8:30

Registration and Coffee

9:00

Welcome from the MC

Graeme Muller, Chief Executive, Tech New Zealand

9:10

Welcome from Tech New Zealand

9:20

Ministerial Address: The Digital Government Vision 2026: Trust, transparency and tangible outcomes

Hon Judith Collins KC MP, Minister for Digitising Government

9:40

Keynote: Accelerating digitisation – breaking barriers, building momentum

As New Zealand’s public sector faces increasing expectations for seamless, trusted, and inclusive digital services, this keynote explores how government can accelerate digitisation by removing structural, cultural, and delivery barriers that slow progress.

Delivered from a system-wide perspective, the session outlines how the public service can move beyond fragmented initiatives to build sustained momentum through shared vision, coordinated execution, and citizen-centric design.

Myles Ward, Deputy Government Chief Digital Officer and Deputy Chief Digital Officer , Department of Internal Affairs

10:20

Morning break

10.50

Government Statistician Address

Colin Lynch, Government Statistician and Chief Executive, Stats NZ

11.10

AI Economics – Safeguarding the Value for Money

As agencies move from experimentation to scaled adoption, AI changes the economics of digital delivery: costs can be highly variable (tokens, GPUs, data movement, model lifecycle), benefits often depend more on the organisational response than the technology itself (organisational capability, change management, agility), and hidden downstream risks threaten to wipe out achieved gains after the fact (loss of social license, unintended consequences, vendor lock-in). This session offers a perspective on “AI economics”: how to build the operating model to deliver responsibly at scale, and make informed choices about the emerging landscape of models and “cognitive infrastructure” options.

• Doing the right things: Clarifying the benefit hypothesis and unit economics, while accounting for “hidden” costs such as data readiness, assurance, security, change management, and ongoing monitoring across the full lifecycle.

• Doing the things right: Applying fit-for-purpose governance and financial to improve cost transparency, forecasting, and optimisation—so investment decisions stay aligned to outcomes and public value.

• Using the right tools: Understanding the trade-offs across models, hosting options, and deployment patterns—including the growing role of private/sovereign approaches and validated reference architectures that can improve predictability, security, and performance.

Dr. Luke Krieg, Director – Business Transformation, HCLTech

11:40

Panel: Building in equity and trust

Public trust is foundational to effective government, and equity must be intentionally designed into public services—not treated as an afterthought. This panel explores how public sector leaders can strengthen social licence by embedding transparency, inclusivity, and fairness into the design and delivery of digital and non-digital services.

Drawing on New Zealand’s unique social, cultural, and regulatory context, the discussion examines how agencies can balance innovation with accountability while ensuring services meet the needs of diverse communities.

Colin Lynch, Government Statistician and Chief Executive, Stats NZ

Bernadette Scanlon, Deputy Secretary, Policy & Insights, Ministry for Pacific Peoples

Kate Kolich, Head of Data & AI, Contact Energy, Co-Chair, Women in Data Science; & Facilitator, Kāpuhipuhi Wellington Uni Professional

12:10

Panel: Digital Public Infrastructure: From buzzword to backbone

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is increasingly referenced as a foundation for modern government—but what does it mean in practice for Aotearoa New Zealand? This panel moves beyond theory to examine how DPI can become a practical backbone for delivering secure, scalable, and citizen-centred public services.

The discussion focuses on how shared digital building blocks, open standards, and interoperable systems can reduce duplication, improve resilience, and enable faster service innovation across government.

Alan Carnaby, Director - Smart Economy Team, Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

Sigurd Magnusson, CEO, Silverstripe

12:40

Lunch

13:30

Designing for digital inclusion: Building for nation-scale and delivering at record speed — The MyMzansi Story

In an era of fiscal restraint and rising citizen expectations, how can governments move from fragmented silos to a unified digital "front door" without the "big bang" price tag?

Silverstripe has cracked the code. Using their recent MyMzansi project as a blueprint, Sigurd Magnusson explores how South Africa’s single digital service portal was delivered in just 10 weeks. By utilising a modular "Lego-block" architecture and designing for zero-rated data, the project transformed hours of queuing into minutes of mobile interaction—even for those with limited internet access.

Attendees will gain:

A Blueprint for Speed: Strategies to leverage reusable systems that meet GCDO mandates while slashing delivery costs.

Radical Inclusion: Practical insights into building for the digital divide, ensuring no citizen is left behind.

Data as Taonga: A vision for proactive government where security rigour and data sovereignty are acts of manaakitanga.

Sigurd Magnusson, CEO, Silverstripe

14:00

AI in Government – power, potential & pitfalls

Dr Amanda Williamson, Director of the Deloitte Artificial Intelligence Institute, Deloitte

14:30

Future Ready Government - Building the Adaptive Digital Backbone for Aotearoa’s Future

Sam will be sharing lessons learnt for transitioning from digital to AI-native operations in Government. He will share transformation stories that have delivered actionable productivity and inclusive government services, grounded in security by design principles.

Sam Wemyss-Smith​, Director, Uvance Wayfinders

15:00

Closing Discussion: Leading digital government in 2026 and beyond

- Reflecting on today’s discussions, what do you see as the single biggest opportunity for digital government in Aotearoa New Zealand over the next five years?

- As agencies push forward with AI, data, and automation, how can leaders ensure innovation strengthens public trust rather than undermines it?

- Where do you see the biggest barriers to progress today—technology, leadership, culture, funding, or collaboration across government?

- What role should shared platforms and Digital Public Infrastructure play in enabling more seamless and citizen-centred public services?

- If we were to reconvene at this conference in five years’ time, what would success look like for digital government in New Zealand?

Facilitated by: Graeme Muller, Chief Executive, Tech New Zealand

15:20

Closing remarks from the MC