James Corbett, Tom Batterbury and Phil Thomson, the founders of crime prevention and detection software Auror, have been named winners of the EY Entrepreneur of The Year award for 2022.
The trio were chosen from a field of five category winners and will represent New Zealand at the World Entrepreneur of the Year awards in June next year against winners from more than fifty other countries.
Vaughan Fergusson, head judge for the category, said Auror has the potential to be a massive Kiwi global success story.
“Entrants are typically strong across two to three aspects of the judging criteria, but Auror’s entry was strong across them all, and that’s what made them stand out,” Fergusson said.
“What impressed us was the work they are doing to make the world a better place, and because the tool has been in use across multiple countries for a number of years, they had some really amazing stats to demonstrate the impact they’re making.
“By changing the way we prevent crime, they are making people feel safer in the workplace and community, and that’s a really good thing. What’s exciting is that as Auror further establishes itself in bigger markets like the US.”
Auror’s software helps retailers around the world reduce losses, and police prevent crime.
More than 80 per cent of retailers in New Zealand use the platform and Auror saves NZ Police 200,000 hours a year in investigations.
The Auror founders, who had won the Tech and Emerging Industries category, beat Lumin’s Max Ferguson (Young category), Dawn Aerospace’s Stefan Powell (Product), Brooke Roberts, Leighton Roberts and Sonya Williams of Sharesies (Services) and Stuart Wilson of Modica (Master).
Other awards on the night included the Social Impact Award which went to Jennifer Del Bel from soy candle company Downlights New Zealand, and Carrfields Limited, which took home the Family Business Award for Excellence award.
Source: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow the sale of a2 Milk infant formula in the US.
A2 Milk's share price rallied today by 40c or 7.0 per cent to $6.15 on the news.
In August, a2 Milk said the FDA had deferred its request to sell product in the States.
Speculation earlier this year that a2 Milk would get the nod from the FDA prompted a spike in its share price.
The FDA has been allowing product made overseas into the highly-controlled US infant formula market as a result of severe shortage.
A product recall by Abbott Nutrition and the months-long closure of a major formula production facility in Sturgis, Michigan, prompted the shortage.
"Today, the US FDA is providing an update on additional steps it has taken that will lead to more infant formula available in the US under the agency's increased flexibilities," it said in a statement.
The FDA also said it would allow product produced in Ireland for French food group Danone into the country.
Separately, a2 Milk said it believed the FDA's move represented a "significant opportunity" to develop its brand in the infant formula category over the long term but expected its margins to be lower than average.
The FDA said a2 Milk's a2 Platinum infant formula for babies up to six months old, and a2 Platinum follow-on formula for 6-12 month would be allowed for sale.
"Both products (Danone and a2 ) will be sold at major US retail outlets," it said.
The FDA said it reviewed information about nutritional adequacy and safety, including microbiological testing, labeling and additional information about facility production and inspection history.
"The agency continues to dedicate all available resources to help ensure that safe and nutritious infant formula products remain available for use in the US," it said.
"Important progress has been made toward improving the infant formula supply in the US and paving the way for a more robust and diverse marketplace for the future," it added.
The FDA issued guidance in May 2022 outlining a process by which it would not object to the importation of infant formula products intended for a foreign market, or distribution in America of products manufactured here for export to foreign countries.
"This guidance also may provide flexibilities to those who manufacture infant formula products domestically and may be able to further increase the quantity of domestically-produced product for the US market," it said.
A2 Milk is supplied by NZX-listed Synlait, in which it has a 20 per cent holding.
Separately, a2 Milk said the FDA's move was a major opportunity to develop its brand in the IMF category over the long-term, but it expected margins to be lower than average.
A2 Milk said it was difficult to predict formula sales potential in the highly competitive US market.
"In the near-term, and prior to confirming distribution plans, sales during 2023 are expected to be up to 1 million cans all within the second half of 2023, assuming enforcement discretion remains in place throughout the period," it said.
"Actual sales will ultimately depend on customer demand, consumer offtake, supply shortages and market conditions at the time."
In terms of 2023 earnings impact, while incrementally beneficial, the company expected gross margins to be lower than average, and distribution costs to be higher.
A2 Milk's managing director and CEO David Bortolussi said the company was pleased with the US announcement.
"We have scalable production capacity in New Zealand with Synlait plus existing a2 Milk US sales, marketing and supply chain capability that can be leveraged.
"We are increasing our supply to respond to this situation, while importantly ensuring that we continue to meet the needs of our other infant formula consumers and trade partners in China and other markets. If the US requires further support over an extended period, we have the proven ability to scale up significantly."
Jarden's director of equity research Adrian Allbon said the FDA approval was good news for a2.
"I think people will perceive it as definitely positive news because it provides market access," Allbon said.
"The only issue is the market access is temporary, they have to go through the full process and the US market structure is quite different."
He said there was a rebate scheme, which effectively enshrined the monopoly status in each state of a particular brand "which is why they have such a concentrated situation to start with".
Allbon said how positive the news for A2 Milk was dependent on how ultimately the FDA and the US government wanted to reset the industry structure.
Over the last seven years, a2 Milk has been investing in its liquid milk business in the US, based in Boulder, Colorado.
In September, the FDA announced new guidance providing a pathway for infant formulas operating under enforcement discretion in the US to remain on the market.
"This will help ensure the US continues diversifying its infant formula market, and make families less susceptible to shocks in the infant formula market," it said.
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, October 26, 2022 - Boeing [NYSE:BA] has bolstered its regional sustainment capability and expanded its footprint in New Zealand with the signing of a Head Agreement with the New Zealand Defence Force to support its new fleet of P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.
Executed by Boeing Defence Australia vice president and managing director, Scott Carpendale and the New Zealand Chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Kevin Short, the first contract under the agreement is for sustainment services for an initial six-year period.
“The initial contract comprises engineering and supply chain services,” said Carpendale.
“Subject to performance, it will extend through the life of the fleet in rolling three-year extensions.”
Rob Whight, Integrated Project Team Leader for the New Zealand Ministry of Defence added that Boeing Defence Australia brought proven sustainment capability for the P-8A Poseidon platform and opportunity for knowledge transfer to the New Zealand Defence Force.
“The partnership is key to the New Zealand Defence Force’s sustainment strategy and they are looking forward to Boeing’s contribution over the life of type,” said Whight.
The contract comes on the back of Boeing Defence Australia’s recent contract award for P-8A deeper maintenance for the Royal Australian Air Force, with Australia becoming only the second country outside of the United States to undertake the complex and specialised sustainment services.
To support the New Zealand contract, Boeing has established a new business entity, Boeing New Zealand Limited, which will employ a local team backed by the strength of Boeing Australia and our international P-8 program teams.
“Our long-term objective is to expand P-8A support in New Zealand in response to the emerging needs of our customer, while pursuing other campaigns and capitalising on synergies between Australian and New Zealand programs,” said Carpendale.
“The Head Agreement acknowledges the importance of the relationship between the New Zealand Defence Force and Boeing in support of the platform, and provides a framework for future growth.”
New Zealand’s fleet of four P-8As will be based at Royal New Zealand Air Force Base Ohakea with the first expected to arrive in country in December 2022.
The initial sustainment contract commenced in October 2022 and runs to September 2028. Source: https://www.boeing.com.au/
Auckland businessman, Stewart Germann, known to some as ‘The Franchise Coach’, has today announced an agreement with London-headquartered global franchise marketing and advisory company, World Franchise Associates, granting him licence to introduce a portfolio of global franchising heavyweights to the New Zealand market.
The deal captures an initial portfolio of nine international franchise brands, including seven restaurants and two non-food brands, which together represent total global revenues exceeding $5 billion NZD and employ tens of thousands of staff around the world.
The portfolio includes the iconic TGI Fridays restaurant brand which was founded in the US in 1965 and now boasts almost 700 restaurants in more than 50 countries.
Other notable brands include the highly successful Earl of Sandwich chain, and relative newcomer Teriyaki Madness, which since opening in 2005 has expanded rapidly to 110+ restaurants around the world and was labelled by Restaurant Business as the number one fastest growing big restaurant chain.
Germann, whose business, The Franchise Coach, specialises in both helping existing Kiwi businesses transition to a franchise model, and introducing international franchises to the New Zealand market, says the deal represents a significant opportunity for Kiwis who would like to leverage the power of global brands with proven successful models, for New Zealand customers.
“Having access to this portfolio of global opportunities means that when Kiwi clients approach me, we can be very strategic about marrying them with the right sort of opportunity,” says Germann. “We can look at any relevant expertise, location, financial and lifestyle considerations they might have, and set prospective franchisees up with a recipe for success that’s been tested in the most competitive global markets.”
Troy Franklin, Managing Partner at World Franchise Associates, says bringing this opportunity to Germann was an obvious choice.
“Stewart is a globally regarded expert in franchise law, and his law firm, SGL, has for many years been involved in helping broker significant franchise deals, and facilitating and simplifying complex structural arrangements in the New Zealand market,” says Franklin.
“Since taking the reins as The Franchise Coach, a consultancy with an impeccable forty-year pedigree, Stewart has further bolstered his reputation as a master at connecting the right people with the right opportunity at the right time. We’re excited to have Stewart onboard, finding the right partners to bring some truly iconic brands to Kiwi shores.”
Germann is encouraging enquiries from any New Zealand residents considering their next business venture, and says due diligence and franchise application processes can begin immediately, with the right candidates.
Grant Robertson departs this evening with a business delegation to New York, after which he will travel to Washington DC for meetings.
“The New York leg of the trip has been developed by Air New Zealand alongside their new non-stop service from Auckland. It presents an opportunity to continue promoting New Zealand’s Reconnection Strategy and strengthen business ties in the United States,” Grant Robertson said.
“It also provides a valuable opportunity to engage with Kiwi business leaders and highlight New Zealand’s tourism offerings on the world stage.”
The Finance Minister will attend the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Washington DC. He will also meet with the US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, senior officials from the Biden administration and Finance Ministers from around the world.
“These meetings provide an opportunity to engage with counterparts on geopolitical issues, including matters relating to New Zealand’s and the Pacific’s economic security, trade, the recovery from COVID-19 and ongoing matters such as supply chain issues, global inflation and Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
“We are all facing an uncertain global economic environment, and I am keen to hear the insights and perspectives of other countries on their approach and to share New Zealand’s story with them.”
“This trip is a great opportunity to reconnect in person with the US Government, international financial institutions, APEC, and our partners in the Asia-Pacific region as we look to reconnect New Zealand to the world and strengthen relationships with our business and trade partners,” Grant Robertson said.
The Minister will return to New Zealand on October 18.
Source: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/
Air Tahiti Nui is preparing to celebrate the first non-stop service connecting Seattle to Tahiti. The inaugural flight, TN51, will depart Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) at 1230hrs local time on Wednesday 05 October and arrive in Tahiti at 1910hrs local time on Wednesday 05 October. The service marks the start of a new partnership between Air Tahiti Nui and Alaska Airlines, one of North America’s most prestigious carriers and a leader in the Northwest region. This codeshare partnership will enable travellers to connect with nearly 100 cities in North America through the Seattle hub. Major cities on the network to be enjoyed by travellers include Vancouver, Boston, Chicago, Miami, and New York City. The arrangement also offers a world first for Air Tahiti Nui passengers to use their Club Tiare miles on the Alaska Airlines' network. Passengers can also earn Club Tiare miles on Alaska Airlines routes beyond Seattle. Reciprocally, Alaska Airlines customers can earn or use their Mileage Plan miles when travelling with Air Tahiti Nui. General Manager Pacific Daniel Eggenberger says, “The route complements the long-established Los Angeles route that connects The Islands of Tahiti with North America. This has proven very popular for New Zealand and Australian travellers, especially with highly competitive pricing since the border re-opening in May. With Seattle being a departure point for cruises towards Alaska, we expect a strong interest from the cruise market out of New Zealand and Australia.”
The partnership further demonstrates Air Tahiti Nui's commitment to continually developing and enhancing its customer offering to deliver the best travel experience to our favourite destinations. The airline is internationally recognised and, for the fourth consecutive year, has been awarded 'Best Airline in the South Pacific,' – Global Traveler GT Tested Awards, as well as carrying the 'APEX 5 Star Major Airline' rating. In 2021 Air Tahiti Nui's 787-9 Tahitian Dreamliner was also awarded ‘Best Airline Design – Oceania Region’ at the DesignAir Awards.
Route Days Departs Arrives Aircraft Flt No. Papeete – Seattle Tue, Sat 9.35pm 10.00am+1 787-9 TN52 Seattle – Papeete Wed, Sun 12.30pm 7.10pm 787-9 TN51
www.airtahitinui.com
“The United States is a proud Pacific power. We will continue to be an active, engaged partner in the region.” President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
“The history and the future of the Pacific Islands and the United States are inextricably linked.” Vice President Kamala Harris
The Pacific Islands region – an “ocean continent” spanning nearly 15 percent of the Earth’s surface – is a vital sub-region of the Indo-Pacific. It holds opportunities and challenges, from the climate crisis to an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape. The United States recognizes that geography links the Pacific’s future to our own: U.S. prosperity and security depend on the Pacific region remaining free and open. To that end, the Biden-Harris Administration is elevating broader and deeper engagement with the Pacific Islands as a priority of its foreign policy. This national strategy, the first-ever from the U.S. government dedicated to the Pacific Islands, both reflects and advances that commitment. It supports the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States and is aligned with the goals of the Pacific Island Forum’s 2050 Strategy. As part of its Pacific strategy, the United States will pursue four objectives:
I. A STRONG U.S.-PACIFIC ISLANDS PARTNERSHIP
The foundation of our engagement in the Pacific Islands must be strong ties between the United States and the Pacific Islands, individually and collectively. We will:
II. A UNITED PACIFIC ISLANDS REGION CONNECTED WITH THE WORLD
The Pacific Islands region is stronger united, with the Pacific Islands Forum at its core. The Pacific Islands Forum provides a platform for Pacific Islands to speak with a common voice to drive Pacific priorities and engage other partners, including the United States ‑ a proud Dialogue Partner of the organization. We will coordinate with other nations and do so according to principles of Pacific regional cooperation, transparency, and accountability. We will:
III. A RESILIENT PACIFIC ISLAND REGION PREPARED FOR THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND OTHER 21ST CENTURY CHALLENGES
The Pacific Islands region faces daunting and mounting challenges. Chief among these challenges is the climate crisis, an existential threat to many Pacific Islands. The United States is committed to maintaining its global leadership in combatting the climate crisis, while partnering with the Pacific Islands in adapting to and managing the impacts of climate change on lives, health, and livelihoods. The region also faces challenges to security and sovereignty, including in the maritime domain. The Biden-Harris Administration will work in partnership with Pacific governments and people to ensure they have the autonomy and security to advance their own interests. We support the Pacific Islands as they guard against corruption and protect the dignity of Pacific Islanders. We will:
IV. EMPOWERED AND PROSPEROUS ISLANDERS
To fully empower the Pacific to capitalize on the opportunities of the 21st century, the United States is committed to increasing trade and investment with the Pacific Islands, including through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment; expanding people-to-people ties, including through the Peace Corps; increasing English-language programming and overall professional advancement; bolstering health architecture in the Pacific; and providing educational and development opportunities for Pacific Islanders, with a particular focus on women and youth.
Deel, a global hiring, payroll and employee experience platform that helps businesses hire contractors and employees in over 150 markets, today launches in New Zealand.
Founded in 2019, Deel makes global hiring accessible to all companies. It helps businesses easily enter new markets, hire talent wherever they are, at the same time managing teams, contractors, and payroll in multiple markets – all in one centralised platform. When a company hires workers, Deel takes on the responsibility to ensure the business is compliant with local laws.
Deel expands into New Zealand in the midst of an unprecedented workforce crisis. The NZ Reserve Bank states that there are now double the job vacancies than there are unemployed people in New Zealand. A June 2022 study by Hays, found that 91% of employers of professionals are experiencing a skills shortage. With 83% saying it will impact the effective operation or growth plans of their organisation, with this number being higher (96%) in New Zealand’s tech sector.
“In light of the chronic talent shortages in New Zealand, employers are looking beyond our borders for the right people. Previously there have been significant roadblocks to hiring international talent including lengthy entity set-up times averaging six-to-eight months, compliance risks, confusing local laws, complicated tax systems and hefty fines if you don’t get this right. Deel’s platform and compliance expertise solves these issues, giving businesses the tools to expand, hire, and pay teams more easily than ever before,” said Shannon Karaka, Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand.
Fast growing Tauranga-based LawVu, which develops software for organising in-house legal teams, is using Deel to add to its 120 strong workforce as it signs large international clients.
“LawVu has the capital and international customer opportunities to create a global significant business - we just need the staff to help make it happen. Deel enables us to expand rapidly into new international markets, confident that we can do so in an efficient and compliant manner that also creates a positive experience for new staff working remotely for a start up headquartered in New Zealand,” says Karly Boast, VP of People.
The rise of extended remote working as an option, alongside the challenge of cross border immigration introduced by the pandemic, has driven a new global hiring movement. According to Deel’s latest data, the most popular countries that NZ businesses are hiring overseas talent from include the United States, UK, Philippines and Australia.
Additionally, the top roles that New Zealand companies are hiring for are software developers, digital designers, software engineers and sales team members.
NZ’s talent is highly sought after by overseas companies. The USA, Australia, UK, Canada and Singapore are the top countries currently hiring NZ talent.
Research from Kea New Zealand, who have formed a strategic partnership with Deel, shows 60% of Kiwis living offshore want to remain connected to New Zealand and support New Zealand businesses to grow. Kea Global CEO Toni Truslove says being able to work for a Kiwi company while living offshore is one way to do that.
“Hiring offshore Kiwi allows companies to tap into a community of people who understand the New Zealand culture and business landscape, but also understand the landscape of the market they are based in. This is a huge advantage when it comes to growing a team offshore.”
Deel also provides payroll services that make it easy to pay employees and contractors globally, in their preferred currency, in one bulk payment, and with just a click. The platform supports 120+ currencies, and contractors have access to 15 different withdrawal options ranging from local payment networks to cryptocurrency.
Globally, Deel serves 9,000+ customers, including Airwallex, Coinbase, Dropbox and Shopify.
Deel has raised US$630 million dollars in total from venture capitalists such as Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator. It raised US$425 million in October 2021, valuing Deel at US$5.5 billion, making it the highest-valued company in the global hiring, payments, and compliance space.
Today New Zealand, the USA, Twitter, and Microsoft, announced investment in a technology innovation initiative under the banner of the Christchurch Call. This initiative will support the creation of new technology to understand the impacts of algorithms on people’s online experiences.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms play a growing role in our everyday lives, including in how we organise information, and experience the internet. A majority of the content we encounter and view online is curated by algorithms in some form.
Through the Christchurch Call to Action, we have committed to work together to better understand the impacts that algorithms and other processes may have on terrorist and violent extremist content. Leaders and the Call Community regard this algorithmic work as a top priority.
In order to study those impacts, we have to overcome challenges around: how to protect user privacy and proprietary information; how to investigate impacts holistically across society; and how to achieve reproducibility, affordability, and scale for independent researchers. Working with an open-source non-profit organisation called OpenMined, the Algorithms Initiative will develop and test ground-breaking privacy-enhancing software infrastructure to address those challenges and help us move forward work under the Call.
While this initiative won’t tell us all we need to know about the outcomes algorithms are driving online, it will help us better access data so researchers can answer these very questions.
The Christchurch Call Initiative on Algorithms is committed to supporting this work so that we can empower independent researchers to help us build safer platforms and more effective interventions to protect people both online and offline.
If successful, these technologies will be made available to the whole Christchurch Call community and beyond it. The technology, once tested and proven in the Call context, could open up a new field of algorithmic research with a much wider application.
Our community wants to understand the role of online activity as a factor in radicalisation, how terrorist and violent extremist content spreads across platforms. The privacy protective technology being developed through our initiative is one of the most promising ways to open those questions to independent research at a suitable scale. It could also help people working in a number of other fields.
We hope that this work will ultimately help the Christchurch Call Community to understand what online service providers, community organisations, and governments can do to make the online environment safer and more user-friendly.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: “We simply won’t make the progress we need on these important issues, without better understanding how they are operating in the real world in the first place. Companies, governments, civil society, we will all benefit from this initiative. It will help us create the free, open and secure internet we are all driving for.”
Brad Smith, of Microsoft, said: “The Christchurch Call is about bringing governments, tech companies, and civil society together to make meaningful progress to stop the spread and amplification of violent extremist content online. The responsible use of AI, including explaining how algorithms recommend content to people on social media platforms, is an important challenge we must address.”
Vijaya Gadde, of Twitter, said: “Our work with the New Zealand Government and Microsoft to support the development of innovative technology by OpenMined is a key building block to significantly expand the ability of researchers to understand the role of algorithms in content discovery and amplification while protecting the privacy of people’s data. There is significant potential to provide a far more robust evidence base for a policy debate of critical importance to the future of online services.”
Andrew Trask, of OpenMined, said “Few in civil society have been able to study how major algorithms impact society, owing to privacy, security, and logistical challenges. We think that privacy enhancing technologies can remedy these challenges, and we're optimistic that this project will set the precedent that they can.”
Background and FAQs:
What is the Christchurch Call Initiative on Algorithmic Outcomes?
New Zealand, the USA, Twitter, and Microsoft are working under the Christchurch Call, partnering with OpenMined, to develop new software tools that will help facilitate more independent research on the impacts of user interactions with algorithmic systems.
What will the Christchurch Call Initiative on Algorithmic Outcomes do?
As the first project under this initiative, the partners will work together to build and test a set of privacy enhancing technologies. Once tested, replicated, and validated, these technologies could form the basis for an infrastructure to support independent study of impacts of algorithms and their interactions with users, including across multiple platforms and types of platforms, and could dramatically lower the barriers to doing this work.
If successful, these technologies will be made available to the Christchurch Call Community and could help support independent research that fulfils our collective Call Commitments, potentially opening up wider applications and new fields of responsible AI research beyond the Call itself.
How does this respond to the Christchurch Call Commitments?
Christchurch Call Supporters have committed to working together and with Civil Society to understand the outcomes of algorithms and other processes that may drive users towards terrorist and violent extremist content, to make changes where this occurs, and to develop effective interventions based on information sharing.
The technologies developed with the help of this initiative should help to overcome some of the barriers identified through our existing work and enable information exchanges among civil society, industry and government, to make it possible to realise those commitments.
Why is it needed?
At the moment it is costly and administratively complex for online service providers to provide access to independent researchers to study impacts on users, while complying with ethical and regulatory obligations. Current secure access programmes often entail significant costs and time from researchers and firms alike. That greatly reduces the possible scale and breadth of external studies of the sort needed to understand the impacts of algorithmic systems. That means independent research typically only studies user impacts on a single platform rather than across a broader demographic (i.e. across multiple platforms).
This new technology is intended to reduce the cost and complexity of access for independent researchers, and allow a multitude of different studies, for instance looking at how social issues manifest online, the impacts of user interactions on artificial intelligence, and the effectiveness of different actions intended to promote a safer online environment. It could also enable studies on a range of other algorithmic and responsible AI topics.
For example, Governments should not require access to private user data from online platforms. However they can benefit from insights obtained by independent researchers that can help inform policy. Civil Society has an interest, among other things, in ensuring privacy is preserved, and that human rights outcomes are effectively assessed and acted upon. These privacy enhancing technologies could help facilitate and scale access to allow important insights without governments or other parties requiring access to the base data.
What is being developed?
Software infrastructure is being built which will integrate a new set of privacy enhancing technologies (PETs). This will enable data scientists to remotely study data and algorithms distributed across multiple secure sites. Technologies including remote execution, federated learning, differential privacy, and secure multi-party computation will enable this remote research in a way that conforms to the data-use policies of the platform under study.
The current project plan envisages work taking place approximately over a 9-month timeframe with a total cost of approximately US$1.5m.
In brief these milestones are to:
What is each partner contributing?
New Zealand is providing a financial contribution and assistance with establishing the initiative. New Zealand will also provide coordination between the Call Community and the project to ensure transparency, visibility, and that opportunities are maximised for Call supporters and partners to make use of the project’s output.
The support of New Zealand and the USA will help to ensure the project outcomes are developed on behalf of the wider Call Community and will be tested for different types of online service provider.
Twitter‘s ML Ethics, Transparency and Accountability team will be providing the proof-of-concept for the PET’s infrastructure. At the conclusion of Phase 1, trusted partners will be able to securely access and replicate the findings of our Algorithmic amplification paper published last year. Enabling secure access to this data is a milestone in data transparency and security.
Microsoft is providing financial support to the initiative and is exploring options to enable the initiative to be tested on a different platform.
How can I be involved?
As part of the project, OpenMined will provide periodic briefings for the Call Community about its work, and an opportunity to discuss its potential applications.
In subsequent phases of this work, there will be scope for other online service providers who want to test the capabilities of the new tool on their system, and for Call supporters who wish to help finance the development and testing of new functions and capabilities.
We envisage that these tools will take some time to build, test, validate, and refine. In the long term they hope to create significant new opportunities for independent researcher involvement and the application of these tools across the Call Community and beyond it.
If the pilot is successful, what are the next steps?
If successful, the pilot will prove that the underlying techniques can be scaled to meet real-world legal, policy and other requirements. Subsequent phases could focus on additional testing, moving towards building a production-ready system to enable use for a wide range of objectives by a wide range of independent researchers.
First Dunedin, next step, the lucrative American market for a pair of entrepreneurial former Scarfies.
The Flatpack Co founders Angus Syme, 23, and Cam Leigh, 22, have just made a whirlwind trip around New Zealand’s campuses visiting first-year students.
That market – young people set to go flatting next year – is the company’s bread and butter. The Flatpack Co specialises in boxed mattresses and frames and a guarantee of delivery on the first day a student moves into their new flat.
And it has worked, with the pair selling and delivering some 3000 beds over the last couple of years. In February, Stuff reported that The Flatpack Co was set to turn over its first million dollars.
“We blew it out of the water ... we’ve had a fantastic year,” Syme said.
That success meant the pair are now looking to expand to the United States.
Syme said their business model was about getting in front of students the entire year, and getting them to pre-order their bed before they finished the year, “so they can go away for summer and not worry about it” – meaning that by the time other companies tried to target returning students, they were already committed to The FlatPack Co.
It was during their first year at the University of Otago that the pair came up with the idea to supply beds to fellow students, putting in $5000 a piece to buy 30 second-hand beds from graduating students and re-selling them to their mates.
“There is a culture, in Dunedin especially, to buy a bed from us.’’
Of the 4000-odd first-year students at Otago university, the company sold beds to 550 of them last year, and this year is on track to sell between 800 and 900 to them.
The success of their Dunedin-born idea is a key part of their American drive, as the New Zealand student city has been their strongest market.
To replicate that in the United States, the pair researched similar “college towns”, contacting students over social media about their universities – often three times the size of those in New Zealand.
Many of those were in the Midwestern US, with the pair also looking for college towns made up of mainly houses as opposed to apartment complexes with already furnished accommodation.
Syme and Leigh will visit mattress wholesalers in the US next month, later heading to some of those colleges to employ teams of students.
And if all goes well, the pair plan to return to the US in January “on a one-way ticket”.
“We are all guns blazing, ready to rip, s... and bust.”
The pair will start in Kansas, before concentrating on college towns in other states including Indiana, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Nebraska, Alabama and Arizona.
“The plan is we will be in 25 universities in five years,” Syme said. “The goal is to immerse ourselves in the college.”
Despite their aspirations for America, New Zealand remained an important market, they said, with the pair looking at employing a “hot-shot grad” to become the manager.
Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/
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