Google New Zealand Community Engagement Report 2020
The Community Engagement Report was commissioned by Google New Zealand to understand how the diverse and innovative initiatives supported by Google are making a real difference for Kiwi small businesses, not-for-profits and communities.
For this report SVA reviewed and analysed dozens of investments and initiatives and engaged with many organisations that have worked with Google in 2020. Overall, it is a story of being responsive, committed for the long-term and focusing on areas of strengths to drive maximum impact.
The report also details the value of building longer-term relationships to ensure impact is sustained and can be scaled over time. These partnerships allowed the parties to learn from each other, bringing to life and growing the impact of the different initiatives, often over many years. The report provides an insight into Google’s community impact across three key areas and lays the foundations for how Google’s contribution to each could be measured over time.
Google New Zealand’s community investment resulted in impact across the following three areas:
Community Impact 1:
Equip more
New Zealanders with digital skills
By 2025, as many as 149 million new digital technology jobs are expected to be created worldwide. To help meet this demand, Google has been supporting initiatives that introduce and excite students to pursue careers in technology, as well as teachers to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to introduce computer science curriculum in their classrooms. Google also worked with partners to provide digital skills training to small businesses, professionals and the broader community.
Community Impact #2:
Enable more
resilient
home-grown
businesses and
organisations
COVID-19 had a significant impact on New Zealand’s economy. Google responded by extending free access to many of its products, and offering emergency funds and other support to sectors most impacted. Google also continued to invest into home-grown research, talent and ideas to foster a vibrant tech sector. These supports enabled many organisations to weather the initial shocks of the pandemic and empowered others to explore new opportunities that utilise technology to grow their businesses.
Community Impact #3:
Elevate authoritative information
Fake news and misleading information is a major concern for New Zealand’s internet users. The spread of misinformation erodes public trust in news, government, and civic processes. Google collaborated with the New Zealand Government, not-for–profits and media publishers on a range of initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic that helped to improve access to trustworthy information. During the 2020 general election Google also rolled our a range of products to help New Zealanders cast their vote more confidently. Together these initiatives helped to elevate authoritative sources to ensure that people have confidence in, and access to reliable information.
