NZ Institute proposals to boost business

Friday 3rd December 2010

A privately funded think tank is advocating the establishment of colonies to help business in important locations overseas, tax incentives and a fund to help companies targeting international markets.

The New Zealand Institute puts forward 14 proposals in a paper titled Plugging the Gap, which is the third in a series on improving prosperity.

It argues that international entrepreneurship has been relatively neglected in New Zealand.

"Unlike many other countries New Zealand does not have a national entrepreneurship strategy to encourage and develop entrepreneurs, and it should," the report said.

The institute advocates tax-based incentives for the venture capital industry and a fund to allow more New Zealanders to invest in new ventures targeting international markets.

It also suggests establishing a loan guarantee facility that will lead to greater bank lending to internationalising businesses.

It identifies a "talent shortage" to be address by the establishment of a world-class institute to train specialist managers and requiring directors of companies receiving government assistance to have completed specific training in governance of international businesses.

The report also floats the idea of establishing colonies, arguing that Denmark has established innovation centres in important locations operating as multi-purpose agencies.

The colonies should grow organically and eventually be dominated by private businesses and service providers. But the report said that getting the model right and deciding the location sequence requires a further layer of analysis.

"An Innovation Council should be established to monitor the performance of the innovation ecosystem as a whole, including internationalisation success," the report says.

The council would review opportunities and obstacles, agree priorities and identify resourcing requirements.

The report notes that New Zealand Trade and Enterprise has many useful information resources for internationalising businesses but says information to support international business efforts should be concentrated in one strongly branded location so everyone is aware of where to look and what is available.

"A lot more information can and should be supplied," it said.

The report concludes that until recently the importance of innovation to economic prosperity was not widely recognised in New Zealand.

The Labour Government introduced research and development tax credits and a $700 million NZ Fast Forward initiative focused on lifting innovation in pastoral and food industries, the report said. But they were dropped by the current National-led government.

In the last year there has been a turnaround in attitude, in part because the New Zealand Institute and others have highlighted the OECD and World Economic Forum research findings that innovation and business sophistication are very important drivers of the economic success of advanced economies.

NZPA

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