Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Bay sets model for NZ, says author

By David Porter
Bay of Plenty Times·
4 Nov, 2014 03:00 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

David Downs talks up Kiwi ingenuity.

David Downs talks up Kiwi ingenuity.

David Downs, co-author of new book No 8 Re-wired, says the Bay of Plenty business community is a good example of the kind of collaboration that New Zealand needs to adopt to succeed in international markets.

Mr Downs, a general manager with NZ Trade & Enterprise, and co-writer Jon Bridges, the TV presenter and producer of Seven Days, have published an updated version of a book they wrote 15 years ago on Kiwi ingenuity. The expanded edition covers more than 200 inventions.

Although light-hearted in its approach, the book has a serious message: all too often New Zealanders have failed to get either recognition or reward for home-grown innovations by failing to grow them into businesses with global scale.

"David's message was that the Kiwi spirit is very innovative but, when it comes to turning this into global businesses, that is where often the New Zealand mentality gets stuck," said Susanne Irwin of the Ignition co-working space, where Mr Downs recently spoke to an audience of Tauranga businessmen.

In an interview, Mr Downs said New Zealanders needed to work more closely together to maximise the international commercialisation of their ideas.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We're very good at creating things and building things," he said. "Kiwis have very different mindsets, a lack of deference which means we challenge authority and have a very low respect for the rules."

But while that had been successful in terms of fostering inventions, it did not necessarily help in commercialising them and creating long-term value, he said. New Zealanders needed more investment in research and science commercialisation and to be more savvy about getting value from ideas and registering international patents. In addition, New Zealand companies were often too small to scale up their ideas and needed to think about partnering more.

Tauranga had a collaborative approach to business and was one of only three cities in New Zealand to secure a government-backed technology business incubator slot, he said. That was because the three companies in the winning contender, WNT Ventures, had agreed to collaborate, not compete with each other. "We need to work together as Kiwis instead of competing with each other, which we see all too often."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Opinion

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

13 Jul 05:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

The secret sauce of the bar named NZ's best

08 Jul 10:00 PM
Premium
Opinion

Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

06 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

Opinion: Why Mary Meeker's latest AI insights can't be ignored

13 Jul 05:00 PM

Influential trends report by 'Queen of the Internet' returns after six-year hiatus.

The secret sauce of the bar named NZ's best

The secret sauce of the bar named NZ's best

08 Jul 10:00 PM
Premium
Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

Balancing power: What the employment law changes mean for you

06 Jul 05:00 PM
Data show more Kiwis struggling to pay bills, behind on mortgage payments

Data show more Kiwis struggling to pay bills, behind on mortgage payments

30 Jun 09:57 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP