"We are looking for development partners, people to work alongside us, which will accelerate our actually getting licences, the technology into product, into the markets"
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The line reads like the quiet machinery of power: not a visionary call, but a procurement brief dressed up as partnership. McKinley frames ambition in the language of collaboration, yet every clause points to leverage. "Development partners" and "work alongside us" signal openness while keeping control implicit; the relationship is pitched as mutual, but the objective is plainly instrumental: accelerate. The most revealing word is "actually" before "getting licences" - a tell that permissions are a bottleneck, and that influence, expertise, or capital are being invited in to move bureaucracy faster than persuasion alone can.
As a politician, McKinley is speaking from the hinge point where public authority meets private capability. "Licences" implies the state as gatekeeper; "technology into product" suggests a modernization project that can't survive on speeches. The phrase stacks conversions: licence to technology, technology to product, product to markets. It's a pipeline metaphor, and it treats governance less as deliberation than as throughput. The subtext: policy is being organized around commercialization, with legitimacy measured by market entry rather than public consent.
The sentence also performs a subtle absolution. By emphasizing partners, McKinley disperses responsibility. If outcomes disappoint, the blame can be shared; if they succeed, the credit is collective but easily claimed by the convenor. It's pragmatic, even savvy, but it hints at a world where political leadership is no longer about commanding from the center - it's about brokering access, smoothing friction, and turning regulatory power into momentum.
As a politician, McKinley is speaking from the hinge point where public authority meets private capability. "Licences" implies the state as gatekeeper; "technology into product" suggests a modernization project that can't survive on speeches. The phrase stacks conversions: licence to technology, technology to product, product to markets. It's a pipeline metaphor, and it treats governance less as deliberation than as throughput. The subtext: policy is being organized around commercialization, with legitimacy measured by market entry rather than public consent.
The sentence also performs a subtle absolution. By emphasizing partners, McKinley disperses responsibility. If outcomes disappoint, the blame can be shared; if they succeed, the credit is collective but easily claimed by the convenor. It's pragmatic, even savvy, but it hints at a world where political leadership is no longer about commanding from the center - it's about brokering access, smoothing friction, and turning regulatory power into momentum.
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| Topic | Startup |
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