Published on the 09/05/2011 | Written by Newsdesk

The local high-tech industry is pulling out all the stops to make the most of the international attention set to be generated by the 2011 Rugby World Cup…

The NZICT Group, which represents hundreds of companies in the New Zealand high-tech sector, is planning a series of events around the country during the Ruby World Cup to showcase New Zealand’s technological capabilities and innovation.

Among these will be the Rutherford Innovation Showcase, which will demonstrate a range of home-grown innovative technologies and services in order to raise global awareness and create opportunities for companies in the high-tech industry. Within this showcase will be an inbound China Investment and Trade event, which will build on relationships forged with Chinese companies during the ICT Trade mission to China last year.

NZICT is also planning to display New Zealand’s software, geo-spatial, digital content and robotics capabilities by hosting the Robotics World Cup from October 11-13.

The Auckland event will include Team MESS1 from Massey University’s School of Engineering and Advanced Technology Albany campus, who recently took out the VEX College Championships and the Supreme Excellence Award in the US. The final was featured on ESPN (watch the video here).

As part of this, NZICT Group and Massey University will also play host to a collection of life-size robots, some of which will compete in a goal kicking competitions against human counterparts at venues around the country.

Invitations are currently being issued internationally to interested investors, distributors and customers.

See below for a full list of dates.

The Rutherford Innovation Showcase

Thursday, 8 September: Canterbury Software Summit, Christchurch

Thursday, 15 Sept and Friday, 16 Sept: China Investment and Trade, Auckland

Wed, 21 Sept; Thu, 22 Sept and Fri, 23 Sept: SKA Research and Industry Forums, Wellington

Thursday, 22 Sept: Geospatial Forum, Wellington

Thursday, 22 Sept: Digital Content Forum, Wellington

Friday, 23 Sept: Public Sector Forum, Wellington

Wednesday, 28 Sept: Local Government Forum, Auckland

Sunday, 18 Sept to Friday, 23 Sept: Peak Performance (Human Technologies), Dunedin

Thursday, 29 Sept: Wireless Forum, Auckland

Thursday, 29 Sept: Broadband Development Symposium, Auckland

Tuesday, 11 to Thursday 13 Oct: Robotics World Cup and Technology Jobs Fair, Auckland

Tuesday, 18 to Wednesday 19 Oct: Knowledge Engineering Forum, Tauranga