Horizontal Enablement
31. In recent years the government has undertaken initiatives to improve the supply of ICTs in New Zealand and to encourage the uptake and use of these technologies by business. Initiatives include improved competition through the Telecommunications Act 2001, the enactment of the Electronic Transactions Act 2002, the E-commerce Summit and E-commerce Strategy, the E-commerce Guide for Business, the work of the E-commerce Action Team, the E-commerce Regional Events, the TradeNZ developed E-commerce Roadmap, the E-Government Strategy, Project Probe (broadband), increased funding for ICT related research and development through Technology New Zealand, and a number of research projects.
32. Research indicates that New Zealand is already in the top half of the OECD in terms of ICT infrastructure and business uptake. The conclusion is that there is no fundamental problem with supply of ICTs to New Zealand businesses or their uptake. The challenge is to extract greater value and productivity gains from this high uptake.
33. Potential for significant productivity gains lies in using ICTs to drive process or product innovations primarily in sectors that are information rich - it is the innovative use of information these technologies enable which is key. One such sector, banking, is already a world leader in ICT use. The ability of ICTs to monitor and process a range of farm management information, which was not previously feasible, is delivering productivity gains in the agricultural sector.
34. Government policy can play an important role in supporting the diffusion, up-take and innovative use of ICT. The experience of the last decade suggests that there is no single government policy that will guarantee success. Rather, as reflected in the GIF, a broad suite of mutually reinforcing policies is needed to create conditions conducive to realising the economic benefits of ICTs and other emerging technologies. The question is whether there are further specific policies which are required over and above the initiatives of recent years.
35. As part of its work programme, I have asked the Ministry of Economic Development to explore future directions for ICT policy. I propose that this work address the issues raised above, and that MED report back to the Associate Minister of Information Technology outlining policy options by March 2004, in consultation with NZTE, SSC, Treasury and DPMC. This work should also provide a stock-take of current ICT business capability programmes and assess their effectiveness and alignment.
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