Auckland needs an explicit strategy encapsulating both central and local government working together and engaging institutions, public and private, business people and entrepreneurs. The University of Auckland is a world-ranked university and it is an enormous contributor to the local economy, but has this asset really been incorporated properly into thinking? And Massey, AUT, Manukau Institute of Technology and Unitec all have major contributions to make. There are institutional rivalries, and the town and gown must grow closer. We must integrate and use each academic precinct to maximal advantage without destroying their individuality.
The commitment to develop the Wynyard precinct is exciting but what public science activities, what kinds of incubators, what private sector services need to be there? Perhaps even a science museum? What sort of footprint will the Advanced Technology Institute that will arise from the announced restructuring of Industrial Research Ltd have in Auckland? What sort of facilities should Auckland develop to attract high-technology businesses and who should manage them? The creative arts and the sciences are often seen as two different worlds separated by a gulf - but both require the talent of the mind. Design sells: the ecosystem needs a school of industrial design.
We can build knowledge-based businesses but we have to keep them here. As companies grow, their markets will be overseas, and there will be a pull to shift executive functions and even manufacturing overseas. What will anchor companies here will be a research and development function so embedded within the city that it cannot be moved. We have to build a city that really values knowledge and science and entrepreneurship.
Ultimately it is about environmental and cultural change. Our leaders can encourage, but at the end we need to recognise the importance of better science and technology education in all our schools, the importance of our universities and polytechnics.
Green shoots are emerging - they must be nurtured. It is not unrealistic for Auckland to become, within a decade, known as a knowledge city with a vibrant technology sector comprising not only small to medium enterprises but also multinationals undertaking research and development in areas where we have a advantage. If we look at advanced comparable countries, a feature of all of them is their capacity to attract multinationals to do research and development. The tyranny of distance is overstated when we consider the knowledge-based industries.
Turning Auckland into a smart global city in a smart nation must be a priority. The investment needed is partly fiscal, but so much more of it is psychological and motivational.