18 March 2026 | Tākina, Wellington

Digitising Government New Zealand

In collaboration with the New Zealand Government.

Working with the GCDO office on the future of the government’s digital journey.

Brought to you by

Headline Sponsor

Digitising Government New Zealand is brought to you by Tech New Zealand and Brightstar with the support of Digital Identity New Zealand and The AI Forum with stakeholder, advisory support and endorsement from the New Zealand Government.

Accelerating Public Sector Technology and Transformation

Supported by the Government Chief Digital Office

This 1-day conference will be dedicated to accelerating digital transformation in the public sector. Working closely with the Government Chief Digital Office, this event is designed for government leaders, technologists, policy makers, and civic innovators, and will tackle the most pressing challenges – and the biggest opportunities – facing digital government today.

With a focus on trust, equity, citizen-centricity and unlocking digital government innovation, this curated conference brings together global insights, local success stories, and future-focused technologies. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas, practical frameworks, and new relationships that will help shape the future of digital government whilst operating in a cost-constrained environment.

This conference is co-located on the second day of the National Cyber Security Summit, organised by NZTech & Brightstar, held on the 17 & 18 March at Tākina, Wellington

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Key Five Reasons to Attend

1

Discover how to do more with less

Walk away with real strategies to accelerate your digital initiatives in a cost constrained environment, drawn from global digital public infrastructure models and real world examples.

2

Get Future-Ready

Stay ahead of the curve with insights into the latest global govtech trends—from AI to Digital Public Infrastructure—shared by local and international thought leaders.

3

Learn from the Best

Hear directly from key voices including government decision-makers, global tech leaders, and civic innovators. Gain practical knowledge from case studies, panels, and design sprints.

4

Build Trust into Your Tech

Explore how to build social license into digital systems through frameworks like the Digital Identity Services Trust Framework, with a focus on equity, privacy, and transparency.

5

Make Connections That Matter

Meet peers from central and local government, industry, and academia and understand the sentiment surrounding Public Sector technology. Whether you’re in policy, IT, service design or data—this is your space to collaborate.

Conference Objectives

Explore how Aotearoa New Zealand can accelerate the use of digital technologies, in a cost constrained environment, to improve outcomes for citizens.

Share global and local insights on digital public infrastructure (DPI) and agentic AI in public service.

Discuss the critical role of trust, data, and infrastructure in building a modern digital public service.

Promote cross-sector collaboration through knowledge exchange and thought leadership.

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Wellington

Venue

The location and how you can get there

Address

Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre

50 Cable Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011

Agenda

8:50	Registration and Coffee
9:00	Welcome from the MC
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. Aligning effort across government agencies Unifying customer experiences across government digital services Prioritising development of digital identity ecosystems 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. How government can build confidence through clear purpose, responsible data use, strong privacy protections, and open communication Moving beyond “one-size-fits-all” services to design approaches that recognise differing access needs, digital capability levels, and lived experiences Ensuring decision-making processes, use of data, and digital systems are understandable, auditable, and fair Exploring how feedback loops, community engagement, and iterative service improvement help maintain trust over time Colin Lynch, Government Statistician and Chief Executive, Stats NZ
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. Clarifying what constitutes Digital Public Infrastructure locally, and how it complements existing government platforms, shared services, and agency-specific systems Exploring how common services, such as identity, payments, data exchange, and notifications, can accelerate delivery, lower costs, and create more consistent experiences for users Addressing the governance, funding, and accountability challenges of shared infrastructure, and how to enable collaboration without slowing innovation 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* A blueprint for speed: Strategies to leverage reusable, off-the-shelf systems to meet the GCDO mandate and drive down the cost of digital. A vision of digital inclusion: Moving beyond websites to a proactive digital-first government where data is a taonga, and security rigour is an act of manaakitanga. Radical inclusion: Practical insights into building for the digital divide. Sigurd Magnusson, CEO, Silverstripe
14:00	AI in Government – power, potential & pitfalls What does effective leadership look like when algorithms increasingly influence decisions, priorities, and outcomes How can AI support better, faster, and more consistent decisions across policy, operations, and service delivery, all while ensuring human oversight, explainability, and public trust remain central Examining practical applications of AI to streamline processes, reduce administrative burden, and improve citizen experiences, particularly in high-volume, rules-based environments Addressing bias, data quality, privacy, security, and regulatory readiness
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
15:20	Closing remarks from the MC

Speakers

Speakers to be announced

Dr. Luke Krieg

Director, Business Transformation & Lead, AUS/NZ Centre of Excellence for AI

HCLTech

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Luke is a leader of innovation and complex change across public and private-sector organisations in New Zealand, Australia and Europe, having worked in R&D, Transport, Management Consulting, Education, Civil Engineering, and IT. At HCLTech, Luke partners with executive teams to accelerate value from talent and advanced digital technologies by strengthening organisational capability, establishing enterprise-wide governance, and architecting operating models that enable responsible, scalable, and cost‑effective AI adoption.

Myles Ward

Deputy Government Chief Digital Officer and Deputy Secretary Digital Services

Department of Internal Affairs

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Hon Judith Collins

Minister for Digitising Government

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Alan Carnaby

Director - Smart Data Economy Team

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

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Alan leads the Smart Data Economy team at MBIE, part of which is responsible for the New Zealand Peppol Authority and for growing the eInvoicing network. His team is responsible for engaging with key eInvoicing industry leaders, including Software Providers, Large Businesses and Government Agencies domestically and internationally, to find solutions and enable eInvoicing growth. Alan is passionate about helping New Zealanders work smarter with technology empowerment, and his career prior to joining MBIE reflects this. With over 13 years of private sector experience working internationally in technology marketing and partnership roles, Alan has the knowledge and skills required to drive business growth for technology and service organisations. When Alan’s not at the office, you’ll find him outdoors running, biking and adventuring – in between juggling dad and family duties.