13 March 2006

Internet conference gets government funding

A meeting of the international internet body ICANN in Wellington this month will receive $95,500 in government funding, Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard announced today.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a not-for-profit organisation responsible for overseeing internet infrastructure such as domain names and IP addresses.

Trevor Mallard said the funding would go to InternetNZ, the organisation that bid successfully to hold the Asia-Pacific meeting in New Zealand from March 27 to 31. InternetNZ is the delegated manager of the .nz domain name space.

"A conference of this size and significance has the potential to have major economic spin-offs for the New Zealand economy.

"We are expecting hundreds of representatives from around the world to attend the meeting, including Vint Cerf, known as the “father of the internet”. It is a very important group and includes some of the leading thinkers on internet issues.

"It presents a significant opportunity to promote New Zealand, our ICT industry and the Asia-Pacific region’s importance to the global economy."

Information Technology Minister David Cunliffe said the conference was a great chance to gain valuable knowledge of the sector.

"There are likely to be around 750 people in Wellington for the meeting so it provides New Zealand with a unique opportunity to get insights into the very latest developments in the ICT sector as well as the chance to showcase our own ICT sector."

The grant, from the Sector Initiatives Fund, will be used to contribute to the costs of hosting delegations from the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) from up to 90 countries. GAC is an ICANN committee of official government representatives responsible for advising the ICANN board on matters relating to public policy.

Background: The Sector Initiatives Fund is a grant scheme for supporting industry projects that are consistent with government economic, social and environmental objectives but that do not meet the criteria of other government programmes. Once a grant has been approved funds are paid out on the completion of agreed milestones.

ENDS

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