When you've had one of the most successful careers in business in New Zealand, what do you do next?

For Xero founder Rod Drury the answer is to spend days mountain biking around Queenstown, wing foiling when he gets the chance, and meeting with government and business leaders to get national improvement initiatives moving.

He's pushed for the separation of energy generation and retailing, campaigned for more water storage across the country, worked to get an autonomous public transport system set up in Queenstown, advocated for the reduction of electronic payments fees, and spent days with Ngāi Tahu supporting environmental clean up.

In this rare interview, Drury goes deep into the why and how of all these, plus reflections on Xero, artificial intelligence, private funding of public infrastructure, and more.

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It's the fifth year for 2degrees' Shaping Business report that covers the state of business across New Zealand.

Once again, we're bringing you a deep dive into the report with a panel of eminent business figures.

This year, the panel includes 2degrees' chief executive Mark Callander, Deloitte partner Anna Fitzgibbon and Auckland Business Chambers chief executive Simon Bridges.

They cover business confidence, hybrid working, skills shortages, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and more.

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Reading list

• Shaping Business 2024 - 2degrees
• 2degrees survey reveals surprising optimism in business amid economic gloom - BusinessDesk

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There are a lot of great things about NZ; our relatively small population is one of them. But if we want to be a major player in the global software industry, we need to be where the people are: the US.

That's according to Nick Lissette, founder and chief executive of NZX-listed Blackpearl Group, who features this week in an interview about thinking big and bringing the export dollars home.

Plus, Peter jetted over to Sydney to check out the latest line-up of Windows Surface laptops and find out what makes these Co-Pilot+ devices so special.

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News of the news media has been pretty grim throughout 2024, with cutbacks and closures dominating the headlines.

To many, this is a sign that the writing is on the wall for an industry that's been struggling since the heady paper-based days of the 1990s.

But Xavier English says those people are just looking in the wrong places.

English joins us to talk about five Kiwi companies he says are redefining what 'news media' means in 2024.

We also give our takes on Apple's big AI news and how it might change the game.

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As budget anxiety spreads across the nation, we're spending this week looking back at the good news in the tech industry in the last couple of weeks.

We're joined by David Downs - NZ's own tech industry cheerleader, relentless optimist and genetically modified organism - to discuss the NZ Hi-Tech Awards, NZ Story's See Tomorrow First initiative, and the potential for NZ as a base for CAR T-cell cancer therapy development.

We also hear from 2024 Hi-Tech Award winners Novolabs, ENVICO, Joshua Parsons, and Elle Archer.

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The ministry of foreign affairs and trade (Mfat) mishandled millions of dollars in an attempt to shift its IT systems to the cloud and roll out Microsoft Office.

BusinessDesk's Dileepa Fonseka, who broke the story, walks us through what he learned in his reporting.

Then, there's huge potential for digital twins in Aotearoa New Zealand but our approach has been siloed and slow.

We learn what it will take to get started from Keri Niven, the digital practice lead at Aurecon and leader of the Smart Cities Digital Twin Maturity Taskforce.

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Mark Callander, CEO of our flagship sponsor 2degrees and Kiwi telco stalwart, joins us to talk all things telco.

He shares where 2degrees is up to in the Great Brand Merge, rolling out satellite to mobile connectivity, integrating AI into its business, challenging the electricity market, and more.

We also talk about the generative AI madness announced by Google and OpenAI this month.

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After spending time in Ireland, Simon Walker was amazed at how Ireland, especially Dublin, had pulled itself out of the doldrums of the 80s to become a world-class tech hub.

The CEO and founder of tech-focused marketing company Proposition brought those thoughts back to Aotearoa with him and, although there are many differences between us, he saw enough similarities that we could learn a thing or two.

Walker explains his vision for NZ's tech-based economy and the lessons he learned in Ireland that led him there.

Also, we talk about the Kiwi startup with its eyes on an NZX listing, the dire need for an NZ cybersecurity strategy, and Australia's investment into quantum and beyond.

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While the number of women in tech is increasing, senior technical roles are still too often locked away behind a glass ceiling.

On her way to becoming a senior platform engineer, Meena Satishkumar faced an array of challenges that almost drove her off the path she wanted to follow.

In response, she founded Tech Beyond Gender, an advocacy organisation that recently published research with some concerning findings.

Satishkumar talks us through some of that research, her experience, and what can be done to truly start to shift the needle toward gender equity.

Also, One NZ gets the nod from the Commerce Commission to acquire Dense Air and its spectrum, while 2degrees faces legal action over misleading claims.

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What is the purpose of the Callaghan Innovation? In the wake of the mandate to reduce headcount by about 7%, this was the question that Stefan Korn had to answer.

To answer it, he returned to the organisation's founding documents, looked at similar organisations overseas, and considered the unique position of Aotearoa New Zealand.

In this episode, Dr Korn discusses his vision of Callaghan's future and the thought process that led him to it.

Also, what do NZ's tech leaders say about the impact of AI on the workforce?

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