Key Findings
9. The taskforce's key findings are:
- There is no shortage of compelling innovation in New Zealand, but few New Zealand ICT companies reach their growth potential.
- The opportunity for the New Zealand ICT sector is to focus on exploiting markets for high-value niche products and services, in particular applications that arise from ICT innovation in areas of traditional strengths (e.g. primary industries) but also in information-rich areas where there is potential for high ICT investment (health, education, government services).
- The taskforce identified the critical success factor for growing an ICT business in New Zealand as having the necessary commercialisation experience and skills to go global, including at the start-up phase. Without these skills many ICT companies appear to grow rapidly to the $10 to $15 million sales level (and up to $30 million for electronics companies) and then hit a barrier. The nature of the barrier is two-fold:
- the small size of the New Zealand market means that New Zealand companies have to expand into international markets in order to maintain growth, while still very small by global standards; and
- continued growth beyond the barrier requires a transformation of the company requiring a more formal management structure and a more sophisticated set of skills.
- A number of companies (including some started by taskforce members) have overcome the barrier, and the taskforce believes the skills and knowledge required to do this can be taught, both through formal courses and through more informal means such as mentoring and sharing knowledge through networks.
10. The essence of the suggested ICT strategy is for both industry and government to support companies to grow to a scale to enable them to compete successfully on the global stage.
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