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Government Innovation Showcase Aotearoa
Sessions
Registration, Coffee & Hellos
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM (45 mins)
Tāwhirimātea A,B & C
Settle in, grab a coffee, and meet a few friendly faces before we begin.
Mihi
8:45 AM - 9:00 AM (15 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Welcome & How to Make the Most of Today
9:00 AM - 9:05 AM (5 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
A short welcome, plus a few quick tips to help you connect, share, and get real value from the day. We’ll also run a couple of quick polls to see what everyone’s interested in and what people are working on right now.
Ministerial Address
9:05 AM - 9:15 AM (10 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Aotearoa Scene Setter: Government Spending, Direction and Priorities
9:20 AM - 9:30 AM (10 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
A short briefing from the Chair to get everyone aligned, comfortable, and ready for a great day of ideas and connection.
Saying Goodbye to Siloes – Preparing Our Public Service for the Future of Digital
9:30 AM - 9:50 AM (20 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
- What are New Zealand Government’s top digital investment priorities
- What procurement decisions will be most important and how will this look in the early stages of adoption
- What does a more centralised public sector mean for the citizens of New Zealand, and existing government departments
Industry Insights - Lotto NZ's Digital Jackpot: Transforming Core Gaming with Salesforce
9:50 AM - 10:10 AM (20 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Salesforce RVP and Country Head for Public Sector, Karen Blake, leads a discussion on the state of the industry for AI and data in government, highlighting her experiences working with local customers on the roadmap for an Agentic public sector. Following this, she hosts a fireside chat with Lotto NZ CEO Jason Delamore on their digital transformation journey.
They will discuss how Salesforce is helping Lotto NZ transform their core gaming system and overhauling the web and app front ends. Learn how a strategic platform implementation is transforming the digital experience for Kiwis
Progressing NZ Public Service Delivery and Collaboration: High Level Priorities into 2026-2027
10:10 AM - 10:40 AM (30 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
- Navigating the AI Era whilst ensuring public trust is retained
- Strengthening collective leadership and Inter-Agency collaboration to lift delivery impact across New Zealand's public sector
- Accelerating next-gen citizen-centred service – what are the next steps in scaling integrated, digitally enabled services that respond to lived experiences
- Delivering more with less – achieving operational efficiency at scale without compromising quality
- Capital budgeting and digital services – how do we account for and fund digital infrastructure within the capital budget
How to Lead Government 3.0: Breaking Silos and Designing for Connected Outcomes
10:40 AM - 11:00 AM (20 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Government 3.0 demands a fundamental shift in how public sector leaders think, operate, and collaborate across systems. That shift in thinking is required from government leaders, reframing digital leadership as an enterprise-wide responsibility, not a technology function. This session will equip you with practical perspectives on leading laterally, aligning policy with delivery, and shaping operating models that enable connected, outcomes-driven government
- Advance leadership models that enable whole-of-government decision-making
- Transform siloed structures into connected systems that deliver shared outcomes
- Optimise the role of digital, data, and AI as enablers of policy execution
- Bolster accountability and trust while accelerating responsible innovation
Morning Tea & Mingling
11:00 AM - 11:40 AM (40 mins)
Tāwhirimātea A,B & C
Perfect time to swap notes and compare what’s working across teams and sectors.
Two tracks · 11:40 AM - 1:00 PM · Pick one and follow it Digital Services, CX, and AI Innovation Technology, Data, and AI Integration
11:40 AM - 11:50 AM (10 mins)
Welcome from Track Chair
11:40 AM - 11:50 AM (10 mins)
Tāwhirimātea Foyer
Setting the tone for the priorities and thorniest challenges Digital and CX professionals are facing.
Welcome from Track Chair
11:40 AM - 11:50 AM (10 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Setting the tone for the priorities and thorniest challenges Tech and Data professionals are facing.
11:50 AM - 12:10 PM (20 mins)
Accessibility and Inclusion by Design: Closing the Digital Divide
11:50 AM - 12:10 PM (20 mins)
Tāwhirimātea Foyer
- The 2026-2028 requirements for an accessible NZ public service – how do we ensure that digital transformation doesn’t leave vulnerable communities behind
- Focusing on needs and feedback-driven innovation that leverages insights to understand diverse needs
- Putting the citizen first – using co-design to identify what needs solving to better deliver more inclusive digital services
- How can we best use technology to engage with (and improve accessibility for) the different communities and cohorts across our nation
The Public Safety Network in Hato Hone St John: Launching a Platform for Future Innovation
11:50 AM - 12:10 PM (20 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
12:10 PM - 12:30 PM (20 mins) Keynote
Industry Insights - Powering the Future: Transpower’s Journey to a Resilient, Data-Driven Grid
12:10 PM - 12:30 PM (20 mins)
Tāwhirimātea Foyer
How do you modernise a critical public service for the digital age without compromising trust, resilience or regulatory rigour? In this keynote, Transpower New Zealand and OSF Digital share the story of how the national grid operator transformed its stakeholder engagement and operational agility using Salesforce. From consolidating legacy systems into a unified cloud platform, this session explores how Transpower embedded data, automation and trust into the heart of its transformation. Attendees will gain practical insights into modernising systems, improving responsiveness, and delivering transparent, citizen-centred services in a complex public sector environment.
Industry Insights - Designing for the New Zealand we're becoming: orchestration, equity, and the citizens of 2040
12:10 PM - 12:30 PM (20 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
The New Zealand of 2040 is being shaped by decisions we collectively make now. Toni Truslove, CEO of Ghost Dynamics, and Mark Glenn, Principal Consultant, look at the macro shifts as well as the on-the-ground realities of the New Zealand we are becoming, and what each demands if we are serious about shaping the trust and experience of the citizens we'll become.
12:30 PM - 1:00 PM (30 mins) Panel Discussion
Citizen-led Integration that Crosses Agency Boundaries
12:30 PM - 1:00 PM (30 mins)
Tāwhirimātea Foyer
People move through life events, not org charts. This panel looks at how we can design integration around real journeys and shared outcomes.
- How do we ascertain what really matters, and to whom, when we set out to integrate services
- How might a common experience for accessing services look across our government, as opposed to lots of separate agency branding
- Is there potential to cross agency boundaries and encourage collaboration better within NZ government - how might employees moving between agencies act as a way to engage retention that offers career progression, talent management, succession, and removal of silos?
Defining Data Sovereignty (Without the Buzzwords)
Runs 12:30 PM - 1:20 PM (50 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Sovereignty is often used loosely, this panel defines practical approaches to data, identity, and platforms.
- AI literacy and confidence - what does the term ‘sovereignty’ actually mean
- Who gets to decide how data is managed, stored and accessed, particularly under Te Tiriti
- What are the things we need to think about when it comes to self determination over our own technology and data in NZ - should we be shifting away from using international clouds
- Legally privileged information - what happens if we input this into cloud systems
Choose one · 1:00 AM - 1:20 AM (20 mins) · 1 options Keynote
From Trusted Digital Foundations to Measurable Outcomes: How Identity, Wallets, Payments and Data Help Aotearoa Government Do More With Less
1:00 AM - 1:20 AM (20 mins)
Tāwhirimātea Foyer
As Aotearoa’s public sector faces sustained fiscal pressure, rising citizen expectations, and the accelerating impact of AI, the next phase of digital government is less about new platforms and more about how trusted foundations are connected and reused at scale.
In this keynote, David Peacock will explore how four core digital foundations — digital identity, citizen wallets and the Government App, modern payments, and data insights — can work together to deliver tangible outcomes for government. Drawing on New Zealand examples and global best practice, the session will highlight how trusted identity enables adoption, wallets enable service completion, payments enable integrity, and data enables better policy decisions.
The keynote will focus on practical implications for government leaders, including improving service completion rates, reducing administrative cost and leakage, strengthening trust and privacy, and enabling evidence‑based decision‑making — all while preparing agencies for an increasingly automated and AI‑enabled future.
Choose one · 1:20 PM - 1:40 PM (20 mins) · 2 options
Mātauranga Māori and Digital Futures: Embedding Indigenous Knowledge in Innovation
1:20 PM - 1:40 PM (20 mins)
Tāwhirimātea Foyer
- Māori perspectives on sovereignty, stewardship and digital trust
- Fostering long-term thinking into departmental culture to achieve a greater level of integrity in data sharing and service design
- Ensuring co-design is not just consultation, but true partnership within departments and service delivery at large
- How indigenous knowledge can strengthen innovation outcomes for all citizens, and across all of government
- Mātauranga Māori as an applicable perspective for navigating unexpected transitions, the era of AI and digital transformation, and inevitable change
Driving System Change Through Agile, Product Models, and Integrated Planning
1:20 PM - 1:40 PM (20 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Many organisations are changing the way they work, whether through product or agile approaches to delivering system change. The relationships between teams and underlying processes need to change and be aligned to make this work. This is further complicated by the introduction of AI, cloud-based platforms, and the need to modernise legacy systems.
In this session, NZ Police will unpack their Community of Practice established for agile delivery, which includes integrated planning with architecture to meet these challenges and deliver more effective information services that support our Police on the frontline.
Lunch: Wander, Discover, Connect
1:40 PM - 2:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea A,B & C
Grab lunch, have a wander, and chat with industry partners and peers about practical ideas you can take back to work. Arguably the most important part of the day!
Choose one · 2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins) · 2 options Roundtables
Roundtable 1: Weathering the Storm – Aligning Digital Investment Strategies with Business Priorities and Budget
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Roundtable 2: ‘Walking the Tightrope’ – Balancing Efficient Data Collection with Privacy and Utility Considerations
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Choose one · 2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins) · 2 options Roundtables
Roundtable 3: Mātauranga Māori and Digital Futures – Embedding Indigenous Knowledge in Innovation
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Roundtable 4: AI in Operations – Automating the Mundane, Elevating the Strategic
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Choose one · 2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins) · 2 options Roundtables
Roundtable 5: Preparing Legacy Systems to become AI ready – finding the Goldilocks zone for your mahi
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Roundtable 6: Digital Inclusion and Accessibility by Design – Making Tech Work for Every Kiwi
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Choose one · 2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins) · 2 options Roundtables
Roundtable 7: Agentic AI in the Public Sector – How Do We Secure and Retain Citizen Trust
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Roundtable 8: Service Experience 2.0 – Redesigning Customer Journeys with New Technology
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Choose one · 2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins) · 4 options Roundtables
Roundtable 9: ‘Where Shall We Begin?’ – Scaling Innovative Pilots to Platforms Across Government
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Roundtable 10: Strengthening Digital and Data Capability Across the Public Sector Workforce
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Roundtable 11: Modernising Legacy Platforms to Enable Better Digital Services
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
Roundtable 12: Decision Support for Service Delivery – Using AI to Augment Public Sector Judgement
2:40 PM - 3:40 PM (60 mins)
Beyond Hype: Building Responsible AI in a Small-State Context
3:40 PM - 4:10 PM (30 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
New Zealand’s size brings both constraints and opportunities. This panel explores how to build trustworthy, sovereign AI capability tailored to local needs.
- Build, adapt or consume global models – what’s right for New Zealand
- How data sovereignty, Māori world-view and social licence shape adoption
- Lessons from agencies piloting in sensitive contexts
- Data ethics and clear governance as an enabler of AI innovation - what are the implications if we don’t get this right
- The ongoing challenge of balancing efficient data collection with privacy and utility considerations
Closing Remarks: What We’re Taking with Us
4:10 PM - 4:15 PM (5 mins)
Tāwhirimātea F & G
We’ll pull out a few highlights from the day, share what’s coming next, and point you to ways to stay connected.
Networking Drinks
4:10 PM - 5:10 PM (60 mins)
