I find all this both gratifying and somewhat ironic. In 2001/2, the reports of the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission effectively recommended doing the same things.  In July 2002, the people named to be the board of the Tertiary Education Commission (including me) reiterated their support for such initiatives.  However, some were ruled out of bounds for TEC, eg. student support was deemed to a welfare issue not an education issue. Some we didn’t have the funding mechanism to implement (and for nearly 3 years we weren’t allowed to address that either, even though we rated it the number 1 problem to fix). Some the institutions weren’t ready to concede there were problems - eg. qualification rationalisation and completion rates.  Some, like polytechnic governance, were, frankly, just too politically difficult for the then Labour-led government.  However, we’ve been jawboning away on this stuff for all of the last decade and, like water on stone, we’ve worn down the obstacles.

Given the name of this weblog - Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s personal motto En Avant or “Get Going” - you’d be right to assume that I have been very frustrated by the time taken for all this. Smart policy development and implementation seemed often to have been trumped by the need to not upset anyone.  To be fair, all the ministers I’ve dealt with have had their merits, and we’ve made increasingly faster progress.  However, there’s a palpable difference when dealing with confident and capable ministers who understand the big picture and can drive through policy change, despite the naysayers inside and outside government and the bureaucracy.  Governments can implement sweeping change quickly if they so chose and have the right people on the job.

There are still some big issues to address, not least being pricing - how much, how it’s presented, and who pays what to whom.  Any good marketer knows the importance of price presentation.  The new minister has already stated he’s interested in price as an issue, although he acknowledges this might take a little more time to work out.  Given the current pace, that shouldn’t be another decade.

Declaration: I am a non-executive board member of the Tertiary Education Commission, and was recently reappointed for a third term. 

Organovo’s 3D bio-printer works in a similar way to some rapid-prototyping machines used in industry to make parts and mechanically functioning models. These work like inkjet printers, but with a third dimension. Such printers deposit droplets of polymer which fuse together to form a structure. With each pass of the printing heads, the base on which the object is being made moves down a notch. In this way, little by little, the object takes shape. Voids in the structure and complex shapes are supported by printing a “scaffold” of water-soluble material. Once the object is complete, the scaffold is washed away. Researchers have found that something similar can be done with biological materials. When small clusters of cells are placed next to each other they flow together, fuse and organise themselves. Various techniques are being explored to condition the cells to mature into functioning body parts…

The raw material is grown in cultures from patient tissue samples, avoiding transplant rejection.

To start with, only simple tissues, such as skin, muscle and short stretches of blood vessels, will be made… Within five years, once clinical trials are complete, the printers will produce blood vessels for use as grafts in bypass surgery. With more research it should be possible to produce bigger, more complex body parts. Because the machines have the ability to make branched tubes, the technology could, for example, be used to create the networks of blood vessels needed to sustain larger printed organs, like kidneys, livers and hearts.

In case you think this is fantasy, the scaffold technique is already used to grow replacement bladders.  Marrying the medical technique with 3D printing was a logical next step.Although the implications for healthcare are immense, I suspect that “appearance surgery” will eagerly adopt this technology. Replacement scalps complete with hair follicles will sell well, as will wrinkle-free, age-spotless skin.  The mind boggles at what could be possible in the long term.  Maybe those spam ads for enlarged male appendages might finally have something to offer that works! And who knows how competitive sportspeople will use this?

I’ve long argued that what NZ lacked wasn’t fast broadband to the home, farm or small town.   If those communities want it, let them pay for it themselves (perhaps through a locally subsidised utility since it isn’t economic outside the CBDs and central suburbs of NZ’s significant cities). What we do need as a nation is superfast, attractively-priced telecommunications pipes between our major centres and the rest of the world.

It’s that need Pacific Fibre plans to address. At this stage, all they really have is an idea and an intention, so activity is focused on planning, partnering and funding:

The group is looking to secure funding and build a 5.12 Terabits/sec capacity fibre cable to be ready in 2013 connecting Australia, New Zealand and the USA – the initial proposal is a cable which will deliver five times the capacity of the existing Southern Cross system.

I’m told by chums in the broadband business that Southern Cross has plenty of capacity available now and in future, through relatively straightforward upgrades, but maximises its profits through high pricing, which discourages heavy broadband users such as film or online services being based in NZ. Pacific Fibre may simply be a PR pressure play against a de facto monopoly, but so far it looks real enough.  I do hope that a viable alternative can get traction.  Competition is always better than an unregulated monopoly - not just for price but also for quality, service and, when things go badly wrong, for back-up.

So, Rod & Co., I’m keen. Call me.

Disclosure: My family trust has been a long-time shareholder in Telecom, part-owner of Southern Cross.  However, the trust’s investment manager has sold out now.

Update: Lance Wiggs has posted some technical details on the PF website.

I expect to still appear online occasionally, if more overt business purposes call for it (or as a guest blogger if someone invites me), and no doubt making the odd comment on other people’s blogs, which is what got me into this in the first place.

One of my objectives from blogging was to increase my network, and I have met a fantastic group of people through being online.  Who would have thought that, blogging from little EnZed, I’d be in New York meeting the CEO of a leading US PaaS contender (that’s you, Sinclair) or having lunch in Grenoble with a Caribbean-born financial market commentator (hi, Rawdon) and his lovely French wife.  Now my biggest worry is - will I still be eligible to be a member of the Vista Group of Wellington business bloggers? But there are still 24 days to go, so I can legitimately attend the March lunch and schmooze my continuing participation.

So now the end is near (cue Frank Sinatra), but not quite yet.

Here’s some background on Bill:

Bill Payne is in New Zealand as the BNZ University of Auckland Business School Entrepreneur-In-Residence.  to impart some of his experience to NZ entrepreneurs, investors and universities. Bill is a prominent angel investor - so well known he is often referred to as the closest thing America has to an Entrepreneur Laureate. His angel investing history stretches back almost 30 years after selling his own engineering business to DuPont in 1982 and includes being involved in setting up four of the most prominent angel organisations in the USA.

He has written a book, The Definitive Guide to Raising Money from Angels, as well as having written or been interviewed for articles in The New York Times, USA Today, Business Week and many other investor/education articles and websites.

From 1995 he served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Kauffman Foundation for twelve years. The Kauffman Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation in Kansas City often referred to as the world’s largest foundation devoted to entrepreneurship. Its vision is to “foster a society of economically independent individuals who are engaged citizens, contributing to the improvement of their communities” and it does this through education (including mentoring), entrepreneurship, advancing innovation and research.

While Bill is in New Zealand he will be working with angel investor groups, running seminars, meeting with government organisations (NZTE, FRST etc) and serving as a mentor to some ICE Accelerator companies alongside the ICE Angels. He’s also got a blog up and running on the Icehouse incubator website.

It is very rare that we get a visitor of Bill’s experience and respect in New Zealand and for such a long time. Over 50 organisations including 6 incubators, 5 universities and potentially thousands of people will be able to gain directly from Bill’s visit.

You can book a place for breakfast with Bill online at the IoD.

Disclosure: I am a member of the IoD Wellington branch committee.

Once again, I’m a judge; it’s always inspiring to read the entries and interview the finalists.  This year’s categories are:

• PricewaterhouseCoopers Hi-Tech Company of the Year
• NZX Emerging Hi-Tech Company of the Year
• HiFx Innovative Service Product of the Year
• Duncan Cotterill Innovative Software Product of the Year
• Dell Innovative Hardware Product of the Year
• International Business Wales Hi-Tech Exporter of the Year
• Recruit IT Hi-Tech Employer of Choice Award
• Swaytech Hi-Tech Journalist of the Year
• Maxnet Young Achiever of the Year
• Hi-Tech Inspiring Individual of the Year
• NZMEA Kiwi Hi-Tech World Beaters Award
• Tait Radio Communications Flying Kiwi Awards.

Time and time again, I see firms - IT services, energy supply, retailing, telecommunications, consulting, manufacturing, etc, etc - chasing shiny new marginal revenue while avoiding the hard decisions in the core.  Don’t kid yourself. New revenue might buy you time but, one way or another, you’ve still got to fix the broken old business; fix it or get out of it.