I took part this morning in a strategy session for the Waipara Valley. The session pulled together tourism, viticultural, local government and local resident interests.
Broadly speaking we are trying to create a body with an all-encompassing view of development in the valley – that thinks and acts at a high level strategic space and that thinks with a long term vision.
On a micro scale we are doing what I believe NZ needs to do on a macroeconomic level. We need to pull together representatives from central and local government, different business groups, educational institutions, societal stakeholders and others to build a vision and a plan towards achieving sustainable and viable growth for this country.
The three year electoral cycle is a barrier to this sort of planning and that is why a high level group that can carry a vision from one electoral cycle to the next is the way of doing these things.
I’ll report more on the Waipara project as things develop.
Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. 