North Shore City Council is disappointed to be lagging behind Manukau and Waitakere.
GEM estimated total entrepreneurial activity in the city was 13.5 per cent, less than the national average of 14 per cent.
But with three university campuses and commercial and high-tech developments around Albany, many expected GEM to show theNorth Shore was heading the new knowledge economy.
But North Shore entrepreneurs scored low marks on offering new or unfamiliar products and services and for technology uptake.
They also had a low emphasis on exports and only 11 per cent of those surveyed did more than half their business with overseas customers, compared with 33.3 per cent in Manukau and 25.6 per cent in Waitakere.
"We accept it, but its findings are a little surprising," says North Shore Mayor George Wood.
"In our own minds I think we know that North Shore City is doing rather well.
His business development adviser, David Knowles, says the results do not square with anecdotal reports.
He questions whether the survey picked up commercial development around Albany and in the north of the city.
But the lead researcher for the GEM New Zealand study, Howard Frederick, of Unitec's Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, stands by the findings.
He hopes regional cover will be expanded for next year's report.
The North Shore City Council will hold a a review of its economic planning in the New Year.
Business development in the city is mostly through the council's joint venture with the private sector, Enterprise North Shore.
Its most direct initiative has been support for the e-centre, an entrepreneurial business incubator on the Massey University campus at Albany.
The centre started in February last year and links 13 high-tech companies with the Massey computer sciences and mathematics faculties.
North Shore's conservative profile in the report contrasts with the e-centre, where manager Steve Corbett looks for technologies aimed at changing processes, capable of finding a global niche and committed to growth.
