Korea, Australia and NZ discuss digital futures

Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce today opened the 2009 Korea Australia New Zealand (KANZ) Broadband Summit: Digital Futures in Auckland.

The summit is an annual forum for business and government officials from the three countries to come together to discuss the latest research and commercial developments in digital applications and content and broadband infrastructure.

Mr Joyce says the summit is an important event on the ICT calendar for all three countries.

"New Zealand, Australia and Korea have all identified broadband infrastructure as critical to economic growth.

"The summit provides an opportunity to discuss shared goals, hear from companies that are leading the way in digital content, technology and services, and to learn from policy agencies about the development of broadband infrastructure, telecommunications and the digital economy."

The objectives of the KANZ summit are to:

• Build greater commercial cooperation and partnerships between Korea, Australia and New Zealand in ICT with a particular focus on digital content and applications;
• Provide a forum for commercial collaboration and greater pre-commercial cooperation and research in applications dependent on very high speed broadband networks;
• Build and strengthen relationships between Ministers, government officials, researchers and companies from Korea, Australia and New Zealand in the areas of telecommunications, broadband and trade-related issues
• The Minister's speech can be viewed here: http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech+kanz