Ken Stevens: America's Cup showcase to world

The America's Cup will also leave behind amenities that make our biggest city an even more attractive place for talent to live and work. Photo / NZME

Opinion

• Sir Ken Stevens is chairman of ExportNZ and executive chairman of Glidepath Group

For all the hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs that the America's Cup will bring to New Zealand, what is possibly the biggest of the spoils cannot be measured in such terms.

That is the value generated for New Zealand's brand as a progressive country where innovation takes place in developing new technologies.

The 2003 America's Cup generated greater international awareness for New Zealand as a tourism destination and place to do business.

Since then, New Zealand has become globally renowned, and rightly so, for our food and wine - which will of course be on display to the swathes of tourists who are expected as spectators for the event.

But our export potential to the global economy is so much more than food and beverage - and the America's Cup provides another opportunity to show that to our visitors.

Our research and development expertise has gone beyond the old No8 wire mentality and an event like the America's Cup is a great showcase for our sophisticated, world-leading technology capability.

New Zealand's marine industry will be front and centre in the development of technology to build the world's fastest monohull yacht to defend the America's Cup on the Hauraki Gulf.

If our manufacturing and technology sector were not in existence, we would all be clambering for the jobs that are available in our primary industries. Our children would have very little choice in vocation and many of our brightest would have already exported themselves overseas by now.

We want our exporters to expand their business horizons and grow internationally - and for the world to recognise New Zealand as a key player in design and technology.

America's Cup is an opportunity to demonstrate our research and development, high-tech application and our ability to run international teams as much as our achievements in the international field of sports and athletics.

Our economy relies on the strength of our exports - and it is time to add another string to that bow. In the same way Peter Jackson's films put New Zealand on the map as a location for movie-making and creative innovation, so too can the America's Cup showcase the best we have to offer in this international technology race.

Reputations draw talent - during and following the Lord of the Rings films New Zealand became a hub of production specialists in the cinematic and creative industries, which remains to this day.

The America's Cup and the technology that is developed for it in New Zealand can have the same effect, with its own flow-on benefits.

When talented people come to work and live in our country, developing their own technologies and ideas here, investment follows.

That has enormous benefits for regions across the country, which are all expected to share in the economic gains of the America's Cup, both during and after the event.

Of course, the legacy of the event will not just be in our brand and reputation, but also in the development of Auckland's waterfront.

That includes the growth of infrastructure that would allow superyachts to be serviced in the City of Sails, bringing thousands of guests a year to experience what New Zealand has to offer.

Longer term, the benefits will be seen through increased visibility of New Zealand as a place that can host large world-class events, building on the reputation we gained from the successful Rugby World Cup 2011.

The America's Cup will leave behind amenities that make our biggest city an even more attractive place for talent to live and work. Drawing more fresh thinking and fresh faces to our shores can only have benefits long term, and we need to seize the chance to make the most of this opportunity in the build-up to 2021.