&D is over 10%.
Check out more info in the full speech available in press release form here.
Event: Scaling Notion Across APAC - A Fireside Chat with Andrew McCarthy- Straight off the back of their first in person work shop event (which you should also attend, check here) our mates Notion are putting on a Fireside chat the following week featuring Andrew McCarthy, General Manager of ANZ, SEA & India. Moderated by Blackbird Founder-in-residence, David Booth.
They’ll discuss:
Key challenges and opportunities in scaling across ANZ markets
Building effective go-to-market strategies for the region
Notion as an AI-connected workspace: Transforming how teams collaborate and create
Andrew's perspective on how AI is reshaping knowledge work
How startups can leverage AI-connected workspaces to compete with established companies
Lessons learned from Notion's evolution from productivity tool to AI-powered workspace
Thursday, 2 October
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
New Zealand’s 20 Best Workplaces revealed (as voted by employees): I shamelessly love a ranked list of almost anything so was very interested to see the inaugural 20 Best Workplaces in New Zealand - particularly when its the actual workers doing the voting.
Great Place To Work has spotlighted organisations across the country with New Zealand’s longest-standing property website realestate.co.nz named as number one in the Small Business category (10-99 employees) and the needing-no-introduction Hilton taking out top spot the large (100+ employee) category.
The awards are determined through confidential employee surveys and independent culture audits, ensuring results can’t be cherry-picked or gamed. Each organisation is also benchmarked against Great Place To Work’s global data set, built from more than 20 million employee voices worldwide.Winners below or check out the full list of New Zealand’s 20 Best Workplaces 2025, visit greatplacetowork.co.nz
Congrats to all the winners!
New Zealand’s 20 Best Workplaces 2025 List
Small Business (10-99 employees):
Winner realestate.co.nz
Cisco
Robert Half
Medtronic Australasia
Franklin Smith Group
Moddex
Jani-King (NZ) Limited
Talent Aotearoa
Mantel
Roche
Suntory Global Spirits
Carus Group Limited
MSS Mechanical Support System Limited
Builderscrack
SC Johnson & Son Pty Ltd
Medium & Large Business (100+ employees):
Winner Hilton
Specsavers
Salesforce
DHL
Rothbury Group Limited
Side note: I can’t help but feel that the existence of the best places to work awards implies the potential existence of a worst to place to work awards. If there’s any founder out there bold enough to try make one, you will be able to do exactly one award ceremony before spending the rest of your life in litigation but good lord would you get some eyeballs on it.
This morning we hosted our very first Coffee & Conversation meet-up in the Mount: Over coffee, we dug into each person's business challenge, and collectively, as a group, we asked thought-provoking questions and shared experiences on what had worked (and what hadn’t) when experiencing something similar. A huge thanks to Allpress Espresso for providing us all with caffeinated goods. Watch this space for our next Tauranga and Auckland.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Want to get in touch with a news tip, bit of feedback or just to chat? Email hello@caffeinedaily.co