Can New Zealand Win? No. Unless it redefines the game. john.philpin.com
@JohnPhilpin I’m nervous about Rocket Lab as a case study in this context, because while it started here in New Zealand, these days it is a US company with an NZ subsidiary. And it’s not certain how our relationship with America will play out over time.
Otherwise I agree with the two ideas that we need to leverage strengths and navigate dependencies. The assumption is that AI is one huge monolithic technology, but there can be great value in applied AI. Becoming the nation that is expert in applying AI to agriculture or bio sciences is a valid plan.
@billbennettnz and quite right too - I am more echoing how people talk - not the reality - as Chris pointed out in his article - the RL order was all about ‘war’ - which might explain the quiet.
Re the ‘more US’ angle - true of Xero as well - no? Another Kiwi success story.
Meanwhile New Zealand Story often talk about how NZ tech is responsible for so much export revenue - 🔗 latest news at Tin - reports $20Billion - Kiwi - TECH EXPORTS
This list includes
Fisher & Paykel Appliances - 1.6 billion - which last i heard was sold to China’s Haier - a long time ago - and I woudn’t call it tech
Datacom - 1.48 billion - which was actually Datacom TOTAL revenue
Xero - 2 billion - and yes a kiwi company headquartered in wellington - but not listed on the Kiwi exchange since 2018 and where
When does ‘Kiwi’ stop being Kiwi?
What is ‘tech’ - because this list includes white goods and media special effects - I would argue that the ‘special effects’ are the exports? If the tech could be exported - why would Cameron just about move himself here to make his films.
… and my belief is that all of this shouting damages the real stories.
Eg - like what a company like Buckley does - not massive revenues like the top 10 - but with revenue per staff member of over 600K (three times that of Xero for example) with products as deep as the are - not to mention the manufacturing issues - that a Xero doesn’t even have to think about is surely a more worthy story than big numbers that don’t add up - and are small anyway on the global stage.
@JohnPhilpin Xero is essentially an Australian company today… albeit one with strong NZ roots. Agree about F&P appliances although the Healthcare business is high tech and there is a part of appliances which might qualify, it’s only a small part.
@JohnPhilpin Yes. I’ve done some casual work for both F&P companies and they are quite distinct even if they share a common history.
@JohnPhilpin One part of all this is anything similar about “NZ Tech Companies” makes for an easy story to write in publications where the senior staff are either unaware or not interested in nuances. On one level they may be right, after all, the overwhelming majority of readers also don’t understand or care about such nuances. Of course, a really good story would explain those nuances to readers. ;)
@billbennettnz I don’t want them to explain nuances. I do want them to write rich informative and accurate stories. Calling a fridge company ‘tech’ is a disservice - particularly since it adds billions to a claim of the NZ tech export story. It lulls the country into a false sense of security - because they are measuring the wrong thing and losing the importance of what is NOT being talked about. We craft our narrative around RoW narrative - ‘look at our SAAS software’ - and should instead be OUR narrative.
I THINK (but do not know) that this stuff gets mostly pushed by NZ Story - but that might just be be and what I read - the fact is though - it then gets BLINDLY repeated.
A really good story to explain these nuances and why it is important is a great idea - do we know any tech writers who might want to pick up the mantle❓🤓
@JohnPhilpin I could be up for it, but it’s a story that needs a wider audience than my site which is niche and almost 100% the wrong core audience.
@billbennettnz maybe one that Bernard syndicates? not sure if that is big enough for what you are thinking?