At Techweek26, Pūhoro rangatahi, alumni and CE Kemp Reweti shared how Māori are shaping Aotearoa's digital future. They highlighted the importance of ensuring rangatahi Māori are not only part of the future workforce, but leading it.
This article was originally published by Techweek.
The second part of Te Ao Tūroa: Digital Futures, Māori Foundations, hosted by Tech New Zealand and Tū Ātea at Parliament, shifted the focus from systems to people. Because the panel made one thing clear: policy, governance, infrastructure and markets don’t matter if rangatahi cannot see a pathway into the sector.
If we build digital futures without rangatahi Māori in them, we risk building for someone else’s mokopuna.
The Pūhoro STEMM Academy showcase brought that truth to life through three voices:
Maxi shared her journey as a Year 13 student who joined Pūhoro in Year 11. Through weekly sessions and wānanga, she experienced a world where STEM and te reo Māori sit together naturally.
She spoke about opportunities she accessed without cost barriers, including a Defence Force camp that opened her eyes to technical pathways, and speaking at awards events that built her confidence and helped her step into leadership.
Maxi also highlighted the practical role of technology in supporting rangatahi learning. Through digital study tools, she could keep up with NCEA when leadership responsibilities pulled her out of class, and she noted how those options can support students who miss learning time due to work, sport, or whānau responsibilities.
Her message was simple and powerful: Māori do not just fit into the tech sector. We have something unique to offer it. Whakapapa teaches systems thinking. Kaitiakitanga brings responsibility and ethics into innovation. With the right support and spaces, Māori will thrive in STEM and beyond.
Norrissalee spoke from the perspective of someone who has walked the full pathway. She joined Pūhoro in 2018, went on to study environmental science with geospatial and biodiversity minors, and completed internships across restoration ecology, molecular biology, and then into the unfamiliar world of policy and telecommunications at Tū Ātea.
That “unfamiliar world” became a turning point. She described learning about radio spectrum as an “hour in the sky,” invisible infrastructure that makes phones, Wi-Fi, radio, emergency services and digital systems work.
Her biggest shift was realising that technology is never only about technology. It is about people, equity, access and decision making. Who gets access. Who gets left behind. Who gets to decide. Who benefits.
For Māori communities, especially rural whānau, those questions matter deeply. Norrissalee’s message was that Māori must be part of these conversations from the beginning, because equitable outcomes cannot be retrofitted.
She described Pūhoro not as a programme, but as a pipeline. One that starts in kura, builds confidence and capability, then continues through tertiary, internships and into industry, with relationships that don’t end at graduation.
She also spoke about retention. Aotearoa has talented rangatahi, but too often they do not see belonging or long-term pathways here. Partnerships that invest in people and create real entry points change that.
Kemp framed Pūhoro as a long-term, longitudinal approach to capability building. What began in 2016 with 97 rangatahi has grown to more than 4,000 rangatahi across 15 regions, with a 16th region coming.
He grounded the work in demographics and reality. Māori are a structurally youthful population. A growing share of Aotearoa’s future workforce will be Māori and more diverse. At the same time, the economy is moving towards higher-skill, STEM-enabled work.
Kemp also offered a deeper challenge. In an era where information becomes abundant and increasingly automated, what becomes more valuable is not just knowledge, but wisdom. Mātauranga Māori brings knowledge grounded in whakapapa, relationships, intergenerational responsibility and lived experience here in Aotearoa. The future belongs to those who can apply judgement, values, tikanga and purpose alongside technology.
He shared examples of rangatahi shifting aspirations and accessing opportunities they had never imagined, from engineering pathways through to advanced research. The thread across each story was the same. When rangatahi are given real exposure, real support, and real belief, their trajectories change.
The panel spoke about Māori-led systems, infrastructure and sovereignty. The Pūhoro showcase showed the human side of that vision, in real time.
Digital futures are already here. The question is whether Māori are shaping them, and whether rangatahi Māori can see themselves in the work, stay in the work, and lead the work.
At Parliament House, the answer felt visible — in people, in pathways, and in partnership.
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