Ken Sandy

LinkedIn tells me I've been at APAC Innovator for a year (already?) and on that note we're back for another season - this time ably helmed by Sam Collins. Here he speaks with Karrina Mountfort about AI and NZ's productivity crossroads (although I always thought of it more as a hole 😅).

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I was asked for a startup State of the Nation 2025 by a few folks, so here it goes... The Headlines 📢 NSW: $80M new innovation funding (2025-26 budget) Victoria: Continuing $40M LaunchVic funding from 2024 + established ecosystem programs Queensland: $1.2B digital fund (but mostly government IT procurement) South Australia: $50M "new" VC fund (2025-26 budget) Western Australia: $50M Housing Innovation Fund + "we have iron ore money, startups can fund themselves" Australian Capital Territory: Innovation Connect grants ($10K-$30K matched funding) - no major new commitments Tasmania: "Generally there are few grants available for starting a business" (official government website) Northern Territory: Ongoing StartNT $50K Safe Notes + $30K Business Innovation Program grants NZ: Up to $4M grants continuing under MBIE (as Callaghan Innovation gets abolished) The Real Story 🧐 Only three states made significant new startup commitments in their 2025 budgets: NSW ($80M), South Australia ($50M VC fund), and Queensland ($1.2B digital fund). Victoria is coasting on its established ecosystem and previous funding commitments. WA is being refreshingly honest about not prioritising startup subsidies. The 2025 Budget Reality Check: 🥇 NSW: Finally putting serious money where their mouth is 🛳️ Victoria: Living off past investments in ecosystem building 📣Queensland: Massive headlines, minimal startup relevance 🤓 South Australia: Smartly targeted VC fund to fill gaps 💪 Western Australia: Economic confidence = no startup theatre needed 👏 Tasmania: Admirably honest about their priorities 😴 ACT/NT: Steady-state programs, no budget fireworks Bottom Line for Founders The 2025 budget cycle shows NSW is serious about catching Victoria, Queensland wants headlines more than results, and South Australia is quietly making smart moves. Victoria's strength isn't in new budget announcements—it's in the ecosystem they've already built. The trend: States are either going big (NSW, SA) or being honest about their limitations (WA, TAS). The startup support "arms race" is real, but not everyone's playing. Your move, founders. 🚀 #StartupAustralia #Innovation #Founders #Funding #support #grants #Australia

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Before we talked about matching algorithms or user experience, Yura and I had to answer a simpler question. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱? Sole trader? Partnership? Pty Ltd company? Most first-time founders hit this question early. It sounds boring, but it matters. Your structure affects how you pay tax, how much personal risk you carry, and whether you can even apply for grants or funding. Earlier I published a guide in Inside Small Business walking through the three main options for Australian startups. It includes a decision tree to help you figure out what fits your stage and goals. The short version: if you're testing a small idea solo, keep it simple. If you're working with co-founders, get clear on roles and liability early. And if you're building something that needs funding or asset protection, a Pty Ltd is usually worth the extra admin. We actually started as a partnership to keep things simple while testing the idea. Later we switched to Pty Ltd to bring people on and reduce personal risk. It meant new bank accounts, transferring assets, and some extra paperwork. A bit of a hassle, but the right move for where we were headed. If you're just starting out and stuck on this choice, the full article breaks down setup steps, costs, risks, and what to do if your plans change later. Link: https://lnkd.in/gr4bDWgR #AustralianStartups #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship

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🔋🏛️ New podcast episode: Scaling batteries is easy. Governing them well is the real challenge. In the latest episode of the German Innovators Podcast, I speak with Dominic Spooner, founder of Vaulta (Brisbane), about the policy blind spots emerging as battery deployment accelerates across Australia and globally. Battery uptake is being successfully driven by subsidies and market pull — but design, lifecycle governance, repairability, and data transparency are still lagging. That gap matters because it’s exactly where waste, safety risks, ESG leakage, and public trust failures tend to emerge. 🎙️ Key policy-relevant takeaways from the conversation: 🔁 Why “circularity” must move beyond recycling into design-for-repair, second life, and lifetime cost models 📊 How battery traceability and health data can become a neutral “source of truth” between manufacturers, consumers, integrators, and regulators 🇪🇺 What Australia is likely to inherit from the EU battery passport, right-to-repair, and lifecycle reporting frameworks 🇦🇺 Lessons from Australia’s home battery subsidy rollout: rapid deployment success — but missed opportunities for local capability and skills development 🏗️ Why public procurement may be the most powerful (and underused) lever for building sovereign capability — more so than grants or rebates alone 📐 How policy settings can unintentionally optimise for the lowest upfront cost, while externalising long-term system risk and waste For policymakers, regulators, and advisors working on energy, manufacturing, climate, or industrial strategy, this episode highlights a central tension: ➡️ How do we accelerate deployment without locking in tomorrow’s waste and capability gaps today? 🎧 Listen here: (Spotify / Apple link in comments) I’d be very interested in hearing perspectives from this community: Should future battery incentives explicitly reward repairability, traceability, and local value creation — not just installed capacity? #EnergyPolicy #BatteryPolicy #CircularEconomy #RightToRepair #IndustrialStrategy #FutureMadeInAustralia #BatteryPassport #CleanEnergy #PublicProcurement #ManufacturingPolicy #ESG #ClimatePolicy #GermanInnovatorsPodcast #Vaulta

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Australian businesses are seeing huge returns from AI in customer engagement (97% say AI is improving customer-facing operations such as support, marketing, and personalisation!). But consumers are feeling "AI fatigue." Our 2025 Twilio State of Customer Engagement Report unpacks how to bridge the gap by focusing on transparency, autonomy, and human-like personalisation. Link to the full story:

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PSA: Funding for R&D in NZ is still very much alive The Callaghan Innovation announcement earlier this year clearly caused come confusion. I know multiple early stage founders who assumed it meant R&D support had evaporated. We've just completed a successful R&D funding application for Sapiant, and the whole process was smooth and transparent - Thanks David Claridge and the Callaghan Funding Engagement team. If you’re building new tech in NZ (or applying it in a novel way), triple check what support you might quality for. You might be surprised.

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Some hopeful AI news as we continue to push the limits of what #AI can help us achieve! Australian tech entrepreneur Paul Conyngham used ChatGPT and AlphaFold protein modeling, along with $3,000 in genomic sequencing, to design a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine for his dog Rosie. The vaccine, produced by UNSW 's RNA Institute in under two months, shrank Rosie's tumor by 75% after the first injection in December 2025. Let's stay curious and keep building friends! Link to article: https://lnkd.in/e4hB_quh #cancer #aipower #feelgood #gooddog

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Congratulations to Tama Leaver and Suzanne Srdarov on their timely report "Children and Generative AI in Australia: The Big Challenges" from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. The ARC report identifies nine critical challenges that reveal a troubling pattern: AI companies design for adult users and business models, then hope children will somehow be fine. The evidence shows they're not: 🔸 Kids form emotional bonds with tools designed to seem human-like 🔸 Training data amplifies harmful biases 🔸 Privacy harvesting operates without meaningful child protections 🔸 Environmental costs disproportionately impact future generations 🔸 AI is being embedded everywhere faster than safety frameworks can keep up My core insight? These aren't just "AI issues" - they're children's rights issues. When we rush deployment without considering developmental psychology, cultural sovereignty, or environmental justice, we're making design choices that harm the most vulnerable. While not included in this report, the ARC research aligns nicely with the need for Child Rights by Design in AI development, not as an afterthought, but as an integral part of the foundation. Child Rights by Design means flipping this script entirely. Start with children's needs, development, and rights - then build the technology to serve those principles. That means: ✓ Meaningful consultation with children and families ✓ Transparent data protection impact assessments (DPIA) ✓ Genuine opt-out mechanisms ✓ Cultural and environmental safeguards ✓ Critical literacy over tool training ✓ Plain language privacy policies and community guidelines As Ferris Bueller said (sort of 😉), tech moves fast, but children's rights are non-negotiable. This report provides the roadmap we need to get AI right for kids. #AI #ethicalAI #kidtech #childrights #edtech #digitalwellbeing

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Before jumping into AI or tech, pause. Start by understanding the problem you are actually trying to solve first. AI is not the strategy. It is the enabler. If the problem, workflow, or decision is unclear, technology will only scale confusion faster.

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AI won't land in mid-sized businesses through a product launch... ...it'll land through an ecosystem, like the one I had the pleasure to send with this week! Partners, ISVs and the MYOB team all in one room, working through the practical question: Where can AI and a more connected MYOB Acumatica experience actually move the needle? The theme that kept surfacing wasn't about capability. It was about clarity. - How do we make it easier for mid-sized businesses to work out where AI is relevant to them? - How do we move from demonstrations into real applications that solve real problems? That's the job of an ecosystem. Not to push technology forward, but to pull complexity out. To translate what's possible into what's practical. Looking forward to what we build together with this amazing group of humans. Great to share the stage with you today Elisa!

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Entrepreneurs and CEOs in small to medium businesses can't afford to ignore macro trends any more. At the EtA Forum this morning Chief Economist at Judo Bank, Warren Hogan, making a strong case that: - For the last 30 years we saw great growth that helped so we didn't need to worry. - Looking ahead the dynamics across ageing populations, AI, geopolitics mean we can't rely on great tailwinds. I'm definitely thinking even more about macro now, convinced me. Pete Seligman #etaforum James Frank Jason Andrew

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What Happens When We Underfund the Future? In New Zealand, we keep hearing it: Upskill the workforce. Plug the labour gaps. Get future-ready. So we focus on trades. Tech. Agri-business. But here’s the quiet omission: We’re systematically sidelining the creative industries. https://lnkd.in/gBZAKUQh Policy decisions are reshaping vocational education — and creativity is being treated like a luxury we can’t afford. But what if it’s actually the engine we’ve been underestimating? While we pour billions into farming and freight — our creative sector is sitting on untapped potential: 🎬 Global screen co-productions 🎮 Gaming and interactive media 🎨 Cultural exports 🎭 Indigenous storytelling 🧠 Creative IP backed by AI and design thinking Unlike physical exports, these don’t drain the land or require carbon-heavy logistics. They scale through ideas, collaboration, and culture — all things we claim to value, but rarely fund. And yet, here’s the kicker: AI can replicate formats, but not meaning. It can mimic tone, but not lived truth. We keep asking “how do we compete?” But in a world where authenticity is scarce, NZ’s cultural creativity is the competitive edge. So the real question is: Why are we still treating creative work like a side hustle — when it could be a sovereign export strategy? Let’s build an economy that values more than milk and margins. Let’s fund the future we keep saying we believe in. 🌏 What would it take for NZ to truly back its creative thinkers? #creativeindustries #nzfuture #vocationaleducation #AIandidentity #economicdiversification #authenticity #planbthinking #quietbuilders

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It is really important that we keep an eye on how the sectors that we regulate are currently using AI. We'd love to hear any reactions or feedback, this is obviously a fast evolving space so these reports will necessarily need to be updated regularly!

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As a NED for a couple of Community Interest Companies (CICs), I see a huge opportunity to make AI truly accountable to social impact. Everyone in AI says it’s going to be “great for humanity” — but where do we start proving that? I think CICs are the perfect place. They’re already regulated against their declared social impact. The problem? AI compute is expensive. Most CICs don’t have a strategy, policies, or processes for taking advantage of it. Many don’t have the skills or resources to manage AI governance, data security, or the ethical implications of AI use. I believe I know how to fix that — using economies of scale to provide CICs across the UK with cheaper access to AI compute, along with the governance and data protection frameworks they need. If we can do this, we won’t just be giving CICs AI capability — we might actually be able to measure and directly link AI benefits to real-world social impact. 💬 If you’re involved with a CIC, fund social impact projects, or work in AI ethics, I’d love to connect and explore how we can make this happen. Ben Tinkler Lynn Renwick Paul Bannister #SocialImpact #CommunityInterestCompany #AIForGood #ResponsibleAI #DigitalInclusion

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Must-read. An in-depth report from Venture Insights covering Datagrid New Zealand and the #TasmanRingNetwork (developed entirely by Datagrid, with no involvement from Chorus) https://lnkd.in/e-jW9km2

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Last night's (Australian federal) budget confirmed the 50% CGT discount is going, replaced by an inflation-based system. VC funds received expanded caps, but no equivalent treatment for founders and early employees. Just a commitment to "consult on the interaction" with start-up incentives. Founders and early startup employees are essential to innovation in Australia. They take below-market salaries for the opportunity to participate in the equity upside. This decision moves Australia in the opposite direction to every comparable start-up market we compete with for talent and capital — at exactly the moment those markets are pulling further ahead. The international context matters: Singapore's zero CGT remains a standing offer to founders and investors. The UK and US have also expanded incentives.  Shared some thoughts with Amelia McGuire and Paul Smith at the AFR ahead of the announcement. https://lnkd.in/eC_cycQS

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Microsoft recently hosted a handful of Aussie CEOs in Seattle to bring them up to speed on the ways AI will disrupt the workforce. The experience seems to have triggered some signficant and urgent changes in their world views. “I don’t know what our workforce looks like in five years, but what I do know is...jobs are going to look different...I’m also pretty confident that every job will need people to have some understanding of AI.” This was the word from Telstra CEO Vicki Brady told the summit. Matt Comyn (CEO of Commonwealth Bank) described the arrival of AI as a turning point that will underpin future economic development and prosperity. “I think it’s reasonable to say...there will be differences,” Comyn said of CBA’s workforce in five years. I'm working to address this issues by developing a training course that aims to be the simplest and most effective path to AI literacy. The last Beta cohort goes live tomorrow and I'll be opening up classes for July shortly. If you work with a computer, it's time to start thinking about re-training and deciding how you want to show up in tomorrow's workforce. The early bird will get the worm with this revolution. Let's go! 👊

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