A greater need for digitisation

New Zealand desperately needs more digitisation to engage with the rest of the world’s rapidly growing digital economies.

This is the strong message from NZTech chair Mitchell Pham in his report to the organisation’s annual meeting in Auckland.

“It is difficult for most Kiwis to think about what the world was like before the covid pandemic, but the nation’s digital future is no longer a conversation about what the future may hold, because it is happening now, since covid arrived,” Pham says.

“Our tech sector has a critical role to play in accelerating the mass digital transformation that began last year. The tech industry can also boost growth and expansion by benefitting from new investment capital and investors.

“With borders remaining closed, New Zealand’s tech talent shortage has been pushed to critical levels, due to our heavy reliance on immigration.

“It is essential government and industry invest in developing our digital workforce for the medium-to-long term, while businesses explore short to-medium term options to engage remotely with offshore tech talent,” Pham says.

Chief executive Graeme Muller says New Zealand’s tech sector has been delivering strong year-on-year growth which has largely been unconstrained by natural resource limits or economic downturns.

“As well as annual growth in weightless exports and job creation, the sector has been enabling the digital transformation of most other parts of the economy.

“Over the last year, even under the pressure of covid lockdowns and border closures, the New Zealand tech ecosystem continued to grow and deliver positive impacts for our economy and society.”

The key takeaways from the New Zealand tech year showed:

• The sector has 23,229 companies, 111,760 employees and has $8.5 billion of exports globally
• It makes up eight percent of New Zealand’s GDP, and employs five percent of the workforce
• New Zealand’s top 200 tech companies earned $12.7 billion globally in revenue
• The sector grew 11.4 percent and the median salary in 2020 was $95,000
• Each four percent of growth in the tech sector provides $2.7 billion to the GDP
• Each tech sector job creates five new jobs in other industries

NZTech won the best contribution prize at the annual New Zealand Hi-Tech awards this year, for its efforts in creating a socially and economically prosperous New Zealand underpinned by technology.

Photo: NZTech chair Mitchell Pham, left, and chief executive Graeme Muller.