Tech sector renews call for long-term plan

New Zealand's broader tech sector is asking politicians to agree on a long-term strategic plan to help build the industry.

Vignesh Kumar, head of venture capital fund Global from Day One (GD1), said tech start-ups would benefit from regulation and other policies that did not chop and change with the election cycle, according to RNZ. He said consistent policies were critical to the tech industry, particularly with tax regulation.

He cited R&D tax write-offs, help with reinvestment, grants and incentivisation for internships, and helping academia bridge into commerciality as relevant policy areas. He also said weak public support for entrepreneurs was another issue for New Zealand start-ups.

Kumar described Auckland's Start-Up Week as a testament to talent in New Zealand. He said New Zealand was building world-beating companies despite fragmented and uncertain support from successive governments, and could do better with a long-term strategy that supports innovation at all stages of development.

The call follows earlier pushes for a settled direction. Tech Users NZ called for a long-term digital strategy in June with the release of the first in a series of 2026 position papers under the banner Unlocking Aotearoa's Digital Potential, according to IT Brief New Zealand. Tech New Zealand's manifesto also calls for aligning policy across tertiary education, taxation and R&D, and for establishing a national strategy for quantum technology.

The Government announced last year a $231m Auckland-based NZ Institute to invest in research in artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and synthetic biology, according to The New Zealand Herald. The Marsden Fund's new plan focused on quantum technology, health, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, space and Antarctic research.