Stories from Te Tairāwhiti: bringing STEMM to life

Welcome to part four of our blog series, highlighting the mahi of Tāiki E! Impact House and the Te Tairāwhiti Digital Equity Collective, supported by InternetNZ’s community funding.

These are the stories of digital equity shaped on the whenua of Te Tairāwhiti, the East Cape of the North Island — home to Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Rongowhakaata, and Ngāi Tāmanuhiri in Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa Gisborne, carried north by the awa Waiapu of Ngāti Porou, and along the rugged coastline of Te Whānau-a-Apanui. 

Among the initiatives emerging from this collaboration, Tōnui Collab stands out for its bold vision: bringing a world-class STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Mātauranga Māori) Festival to Te Tairāwhiti in 2026. 

For years, Tōnui Collab has been creating hands-on STEMM learning experiences for tamariki and rangatahi. Their approach is simple but powerful. Real learning happens when whānau are invited to learn alongside their tamariki, and when STEMM professionals step into the room to share their skills and stories.

Tōnui is a kupu (word) meaning to prosper — to be productive, flourishing, thriving, and successful.

That philosophy will come to life through STEMM Fest Tairāwhiti 2026 — a festival designed to ignite curiosity, creativity, and confidence across the region, and to inspire tamariki to see their future through both technology and whakapapa.

“Tauranga has an awesome one. So does Auckland. So why can’t we have one right here in Te Tairāwhiti?” asks Shanon O’Connor, Tōnui Collab’s founder and director.

Set to feature a whakatau, workshops, hands-on activities, guest speakers, and a closing celebration, STEMM Fest will be a space where tamariki and whānau can explore, build, and experiment together.

“Many of our tamariki and whānau still don’t know what’s possible in STEM — or how diverse the pathways are in science, technology, engineering and maths. And the best way to change that isn’t to talk about it — it’s to show it, to let them touch it, build it, play with it,” Shanon explains.

Looking back to move forward

The kaupapa has a deeper purpose as well. Currently, less than 4% of the tech workforce in Aotearoa is Māori, and fewer than 2% are wāhine Māori. Tōnui Collab hopes the festival will help shift those numbers — by opening doors, and by showing young people that their future in STEM is already written in their whakapapa.

“Our tīpuna were doing computational thinking for generations. When we weave, when we navigate, when we build — that’s engineering, that’s algorithmic logic, that’s systems design.”

By bringing mātauranga Māori and modern STEM together — coding alongside raraunga (data), data visualisation beside tukutuku (ornamental lattice-work) — the team is showing that technology and tradition aren’t separate worlds, but two sides of the same story.

“Our DNA already holds the answers. We just need to look back to our tīpuna to see what we can bring into our STEM solutions for the future,” says Shanon.

As plans for STEMM Fest Tairāwhiti continue, the hope is that this won’t be a one-off event, but the beginning of an annual celebration — a homegrown movement that connects culture, creativity, and technology for generations to come.

“Maybe, just maybe,” says Shanon, “this becomes an annual kaupapa we can drive forward together.”

Next up – part 5: where heritage meets innovation

Our next stop takes us to Uawa, where the Tolaga Bay Innovation Hub is turning a historic East Coast landmark into a launchpad for future thinkers. Blending enterprise, technology, and mātauranga Māori, this community-led hub is sparking opportunity and innovation across the Coast.

InternetNZ funding 

These projects and partnerships are made possible through funding from our community grants programme, supported by revenue from the sale of .nz domain names. When you choose a .nz for your website, you’re helping fund initiatives like these, supporting digital equity and innovation across Aotearoa.