Halter founder Craig Piggott reflects on 2024’s meteoric growth and shares vision for 2025
Plus analysing Luxon's growth plan, the science sector changes explained and what Trump's near trillion dollar AI plan means for us here.
Happy Friday!
We made it team. Long weekend is here and the first month of work is nearly done for most of us. It can’t only be January 24, feels like we’ve been back for months, doesn’t it? Lot of news yesterday across tech, science and politics and we will unpack it all in our Daily Shot but we will kick off in our Friday Feature speaking with Halter Founder Craig Piggott following an absolutely titanic year for his agritech company.
Let’s get into it!
Something old, new, borrowed, and blue in PM's growth plan
The science sector shake-up, explained
What Trump’s $882b AI plan means for NZ
Number of people leaving New Zealand hits 'highest on record'
NBR Podcast with Simon Shepherd - Should you move to Australia?
Your weekend fuel list of what to watch, read and listen to
OpenAI launches Operator, an AI agent that performs tasks autonomously:
Thank you so much to everyone who has subscribed this week and thank you to for sticking with us as we ramp back up into full gear for 2025. Enjoy your long weekends, look after each other and we will see you next week!
Finn & the Caffeine Team
Something old, new, borrowed, and blue in PM's growth plan: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon delivered his state of the Nation speech yesterday to lay out National’s agenda to stimulate growth and it seemed to be a mix of new riffs and old classics. Hat’s off to Jo Moir at RNZ for my favorite headline of the bunch of political pieces we saw publish late yesterday and for her excellent analysis of Luxon’s plan. I particularly liked this excerpt on foreign investment but definitely read the full piece here.
(Via RNZ)
“On direct foreign investment the immediate response from the government was to create a new agency, Invest New Zealand. Putting aside the irony of a government with a laser sharp focus on reducing the bloated bureaucracy creating more of it, the details of how exactly the agency will attract that investment in the near-future was not clear.
It looked to be a slightly beefed-up NZTE, but retained all the same people that had already been tasked up until now with the job of getting overseas investors interested in New Zealand and what it had to offer.”
The science sector shake-up, explained: Judith Collins is out as Technology and Science Minister but she in one of her final acts she unveiled some sweeping changes to the sector. The seven current Crown Research Institutes will be merged into three "Public Research Organisations" with a fourth established to focus on "advanced technology". The changes come in a long awaited response to Science System Advisory Group's (SSAG) first report by Sir Peter Gluckman. The Spinoff has as excellent longer breakdown and analysis here to parse all the details.
Personally, I worry about how the stated focus of these reforms is to maximise the return govt sees from its $1.2b annual investment. NZ has long lagged behind its peers in R&D spending and I wonder if trying to squeeze more out of an already strained sector without considering more support is really the right approach.
What Trump’s $882b AI plan means for NZ: As we discussed yesterday, the 47th President has unveiled a titanic spend AI infrastructure spend of nearly a trillion dollars to boost America’s AI ambitions and help them pull ahead in the AI arms race with China. To bring it into a New Zealand context there’s a good op-ed here from Hamish Williams on the Herald which lays out the case either side for Trump’s ‘all gas no brakes’ approach to AI. Through slashing regulation and prioritising speed as Trump seems to be, the transformation of our global economy is only going to increase. Williams warns startups here will need to adjust a pace and Government needs to shift gear on its AI approach to keep us from being left behind. Read more here.
Number of people leaving New Zealand hits 'highest on record': Well, it’s not hard to see why Christopher Luxon is pushing so hard for an economic game change - Kiwis are currently heading to greener pastures at record rates. According to new figures this from Stats NZ this week, the number of people leaving New Zealand last year to live overseas reached its highest on record. Read more here.
Key numbers (via One News):
127,800 migrant departures (up 28%) in the year to November 2024. 72,900 New Zealand citizens left the country to live overseas during that period, with 56% going to Australia.
People moving to New Zealand dropped to 158,400, 32% drop from 2023.
Annual net migration gain of 30,600 — made up of a net gain of 78,500 non-New Zealand citizens and a net loss of 48,000 New Zealand citizens.
During the same period in 2023, there was a net gain of 175,100 and a net loss of 41,800.
NBR Podcast with Simon Shepherd - Should you move to Australia?: If you want to unpack exactly why so many are hopping across the ditch or you’re even considering it yourself, check out this excellent and well timed episode of the NBR Podcast with Simon Shepherd. While the Aussie brain drain is not new there is some interesting new data from recruitment company Robert Walters showing mid to senior-level managers are increasingly considering making the jump to Australia. From business people to students - what is the reason behind New Zealanders not wanting to call home, home? Listen here.
Here’s what’s on our radar. Hit us with your own recommendations.
Watch: Nosferatu is the latest from iconic director Robert Eggers (The Northman, The Witch, The Light House) and the man simply doesn’t know how to miss. A retelling of the all time horror classic, this movie manages to make vampires viscerally scary again while being astonishingly beautiful. Might be a little slow and self serious for some viewers but if you enjoyed any of his other work, chances are you’ll have a spectacular time.
📖 Read: The Siren’s Call by Chris Hayes: Okay so this one isn’t actually out until week after next but everyone should be getting this on pre-order after listening to this long form interview with the author. He offers a fascinating analysis of how attention, not money, is now driving force of our economy and politics. It’s a lesson Trump learned well and look where it got him. It’s an exceptional listen and I bet it will be an exceptional read when it launches early Feb.
Listen: Crash Course Pods: The Universe is an excellent listen for anyone currently feeling overwhelmed. I find whenever things on Earth seem too much, it helps hearing about how how insanely vast our universe is and how trivial our problems on Earth are by comparison. I also find a sure fire way to feel better when feeling down is to learn something, anything. This pod is perfect combo, with two knowledgeable and articulate hosts walking you through literally the entire timeline of our universe. You’ll feel so tiny listening to it but also strangely uplifted. Listen wherever you get yours.
OpenAI launches Operator, an AI agent that performs tasks autonomously: I know we usually leave this slot for a light drink you can have over the weekend or a fluffy piece of content but this one is important enough I felt like we had to close on it. OpenAI is launching ‘Operator’, the AI which can take control of your computer and take actions on your behalf. This represents a step change for AI adoption and I would highly recommend everyone have a read of the Tech Crunch breakdown here.
Even more than when Chat GPT launched 2 years ago, this is going to change things.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Want to get in touch with a news tip, bit of feedback or just to chat? Email hello@caffeinedaily.co. Look after yourselves this weekend and we’ll see you Monday.