Massive Opportunities From Accelerating Digital Growth - NZTech

The release today of a draft digital technologies industry transformation plan (ITP) is the result of a year-long collaboration between Government and the tech sector which has reinforced the massive opportunity available from accelerating growth for digital tech exporters.

The process behind the development of this draft ITP became a mechanism for strong collaboration and alignment, bringing together hundreds of people throughout New Zealand from tech communities, organisations and government agencies to identify opportunities and challenges.

While not everything discussed in the draft ITP may come to fruition, the shared focus across Industry and government is expected to see the sector’s growth accelerate, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says.

“The work has also identified ways to ensure this growth is equitable and sustainable, creating hundreds of new jobs for Kiwis.

“In 2020, there were 38,000 people working in digital tech firms in New Zealand. If the current rate of growth (7.5 percent compound annual growth over the past 10 years) is maintained, this is expected to reach almost 100,000 by 2030, with these new jobs in towns throughout the country.

“According to a back of the envelope analysis by NZTech, if the focus of the ITP can help lift the sector’s growth rate can lift by just one percent (to a 10 year CAGR of 8.5 percent), and at the same time move toward having better demographic representation in the sector.

“This could create as many as 151,000 new additional jobs for women, 93,000 new additional jobs for Māori, 48,000 new additional jobs for Pacific people and $6.1 billion in new additional exports by 2040.

“This is why this focus on helping the digital tech sector grow is so important for New Zealand.

“Work on the ITP has already started with initiatives supporting the growth of software as a service (SAAS) and game development firms, the development of a Tech Story to help attract international customers, talent and investors, and work on creating new pathways into tech careers such as apprenticeships.

Thirty years ago, the digital technology sector was recognised as a potential competitive advantage for New Zealand by Harvard professor Michael Porter, back then it only contributed $292 million to exports.

Last year the overseas revenues of New Zealand’s top 200 tech exporters reached $13.9 billion with tech exports on track to be New Zealand’s leading export within a decade.

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