Matihiko Awards 2023 Living Icon Robyn Kamira with Te Hapori Matihiko co-founders Lee Timutimu and Katie Brown. Facebook / Te Hapori Matihiko
Māori tech pioneer Robyn Kamira (Te Rarawa) has received the Living Icon Award at the Matihiko Awards, celebrating Māori contribution to the digital and tech sectors, in Porirua on Friday.
The award recognises lifetime achievement in digital and tech by Māori.
"When I started in this sector in the 1990s, I started this group of Māori women in IT. There were four members. I bet you there would be a lot more today," Kamira said, accepting the award.
Kamira was presented with the award by Te Hapori Matihiko co-founders Katie Brown (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Whātua) and Lee Timutimu (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Te Rangi, Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou). The organisation hosts the awards for the community of Māori working or aspiring to work in digital and tech roles.
The founder of Pāua Interface, Kamira has been a leader and pioneer in Māori tech since the early 1990s.
She was chosen for the award from what Brown described as an "amazing list of nominees", including fellow finalists Maru Nihoniho of Metia Interactive and Digital Taniwha's Dr Warren Williams.
"All of them could have won this award," Brown said.
Before naming her as Icon, Brown said, "This winner has an exciting portfolio of high-tech projects to inspire, with social and cultural outcomes at the core".
The projects include helping create the digital strategy and information systems plan for Te Pūkenga - NZ's largest tertiary education provider, developing drone technologies and spearheading AI and mathematic modelling to identify rogue objects in airspace, platform design for the interim Māori spectrum, and creating NZ's first industry tech programme for organisations without in-house tech expertise, Brown and Timutimu said.
Kamira paid tribute to Māori tech companies paving the way for Māori in the sector.
"Minister Willie Jackson talked about, that we have 4% [Māori] in the tech sector right now, but Toi Hangarau [a state of the sector report on Māori-owned technology companies] told us something different.
"It told us that for the 72 Māori companies that we could find, they hire six times that number of Māori tech staff in those companies. Just over 22% of Māori tech staff are inside Māori companies. So that's you guys," said Kamira.
"So, I want to thank you for making that commitment - and I can see we're in good hands going forward."
