Working with regions
[ Last Updated 15 August 2008 ]
Understanding regions
Key drivers of growth and economic development arise at the regional and local level.
- The geographical location of firms encourages local adaptations and innovations.
- Unique attributes of regions, such as their culture and social networks, cannot be easily copied, and firms can use this to their advantage.
- Firms draw on characteristics unique to their particular location, including the natural environment, labour force, physical infrastructure, local institutional relationships and linkages, and use these to their advantage.
Thus regions become known for particular products or services and people actively seek products from them. An example of this is Central Otago Pinot Noir. Firms associated with these products in these regions gain a competitive advantage.
Collaboration and innovation
Innovation does not take place in isolation. Innovation (and therefore economic development) is influenced by a broader system, including public and private sector institutions. Inside this broad system, activities and interactions initiate, import, modify, and diffuse ideas and knowledge. This is why building regional linkages between and within firms, sectors, and central and local government agencies is important.
Collaboration contributes to economic development by improving business performance. It also enhances the idea of regional specialisation and builds the capacity for innovation.
The role of government
The government takes a partnership approach to regional development. Under the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) Regional Partnerships Programme (RPP), 26 self-chosen regions have established partnership steering groups made up of local government, iwi and economic development professionals.
Each partnership has devised an economic development strategy designed to make the most of regional strengths and local resources. The government's role in the partnership is to provide support to build the capacity of each region as they put in place the foundations for sustainable economic growth.
Government supports the partnerships by:
- forming regional economic development strategies that build on the comparative advantage of each region and support sustainable economic development
- assisting improved governance and building leadership capability to improve the quality of decision-making
- encouraging collaboration to overcome barriers caused by small size
- advising and guiding the partnerships on regional development best practice from a sustainable economic development perspective
- addressing whole-of-government co-ordination issues that affect regional development, for instance, the provisions of the Local Government Act 2002.
Hawkes Bay is one of many regional partnerships in New Zealand. The Hawkes Bay Regional Economic Development Agency was formed in 2002, and replaced Vision 2020. Due to sustainability issues, however, the regional partnership is now embarking upon a period of change.
The Power of One is a new strategy developed by the partnership for pulling together all of the individual tourism and economic development units and agencies from within the region into one co-ordinated organisation. The local councils have sought and obtained ratepayer approval for this proposal, and a collaborative organisation, called Hawkes Bay Inc has been formed to implement the Power of One Strategy. This structure is intended to deliver a more integrated approach to economic development, and regional tourism and events.
Other regional development programmes
The Cluster Development Fund helps firms to collaborate and overcome barriers to growth brought about by small size. Many clusters have strong links to regional and location-based advantages, for instance Marlborough and wine, and Nelson and the seafood industry.
Major regional initiatives
All regional partnerships are working to develop Major Regional Initiatives (MRIs). These are large-scale projects that seek to capitalise on the identified strengths of different regions. The government offers some catalyst funding and the regions offer the good ideas, expertise, and any additional resources needed to make the projects happen.
Fourteen MRIs have already been approved and are being implemented. A wide variety of projects have been funded. The first was a life sciences technology park in Hamilton. One of the most recent was for the development for an aviation centre, also in Hamilton. Other examples are:
Venture Taranaki [external link], an Economic Development Agency, which is supported by the three local councils (New Plymouth, Stratford and South Taranaki) and Maunga Tu Maunga Ora.
Taranaki has been at the forefront of innovative thinking around economic development, and was one of the first regions to encourage the widespread roll-out of broadband (prior to Project PROBE).
Taranaki's MRI is a centre of applied engineering that will offer a range of services to the region's engineering sector. Eleven of the region's leading engineering firms will work in partnership with Venture Taranaki and the Western Institute of Technology to ensure the engineering industry continues to be efficient and competitive. The centre will bring Taranaki engineering firms together to assist with bulk purchasing and to develop networks and contacts between businesses.
The Manawatu Bio Commerce Centre [external link] provides an opportunity to commercialise some of the large amount of research generated in Manawatu.
The centre includes incubation, marketing and brokerage services and provides a focus for the interaction of business and science. This regional initiative will ensure research carried out in the area can be commercialised locally, with returns staying in the region. It will boost the reputations of both Palmerston North and New Zealand as world leaders in the bio-sciences.
The Southland Broadband Initiative [external link] will ensure most Southlanders have access to fast, reliable Internet connections. It entails the deployment of reliable and cost-effective high-speed Internet and broadband services to 93-95 per cent of the commercial and business sectors in Southland. The initiative will help to create jobs and boost returns from core industries, including farming and tourism. It will enable Southland to participate in the global economy by providing a quality information and communications technology infrastructure. Farms, for example, will be able to be managed more intensively. Some of the key elements of this development are:
- Deployment of portable broadband telecommunication service to be delivered via IP Wireless modem technology, available to a minimum of 92 per cent of the Southland regional population;
- All Southland schools will receive coverage; and
- Regional toll-free voice calling on the network.
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