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Land of the Long White Cloud

With New Zealand looking odds on favourites to win the Rugby World Cup later this year, it is easy to forget that the “Land of the Long White Cloud” is also showing the rest of the world how to build a creative, innovative and sustainable economy that is based on the skills of its people and its natural environment.

Many of the successful businesses developing within New Zealand today are based on the diverse and sophisticated talents of the multicultural Kiwi population. This has seen this island nation of four million inhabitants climb up the World Competititiveness Scoreboard to be ranked above the UK in 2007. It has also been consistently ranked as the most entrepreneurial country amongst developed nations by the GEM project.

Agriculture has provided the base from which the economy has grown, with more than 90% of New Zealand sheep meat production exported, accounting for 53% of the world export trade. Even in the beef industry, New Zealand exports 85% of its production, making it the fourth largest global player.

However, to many commentators, the latest economic resurgence within New Zealand is not only a result of an innovative farming industry but also reflects the vibrancy of the nation and its newfound confidence in a range of areas. For example, the success of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, filmed mainly in New Zealand, has helped to catalyse a creative industries sector that encompasses film production, music and multimedia.

Similarly, the incredible win by New Zealand over the USA in the 1995 America’s Cup spurred on the development of a highly technologically sophisticated shipbuilding industry that is now the second largest producer of superyachts in the World.

It should therefore be of little surprise that Auckland – the home of the America’s Cup - has more boats per head of population than any other city in the world, and that the marine industry is one of New Zealand’s largest non-primary based manufacturing sectors, generating an annual billion pound turnover.

As a young country with an emerging identity, combined with a cultural tendency to innovate and problem-solve, New Zealand offers some of the most refreshing, exciting and creative digital and creative arts in the world. In addition to film-making, other creative industries are becoming increasingly important to the New Zealand economy.

These include the design industry – which is seen as a strong enabler of business and industry; the music industry – which is developing strategic export growth; the interactive and digital media sector - which is rapidly increasing its export markets; and the fashion industry, which is fusing European, pacific and Maori designs to create a unique new brand in the market-place.

Given this, it is not surprising to note that the creative sector currently employs over fifty thousand people and has grown by more than ten percent per annum in the last five years.

New Zealand is also becoming famous as an ‘unspoiled paradise’ for many of its visitors. Various industries are keen to exploit the ‘clean green image’ that is giving the country a competitive advantage in a number of key sectors.

This includes the wine industry, which has become one of the exporting success stories in the global economy, with wines such as Marlborough’s Sauvignon Blanc establishing a new international benchmark and helping to promote New Zealand wine as a premium product from a beautiful and environmentally conscious land where the temperate maritime climate, regional diversity and innovative industry techniques produce unique wine styles.

The tourism industry has thrived on promoting New Zealand as a clean, green, pristine landscape which provides the setting for an amazing variety of activities. As a result, the country is quickly becoming a major destination for outdoor activities such as hiking, kayaking, skiing, walking, yachting, and mountain climbing. In addition, newer outdoor activities such as bungee jumping, black-water rafting, glacier walking, jet boating and ‘zorbing’ are becoming increasingly popular.

During the last decade, many policy-makers and politicians in Wales have looked to Ireland as an example of how to develop a strong economy within a small nation.

If the Welsh Rugby Union had the foresight to bring New Zealand coaches to Wales to begin the revolutionary changes that would lead to the Grand Slam in 2005, then perhaps the Welsh Assembly Government can also look South to our antipodean cousins for lessons in how to become the small and clever country that all our economic strategies promise us.

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