The New Frontier for Kiwi Tech Firms Is Colombia. Yes, Colombia
When New Zealand games developer PikPok decided to expand, it headed to South America. The company, known for tongue-in-cheek mobile apps like Super Monsters Ate My Condo and zombie shooter Into the Dead, purchased a studio in Medellin, Colombia, because it couldn’t find the necessary talent at home.
“The staff that PikPok needs just doesn’t exist in the country,” said Chief Executive and co-founder Mario Wynands. “If we want to stay cutting edge, that means not only training up our people internally, but it also means tapping into cutting edge talent internationally.”
New Zealand has never lacked pioneering spirit, from ocean navigation by the first Pacific Island settlers to the satellite launching exploits of Rocket Lab, but a failure to invest in technology education has created a skills gap that’s driving its digital entrepreneurs offshore. That won’t help the South Pacific nation to diversify its economy away from a reliance on agriculture and tourism.
Recent reports have identified that the education system doesn’t deliver enough talent to grow emerging sectors like digital technology.
“The sector’s moving at the speed of a Ferrari, the education system’s moving at the speed of a Massey Ferguson tractor,” said Bruce Jarvis, Head of Software-as-a-Service at Callaghan Innovation, a government agency charged with supporting budding tech companies. “We’re not short of entrepreneurs. The biggest constraint here is the talent to take those ideas through the growth stage, through the international stage.”
It’s a view shared by the OECD, which says New Zealand’s digital sector is lagging behind its peers.
Australian Tax Breaks
Despite being “relatively advanced in some aspects of digitization,” the country’s domestic pipeline
Read more on tech.hindustantimes.com
