About Us Mo Mātou
HWCT is committed to transferring knowledge by training,
supporting and educating māori and indigenous communities in Aotearoa
Our Mission
The mission of the Hei Whiringā Charitable Trust (HWCT) is to create secured digital networks, emerging technology platforms and support services for the educational advancement, health, economic livelihood, and welfare of Māori, including whānau, marae, hapū, and iwi throughout Aotearoa.
The primary mission objective is to assist all Māori to digitally secure and maintain our cultural heritage, sovereignty, values and empower māori with tools to become more independent and self-sustaining.
Our Vision
HWCT envisions the creation through partnerships in Aotearoa and abroad, an array of decentralised digital networks, open-source operating systems and emerging technology tools and micro-services.
This vision will be accomplished via a broader vision of “Indige-Net”—a planned strategic initiative that will develop scalable, lower cost digital tools and systems, first for the benefit of all Māori stakeholders throughout Aotearoa. Once successfully piloted, tested and deployed. HWCT intends to offer these sovereign systems and solutions to its Indigenous-led partnering organisations operating throughout the Americas and the Pacific Rim.
Strategic Objectives, Networks and Alliances
While established and registered in New Zealand recently in 2020, the founders, technology team and Indigenous alliance partners have longstanding relationships for over 30 years. The time needed to be right and feasible for the development of our proposed decentralised, sovereign digital networks and ecosystems.
Today, new emerging technologies (e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, distributed ledger technology and edge computing) are having a dramatic influence on ways in which the world works, communicates and creates value together via digital networks and team building. This paradigm shift portends an era where the velocity of change may leave many behind—where everything will become distributed and integrated ecosystems will become the new norm.
Centralised platforms (e.g. Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook) currently dominate and have achieved significant network effects and value through data aggregation and monetisation at the expense of individual privacy and self-sovereignty over that data. In this context or environment, HWCT strongly believe that innovative, integrated solutions for decentralized distribution and use of these technologies is a mandatory strategic priority.
With this in mind, HWCT’s core technology team and organisation founder’s have already established over many years, strong partnerships and alliances with Indigenous-led organisations and IT experts worldwide interested in accomplishing our same vision.
A prime example is the Four World’s International Institute (FWII), a 30-year-old Canadian based peacemaking NGO. In the past several years, FWII has signed treaties and working agreements with a broad spectrum of sovereign tribal entities throughout the Americas comprising a population of over 78 million. Under what they have collectively termed--“the Reunion of the Condor, Quetzal and Eagle”--symbolic of the South, Central and North American birds long reverenced by these Indigenous peoples.
Indigenous traditions in the Americas holds that over 2000 years ago an economic trade and cultural union existed in the Americas so named then, the “union of the eagle and condor.” FWII and these partners have enthusiastically adopted the HWCT vision for Indige-Net and are looking to HWCT to act as a catalysing agent for the development of decentralised digital platforms and ecosystems for the benefit of all stakeholders and the establishment of a network-of-networks under the “Reunion” and Indige-Net conceptual frameworks.
To this end, HWCT has been established in Aotearoa with the intent to build, participate and assist Māori to first create our own digital ecosystem that will scale and support awaiting indigenous nations in this important reunion building in the Pacific Rim.
We are passionate about technology. Are you aware of the underlying consequences that come within the current centralised system? Its time to take back control of your digital life.
We are on the look out for young talented māori in the technology space. Tell us about your knowledge, experience and your current tech direction.
Want to support us? Donations help us to deliver expert workshops in our communities. We would love to hear from you and how you may like to support.