Pūhoro has been recognised by New Zealand's technology leaders after winning the inaugural Innovation for Impact and Purpose Award at the prestigious New Zealand CIO Innovation Awards.

Sponsored by Tech New Zealand, the award category celebrates organisations using technology to create meaningful social, environmental, community and economic impact. Presenting the award on behalf of Tech New Zealand, Yvonne Gill said the finalists, demonstrated that purposeful innovation is not just about technology itself, but who gets to access it and the impact it creates for communities.

The judges acknowledged Pūhoro for its culturally grounded approach to empowering rangatahi in technology. They highlighted the organisation's ability to create clear pathways into tertiary education and future technology careers, delivering meaningful social impact for communities across Aotearoa.

For Pūhoro Chief Executive Kemp Reweti, the recognition belongs not to the organisation itself but to the rangatahi, whānau and communities we serve at the heart of the kaupapa.

"Pūhoro STEMM was born out of a critical need. We refused to accept the underrepresentation of Māori within STEMM industries and created this kaupapa to lift and empower rangatahi Māori through science, technology, engineering, mathematics and mātauranga Māori."

Established in 2016 with just 97 rangatahi, Pūhoro has grown into a nationwide movement, currently supporting more than 3,000 rangatahi across Aotearoa. Over the past decade, Pūhoro has evolved its programmes, introducing rangatahi to emerging technologies through initiatives such as  coding, blockchain, robotics, digital twinning and other digitally enabled learning experiences.

While technology has helped scale Pūhoro's impact, Kemp emphasises how the motivation has always been to leverage technology in empowering ways for rangatahi.

"The power of technology has enabled us to magnify Indigenous voices, given us the ability to scale our model, and strengthened our ability to equip rangatahi in both mātauranga Māori and Western science."

"But the real hero isn't the technological foundation that has enabled us to innovate over the last decade. The real hero is our rangatahi."

As more rangatahi pursue pathways into STEMM, they are shaping a more diverse, inclusive and future-ready workforce grounded in their  identity. Through partnerships with government, industry, education providers, iwi and philanthropic organisations, Pūhoro continues to create opportunities that many rangatahi might otherwise never have access to. 

The award also recognises the collective effort behind Pūhoro's success.

Accepting the award on behalf of the organisation, Kemp acknowledged the commitment of Pūhoro staff, the Trust Board, partners, schools, whānau and, most importantly, the thousands of rangatahi who continue to inspire Pūhoro’s work every day.

"We humbly accept this award on behalf of our rangatahi and the whānau we serve. We also accept it on behalf of our Pūhoro staff, who labour day in and day out to support those rangatahi, and our Pūhoro Trust Board which continues to strategically guide our waka forward."

The recognition marks another significant milestone in Pūhoro's ten-year journey and reinforces the growing national recognition of Pūhoro as a leading pipeline and capability development platform in STEMM for Aotearoa, New Zealand. Reflecting on the future, Kemp said Pūhoro's greatest achievements are still to come.

"As we walk alongside our rangatahi and they lead us forward in power, one thing is for sure – the best is yet to come."

A sincere thank you to Tech New Zealand for sponsoring the Innovation for Impact and Purpose Award, and warm congratulations to Tech New Zealand Chief Executive Graeme Muller for receiving the Outstanding Contribution to Technology and Business Award. Pūhoro would also like to acknowledge and thank the teams at Brightstar and Ecosystm for hosting the New Zealand CIO Innovation Summit & Awards.

‍