The acquisition brings automation and AI insights to help firms close books faster, cut workloads, and focus on higher-value client work.
SAN FRANCISCO, Sep. 30, 2025 — Karbon, the global leader in practice management software for accounting, bookkeeping, tax and audit firms, today announced its acquisition of Aider, a pioneer in AI-powered advisory and reporting technology. The acquisition accelerates Karbon’s vision to transform the accounting profession through AI.
Aider’s cutting-edge solution is already trusted by firms across the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand for automating time-consuming bookkeeping and advisory workflows like reconciliations and period close, while delivering real-time client insights and predictive reporting. By integrating Aider’s capabilities into Karbon, firms will gain powerful tools to eliminate repetitive work, expand advisory services, increase profitability, and automate period close.
“This is a defining moment for the future of accounting practice management,” said Mary Delaney, CEO of Karbon. “With Aider, we’re accelerating the shift from administration to automation—giving firms the ability to automate the mundane, scale without added overhead, and deliver richer advice to their clients.”
“Aider is incredibly proud to join Karbon,” said Brendan Roberts, CEO and Founder of Aider. “We share a bold vision for the future where accounting is proactive, data-driven, and deeply client-centric. Karbon is the ideal partner to scale that vision and deliver even more value to our customers.”
The acquisition will deepen the recently launched integration between the two platforms, with an AI-powered period close experience built directly into Karbon’s practice management platform. This brings firms closer to intelligent, automated operations where repeatable workflows don’t just get tracked, they get completed with confidence.
With Aider integrated into Karbon, firms will benefit from:
Automated period close with task coordination, follow-up and inline editing of uncategorized transactions with the most popular general ledgers
AI-generated management reports featuring real-time insights, KPIs, and executive commentary
An AI-powered advisory assistant for data analytics, client meeting preparation, and internal upskilling
Firm-wide dashboards that surface proactive advisory opportunities across the client base
AI agents that execute tasks and streamline workflows (coming soon)
“Our research shows that firms using AI at an advanced level are saving up to 40 hours per employee each month,” added Delaney. “With Aider, we’re helping firms reclaim even more time to reinvest in high-value client work alongside stronger work-life balance for their team members.”
The acquisition of Aider builds on Karbon’s recent innovations—including automated tax workflows, Karbon for Clients, and new partner integrations—and reinforces Karbon’s position as the backbone of AI-powered accounting firms.
About KarbonKarbon, a global leader in practice management software for accounting firms, provides an award-winning, collaborative cloud platform focused on streamlining work and communications. Karbon drives unprecedented value for its customers evidenced by its #1 ranking on G2 and customer-reported savings of 18.5 hours per week per employee. Founded in 2014, Karbon has customers in 45 countries with employees across the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines. Karbon is well-funded and backed by Tidemark, Five Elms, and Blackbird.
About AiderAider is an AI-powered advisory platform designed for modern accounting and bookkeeping firms. Founded in New Zealand in 2018, Aider delivers intelligent software solutions that turn raw accounting data into actionable insights. Its technology automates key workflows such as period close and reporting, enabling firms to shift from manual processes to strategic advisory at scale.
Source: https://www.aider.ai/
DoorDash has joined the Air New Zealand Airpoints™ programme, and the pair are celebrating the collaboration with a world-first DoorDash delivery
This week, Air New Zealand and DoorDash turned the airline’s flagship New York–Auckland route into the stage for the ultimate Dash, delivering iconic Levain Bakery cookies from Manhattan’s Upper West Side all the way to Aotearoa.
The 14,000-kilometre global dash marks the start of the exciting partnership. From today DoorDash members can now earn one Airpoints Dollar™ for every $60 spent on DoorDash, from mid-week dinners to late-night dessert runs.
Air New Zealand General Manager Loyalty Alex Larsen says the world-first dash reflects the ambition of the partnership.
“We wanted to do something bold to launch this partnership, and a global dash from New York to New Zealand felt like the perfect way to show it. At Air New Zealand, we’ll always go the extra mile for our customers. By partnering with DoorDash, our Airpoints members can now turn everyday food deliveries into travel rewards, bringing them one step closer to their next adventure – whether that’s a quick trip to Wellington or a once-in-a-lifetime journey to New York.”
DoorDash New Zealand General Manager Bradley Thomas says the partnership reflects DoorDash’s focus on making everyday life easier and more rewarding. “It gives New Zealanders even greater value from the meals and essentials they already enjoy - with every eligible order from weekly essentials to weekend treats now earning Airpoints Dollars.”
Following the special celebratory delivery from New York to Auckland, Kiwi will have the chance to taste the world-famous Levain cookies this Thursday at Commercial Bay, Auckland. From 11am to 3pm, Airpoints members who show they’ve added their Airpoints number to their DoorDash account can pick up a Levain cookie as part of the celebration, while stocks last.
Air New Zealand and DoorDash have proven that when it comes to rewarding Kiwi, the sky is not the limit.
With more than 4.8 million members, Airpoints™ is one of New Zealand’s most valuable and widely used loyalty programmes. From groceries and fuel to investments and travel, members can now earn Airpoints Dollars™ in more parts of their everyday lives than ever before.
Editor’s note: This was a one-off delivery to celebrate the launch of the partnership. Levain cookies will only be available at the Commercial Bay giveaway event on Thursday 11am–3pm, strictly while stocks last.
You can view and download the global dash here
Source: www.airnz.co.nz
Move benefits students and creates a new global leader in creative tech education
Media Design School (MDS) has joined Strayer, a university based in the United States, becoming Media Design School at Strayer.
This exciting move follows regulatory approvals from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and Strayer’s accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education* (MSCHE).
Established in New Zealand in 1998, MDS has grown from an early leader in developing web and eCommerce talent to a preeminent tech school with deep industry and employer relationships, dedicated to the creative sector including gaming, animation and visual effects.
Strayer, headquartered in Washington, D.C., has a legacy of delivering flexible, student-focused education that spans over 130 years.
With MDS as part of the Strayer family, we’re able to expand our portfolio in technology and creative arts, serve more learners globally and grow our alumni community,” said Dr. Toni Farmer-Thompson, President of Strayer. “Strayer and MDS share a strong commitment to innovation, preparing students for the future and providing new opportunities for students, alumni and faculty.”
As part of Strayer, MDS is tapping into new resources, international networks and future-focused tools that will help it strengthen its impact and potentially expand to new locations.
By joining Strayer, students will maintain the benefits of a globally recognised creative tech school in New Zealand while gaining access to new collaborations and educational pathways through the Strayer network,” said Steve Dorner, Executive Dean of Media Design School. “While MDS’s name has changed, the experience provided and recognition that MDS students represent the very best talent in the world, will remain the same.”
Going forward, Strayer’s leadership team will work closely with MDS faculty and staff to ensure a successful transition, and to create a much greater force in educating future leaders in technology, creative and design fields.
* MSCHE is recognised by the U.S. Secretary of Education to conduct accreditation and pre-accreditation (candidate status) activities for institutions of higher education including distance, correspondence education, and direct assessment programs offered at those institutions. Strayer does not meet all of the characteristics and roles of universities as defined in the Education and Training Act 2020. Media Design School at Strayer remains a New Zealand Private Training Establishment (PTE).
Source: https://www.mediadesignschool.com/
Windcave took out the Supreme award at last night’s 26th AmCham-DHL Express Success & Innovation Awards for companies doing business with the USA.
Founded in New Zealand in 1999, Windcave has consistently led the way in the innovation of payment technology. Today, the company’s footprint extends across over 40 countries and supported by a dedicated team of over 400 experts. Windcave specialises in various payment solutions - from in-store and unattended to online transactions. The Judges were particularly impressed by Windcave’s approach to innovation and delivery of quality solutions, and the ambition demonstrated through the growth of their business in the United States.
All winners received an airfare to anywhere in the USA on United Airlines, and the supreme winner also receives US$5,000 of advisory services from Sweeney Vesty, introductions to venture capitalists, economic development agencies in the USA as well as to other valuable connections. Over the last twenty-five years our sponsors have provided over $400,000 worth of prizes to our award winners.
Selina Deadman, Vice President, Commercial, DHL Express, who announced the Supreme Winner, said: “Windcave NZ has built a strong reputation as an innovator, with their commitment to continuous improvement driving their success. Their impressive expansion into the US market highlights the strength of their insights and strategy. DHL is proud to congratulate them on this well-deserved award."
The Hon Todd McClay, Minister for Trade & Investment spoke at the dinner about his recent US visit and the work the government is doing to maintain a strong relationship with the USA in spite of the recently introduced tariffs.
Other winners included specialists in servicing aircraft engines; a plant-based, non-synthetic dietary supplement designed for appetite and weight management; travel; investment in one of New Zealand’s leading crime prevention companies; and a charity (Kiwibots) that helps students to learn science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.
The award winners: Exporter of the Year to the USA – Technology Windcave
Exporter of the Year to the USA – Services Pratt & Whitney Air New Zealand Services t/a Christchurch Engine Centre
Exporter of the Year to the USA - Consumer Goods Calocurb Ltd Investor of the Year to or from the USA Axon Enterprise Inc for investment in Auror Bilateral Connections with the USA Rob Coneybeer for the Far Out Foundation
Contribution to Tourism with the USA Travel USA Ltd
Social Impact with the USA The NZ Robotics Charitable Trust Inc/Kiwibots
Supreme winner - Windcave.
The AmCham Supporter of the Year – ANZ Bank
In addition to AmCham, DHL Express, United Airlines, the awards are supported by: ANZ Bank, Auckland International Airport, Insprie Labs, Ironside McDonald Intellectual Property, Lockheed Martin New Zealand and SweeneyVesty. Media supporter - The Business. Wine sponsor - Constellation Brands Event Manager and sponsor - Event Revolution
Previous winners of the Supreme Award have included Peace Software; Airways Corporation; HumanWare; Tenon; Orion Health; Zeacom; SMI Group; Fonterra; Pratt & Whitney Air New Zealand Services t/a Christchurch Engine Centre; Buckley Systems; Greenshell New Zealand; Vista Entertainment; Fisher & Paykel Healthcare; Douglas Pharmaceuticals, Zespri International; Tourism Holdings; Peter Beck, Seequent Ltd, Oritain Global, Auror Ltd and Toku Eyes.
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford will head to the United States this week to lead a delegation of immigration and investment private sector participants to promote our Active Investor Plus visa, with events hosted by Invest NZ who have organised the delegation.
“Since our changes were implemented on 1 April, the Active investor Plus visa has generated significant new proposed investment in New Zealand of over $1 billion, with US investors submitting the most applications.
“Heading to the US will provide an opportunity to meet with potential investors who want to know more about what New Zealand has to offer.
“We’ve said that New Zealand is open for business, and investor migrants are clearly attracted to our growing reputation as a safe, pro-business, high-potential economy.
“Attracting investment to New Zealand is crucial to boosting economic growth. It will also support our businesses to expand, hire and grow – and that means more opportunities for New Zealanders.
“It’s fantastic to see this response so far. We welcome investors’ capital, knowledge, contribution to New Zealand’s economic growth, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to meet with them.”
The delegation will travel to meet potential investors in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco at events hosted by Invest NZ.
Minister Stanford will travel to the United States on 15 September and return on 21 September.
Source: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Sept 11th, 2025 – Dawn Aerospace has successfully flown the Aurora spaceplane carrying California Polytechnic State University’s student-built payload, reaching Mach 0.79 and an altitude of 37,000 feet.
This flight on June 24th—Aurora’s first from Dawn’s newly operational launch facility at Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre—carried Cal Poly’s payload, making it the first U.S. student-built experiment to fly aboard Aurora and marking a major milestone for university-led research in reusable spaceplane development.
“This mission is putting student-built hardware on the frontlines of aerospace innovation,” said Dr. Kurt Colvin, Cal Poly professor and payload advisor. “Working with a next-gen spaceplane like Aurora gave our team firsthand experience integrating a payload for a reusable commercial spaceplane — a paradigm shift from traditional expendable rocket launches.”
Cal Poly’s payload was designed to test whether student-built hardware could withstand the rigors of high-altitude, spaceflight-like environments. Using a modified data system from Bolder Flight Systems, the mission focused on proving that the team could build and operate a payload ready to integrate with a commercial spaceplane. Just as importantly, it served as a training mission—giving students hands-on experience and laying the groundwork for future Cal Poly launches from the upcoming Paso Robles, California Spaceport.
Aurora’s horizontal launch architecture — taking off and landing like a conventional aircraft — offers unparalleled benefits for academic institutions:
Rapid, repeatable operations enabled by true reusability, cutting turnaround time from months to days.
Dramatically lower infrastructure costs by eliminating the need for costly vertical launch pads and fixed facilities.
Expanded university access through commercial partnerships that open new pathways for research and innovation.
This mission builds on Dawn’s recently announced partnership with the State of Oklahoma and the Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics (formerly Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority), to bring the Aurora spaceplane to the Oklahoma Air & Space Port in Burns Flat—operations set to begin with first flights in 2027. This collaboration underscores a major leap forward in scaling reusable suborbital spaceflight across the United States with operations at the Oklahoma Air & Space Port set to extend Aurora’s flight profile to 338,000 ft (100 km). By teaming with Cal Poly, Dawn is demonstrating how academic institutions can help lead this transformation while highlighting the opportunity for U.S. research units to leverage Oklahoma’s forward‑looking spaceport as a national hub for innovation and direct access to space.
“Flying on Aurora is of serious strategic importance,” said Colvin. “It’s hands-on access to the future of commercial spaceflight.”
This mission underscores Cal Poly’s expanding leadership in space research — spanning microgravity pharmaceutical development, regenerative medicine, space health, advanced materials testing, and defense readiness. With reusable operations and fast turnaround, Aurora enables iterative development cycles that would be impractical with traditional rockets — accelerating innovation across industries. By providing recoverable payloads and real-world testing environments, Aurora helps billion-dollar sectors such as biotech, semiconductors, and national security iterate faster and more cost-effectively.
“Aurora is the perfect tool for students to not only learn the theories of aerospace, but also design, build, qualify, and operate in the real world,” said James Powell, Spaceplane Chief Engineer and Co-founder. “Because we recover the payload, customers gain deeper insight into performance and can more easily modify and upgrade for future flights.”
As the pharmaceutical industry increasingly looks to space for breakthroughs — like those planned for the upcoming Starlab space station, expected to launch on SpaceX — Cal Poly is ensuring its students are trained on platforms that keep their research at the frontier.
About Dawn Aerospace
Dawn Aerospace, founded in 2017, is developing the fastest and highest-flying aircraft ever to take off from a runway. Their spaceplane Aurora combines the extreme performance of rocket propulsion with the reusability of conventional airplanes to enable high-frequency, low-cost access to high altitudes and space. In 2024 its flagship aircraft, the Mk-II Aurora spaceplane, broke the sound barrier (Mach 1.12) climbing to 82,500 feet, and set a record for the fastest climb to 20 kilometers (65,600 feet).
In July 2025, Dawn Scout Space flew a SDA payload onboard Aurora also at supersonic speeds. Dawn Aerospace is set to deliver its next-gen Aurora in 2027 to Oklahoma Spaceport, which will fly speeds up to Mach 3.5 (2,270 mph) and altitudes up to 100 km (328,000 ft).
In addition to its spaceplane program, Dawn Aerospace is a leading provider of propulsion systems for satellite developers, with its technology currently on 38 operational satellites.
https://www.dawnaerospace.com/
NZ Post has resumed most parcel sending services to the United States and US territories, including gift sending for personal customers as well as full services for most businesses.
NZ Post General Manager of Export and International Solutions, Jared Handcock, says "We know how important it is for our customers to stay connected with friends, family and customers in the US. We’ve worked quickly to make the necessary changes to meet new customs requirements and get services moving again."
Personal sending: gifts can be sent with digital customs forms
Gift sending to the US has resumed today in selected stores, using digital customs forms. Paper customs forms will only be accepted for letters and documents with no commercial value.
Gifts under NZD $150 can be sent via Economy, Courier or Express without being subject to taxes and duties, when using a digital customs form. Items over this value, or items which are not gifts, must be sent using our Express service and any duties and taxes will apply and be charged to the receiver.
Customers will be asked to provide more detailed item descriptions and contact information for the sender and receiver when completing the digital customs form, to meet US customs requirements.
Business sending: services resume with simplified customs process
Most businesses can now also send to the US, with Economy, Economy Tracked, Economy Plus, Courier and Express services. These are now available with “Delivered Duty Paid” for on-account NZ Post business customers, allowing the sender to cover duties and taxes. This is in addition to our new Courier Select_US for business senders, as announced last week.
To meet US customs requirements, business senders will need to provide more detailed information and use electronic labelling. It’s important that all senders refer to the new requirements for sending items to the United States. Please visit our website at nzpost.co.nz/international-delivery-updates.
We're continuing work to update our other online tools which will enable all business customers to resume sending, and personal senders to send all items, not just gifts.
“We know how important this is for our customers, and we are very happy to see the majority of US sending back up and running.” says Handcock.
www.nzpost.co.nz
AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region gives customers more choice to run workloads and securely store their content in New Zealand while serving end users with even lower latency
Amazon plans to invest more than NZ$7.5 billion and support an average of more than 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs annually in New Zealand, adding approximately NZ$10.8 billion to New Zealand’s GDP
Active AWS customers in New Zealand include AMP New Zealand, Kiwibank, Ministry of Transport, New Zealand Post, One New Zealand, TVNZ, University of Auckland, Wellington City Council, Xero, and more
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced the launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region. The new AWS Region will give developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as financial services, retail, education, government, and nonprofit organizations, greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in New Zealand. As part of its long-term commitment, Amazon is planning to invest more than NZ$7.5 billion in New Zealand to support the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of its data centers in the country. For more information about AWS Global Infrastructure, visit aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure.
"The new AWS Region in New Zealand will help serve the growing demand for cloud services across the country and empower organizations of all sizes to accelerate their digital transformation," said Prasad Kalyanaraman, vice president of Infrastructure Services at AWS. "With this launch, businesses can now leverage advanced AWS technologies, from core cloud capabilities to artificial intelligence and machine learning, all while meeting local data residency requirements. By investing in New Zealand's digital infrastructure, we're proud to support the country's economic growth, foster innovation, and help position it as a technology hub in the Asia Pacific region."
“The launch of the AWS Region in New Zealand is an exciting moment. This investment in digital infrastructure and Amazon’s commitment to digital skills can accelerate New Zealand technology businesses and help New Zealanders to move into highly skilled, secure, and well-paid technology jobs—which exist right across the economy, from tech companies to various sectors including agriculture, finance, retail, professional services, government, and many more,” said Graeme Muller, CEO at NZTech.
The AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region consists of three Availability Zones at launch, giving AWS 120 Availability Zones across 38 AWS Regions globally.
With today’s announcement, AWS has plans for 10 more Availability Zones and three more AWS Regions in Chile, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
The AWS Region in New Zealand is sovereign-by-design, just as the AWS cloud has been since day one.
AWS offers the broadest and deepest portfolio of services, including analytics, compute, content delivery, database, generative AI, machine learning, networking, storage, and other cloud technologies.
To support the growth in cloud adoption across Asia Pacific, Amazon continues to invest in upskilling students, local developers and technical professionals, nontechnical professionals, and the next generation of IT leaders in New Zealand through offerings like AWS Academy, AWS Educate, and AWS Skill Builder. Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the New Zealand government, Amazon has committed to train 100,000 people in New Zealand in cloud skills and has already provided training to more than 50,000 individuals. As part of its commitment to contribute to the development of digital skills, AWS will hire and develop additional local personnel to operate and support the new AWS Region in New Zealand.
Organizations in New Zealand that choose AWS to run their workloads include AMP New Zealand, AsureQuality, Contact Energy, Education Perfect, Foodstuffs South Island, Halter, Kiwibank, MATTR, Mercury NZ, Les Mills, Ministry of Transport, Mitre 10 New Zealand, New Zealand Post, One New Zealand, Sharesies, Steel & Tube Holdings, Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand, TradeMe, TVNZ, University of Auckland, Vector, Wellington City Council, Xero, and more.
AWS Partners in New Zealand include Accenture, Arcanum, CustomD, CyberCX, Datacom, Deloitte, The Instillery, Lancom, MongoDB, Westcon-Comstor, and more. For the full list of AWS Partners, visit aws.amazon.com/partners.
Amazon is committed to becoming a more sustainable business and reaching net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040 as part of The Climate Pledge. Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge and became its first signatory in 2019.
The AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region will be underpinned by renewable energy from day one, supported by a long-term project with Mercury NZ for the Turitea South wind farm. This project supports the development of new renewable energy capacity in New Zealand and advances Amazon’s sustainability goals. The partnership with Mercury NZ, an AWS customer, demonstrates how digitalization and decarbonization can advance together to support a sustainable future for New Zealand.
Amazon investment in New Zealand
The AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region is the latest Amazon investment in New Zealand to provide customers with advanced and secure cloud technologies.
In 2016, AWS enhanced New Zealand’s connectivity to the global AWS network by establishing diverse, high-capacity subsea cable connections, improving network reliability and performance for customers.
In 2020, AWS launched two Amazon CloudFront edge locations in Auckland. Amazon CloudFront is a highly secure and programmable content delivery network that accelerates the delivery of data, videos, applications, and APIs to users worldwide with low latency and high transfer speeds.
In 2023, AWS established an AWS Direct Connect location in Auckland, allowing customers to establish private connectivity between AWS and their data center, office, or colocation environment.
In 2023, AWS expanded its infrastructure footprint in New Zealand with the launch of an AWS Local Zones location in Auckland. AWS Local Zones are a type of AWS infrastructure deployment that places compute, storage, database, and other select services closer to large populations, industry, and IT centers, enabling customers to deliver applications that require single-digit millisecond latency to end users.
Amazon estimates the ongoing operation of the new AWS Region will add approximately NZ$10.8 billion to New Zealand’s gross domestic product (GDP) and support an average of more than 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs, including facility maintenance, engineering, telecommunications, and others, at external businesses annually.
Secure, reliable, and energy-efficient cloud infrastructure
AWS Regions consist of Availability Zones that place infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations. Availability Zones are located far enough from each other to support customers’ business continuity, but near enough to provide low latency for high availability applications that use multiple Availability Zones. Each Availability Zone has independent power, cooling, and physical security, and is connected through redundant, ultra-low-latency networks. AWS customers focused on high availability can design their applications to run in multiple Availability Zones to achieve even greater fault tolerance.
AWS is constantly working on ways to increase the energy efficiency of its data centers—optimizing data center design, investing in purpose-built chips, and innovating with new cooling technologies. A report by Accenture, commissioned by AWS, estimates AWS infrastructure is up to 4.1 times more efficient than on-premises, and when workloads are optimized on AWS, the associated carbon footprint can be reduced by up to 99%. For more information about AWS sustainability efforts, visit aws.amazon.com/about-aws/sustainability.
The AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region will enable customers with data residency preferences or requirements to store their content securely in New Zealand, enable customers to achieve even lower latency, and serve demand for cloud services across Asia Pacific. Customers from startups to enterprises to government organizations and nonprofits will be able to use advanced technologies from the world’s leading cloud provider to drive innovation, reduce costs, and accelerate transformation.
About Amazon Web Services
Since 2006, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any workload, and it now has more than 240 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, media, and application development, deployment, and management from 120 Availability Zones within 38 geographic regions, with announced plans for 10 more Availability Zones and three more AWS Regions in Chile, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
Amazon.com, Inc. Media Hotline Amazon-pr@amazon.com www.amazon.com/pr
Source: Amazon.com, Inc.
Arizona is central to US security interests. It is a rising economic powerhouse that is strategically positioned between two of the world’s largest economies California (fifth), and Mexico (twelfth), providing easy access to consumers (86 million+ within a one-day trucking radius), labour (skilled and unskilled), and capital. Arizona benefited disproportionately from Biden-era industrial policy initiatives (especially the CHIPs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act). Arizona’s international trade flows increased 12% in 2024 to over NZ$56.33 billion, compared to average export growth of just 2% in other US states.
Key industries include defence, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare. Following TSMC’s March 2025 announcement of a further $100 billion investment, Arizona has attracted $NZ$359 billion+ investment into the semiconductor industry - the highest anywhere in the US.
Read report
You can view the complete list of market reports published to date here: www.mfat.govt.nz/market-reports
The world’s ability to forecast extreme weather events will be extended and enhanced with a $12m NZ Government grant to Te Whai Ao — Dodd-Walls Centre researchers in photonic and quantum technologies.
The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Endeavour funding announced today by Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti, comes just in time as NASA’s EOS-Aura satellite runs out of fuel in 2026. The grant means a quarter of a century of uninterrupted space-based climate monitoring will be continued, and cutting-edge space-ready photonic technologies will be advanced.
Team lead, Dodd-Walls Centre Principal Investigator, Professor Harald Schwefel, says the move will preserve a key environmental data series that forecasters and climate scientists are very concerned about losing.
“We estimate the public and private global costs of its loss could be greater than $1B per annum and tens of millions of dollars for New Zealand,” he says. “It is difficult to even imagine the true global costs of loss of this data. For New Zealand alone, the value of our forecast system is of the order of a billion dollars per annum and the accuracy of the forecasts from short-term weather to long-term climate is critical”, he says.
The NASA satellite detects the faint microwave/THz signal of climate gases from the earth’s atmosphere, including above Antarctica during polar winters. This is when other satellites can’t operate due to the lack of light. While in general, the Ozone Hole has been recovering, some of the largest recorded holes have formed in the last decade. Scientists are only just beginning to understand how poorly information about climate gases is being captured in climate models and how their interactions affect local weather
Despite the risk to global infrastructure and human life without the EOS-Aura satellite, there are no follow-up missions with this capability planned by other countries, due to the prohibitive costs.
Kiwi Ingenuity
Professor Schwefel says the research programme provides an amazing “tech-in-a box” alternative to the giant NASA satellite.
“Integrating NZ’s capabilities in quantum technology, photonics and atmospheric science with innovations in the NZ aerospace industry, our device will cost less, be more compact, more energy efficient, and detect the wide range of atmospheric gases that the previous satellite did,” Dr Schwefel says.
The team, led by experts in photonics and atmospheric science at the University of Otago, is building critical capability for space-based climate monitoring with next generation photonics. Together withindustry partners such as Paihau–Robinson Research Institute and Earth Science New Zealand as well as international counterparts from the United States, Finland, Australia and Spain, the group is using a technique called quantum-inspired non-linear frequency conversion.
A previous MBIE Smart Ideas grant enabled them to convert relevant microwave/THz radiation frequencies into the optical domain. This meant they could launch very compact, energy-efficient radiometers (radiation measurement devices) on low-cost CubeSats.
Now they will be able to develop the device to improve its sensitivity and to measure a wider range of gases. They will explore the use of Rydberg atoms - enormous, human-made atoms which are highly sensitive to external electric and magnetic fields. They plan to prove the device using high altitude balloons launched with the help of Kea Aerospace. Then they will develop a space-ready payload to fit into a CubeSat for ongoing measurement.
Economic Value
Professor Schwefel says as well as using the information on atmospheric gases to improve forecasts of extreme weather events, the grant will have far-reaching economic benefits.
“This will create opportunities for new commercial enterprises and new precision engineering outputs. It will also grow New Zealand’s precision instruments and aerospace industries. The photonic technology alone provides a platform for other high-value applications from quantum networks to breath analysis and spectroscopy,” he says.
Te Whai Ao – Dodd-Walls Director, Professor Frédérique Vanholsbeeck backs that view.
“A large proportion of our spin-out companies got their start with a Smart Ideas grant. Both the Smart Ideas and the MBIE Endeavour Funds have provided a pathway to commercial success in high-value areas which the private sector wouldn’t risk. This project is a real example of how years of dedicated research can culminate in significant business opportunities,” she says.
Background
The project team is led out of the University of Otago, with key individuals placed at the Earth Science New Zealand (formerly NIWA/MetService), Paihau-Robinson Research Institute, and the Universities of Auckland, Canterbury, and Waikato. Key international partnerships include NASA/JPL, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, ANCDF Canberra, UC3MMadrid, and Colorado School of Mines, USA. Key industry partners are Kea Aerospace, Whitika-LuxFidelity and Shamrock Industries. Community engagement will be led by Tūhura Otago Museum and Aerospace NZ.
Source: https://www.doddwalls.ac.nz/
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