Editorial: Launching pad for brighter future

Conferences can serve three possible purposes: they can produce warm fuzzy feelings as a substitute for activity, they can move knowledge around without producing finite outcomes or they can be a stage from which big things can be launched. The "Catching the Knowledge Wave" conference must succeed in being a launch pad for New Zealand's future, which is why it has the support of this newspaper.

Speakers at the August conference in Auckland have been announced by the Prime Minister and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Auckland. Both Helen Clark and Dr John Hood have a lot riding on its success. It will follow hard on the heels of the innovation strategy to be produced by the Science and Innovation Advisory Council in July and the Prime Minister will be looking to the gathering to pick up on the lead that the strategy is clearly designed to give. For his part, Dr Hood and his staff have invested immense effort in drawing together some of the most innovative thinkers in the world to put New Zealand's future under scrutiny.

A gathering of great minds is the starting point. Luminaries from the state, corporate and academic sectors of countries that have made the transition - or know what it takes to do so - have the ability to pass on their experience and the conference programme is designed to give them ample opportunity. It also proposes the necessary input from local speakers in the interests of providing a local perspective. It is encouraging, however, that the format also calls for the preparation of transformation strategies and action plans. In other words, the organisers are looking for finite outcomes. So long as those decisions are followed by a commitment from the Government and the private sector to put them into practice, the conference may be gauged a success.

Setting aside the feeling that this is something that should have happened years ago, the timing is opportune. There is a rising tide of opinion that fundamental changes must be made to our society and our economy if we are to contemplate a brighter future. However, the longer the talking goes on the more likely it is that mere desire will become a burning imperative if we are to avoid falling off the scale of developed countries. Perhaps the conference will create a sense of what Andrew Grant, the local head of McKinsey and Company, calls "constructive crisis," the sort of dire situation that faced Ireland and Finland before they embarked on the strategies that have placed them at the forefront of knowledge-based societies.

It is perhaps remarkable that there are few dissenters in the discussion over the need for New Zealand to change direction. Virtually no one believes "she'll be right" and we can continue to be little more than an agricultural exporter. Key players in virtually every sector have been talking about what is needed and how it might be achieved. There is also a balanced approach to the discussions, a recognition that the vast majority of New Zealanders must be able to participate in and benefit from significant change.

So what is stopping us? First, we need cohesion. The many groups that are discussing and planning need to come together under the second requirement: common resolve. We need to have a unified sense of purpose and attached to that probably needs to be a catch-cry, the slogan that fires the imagination of the nation. We need set targets, using the Minister of Finance's Budget-speech goal of a sustainable growth target of 4 per cent as a start. Maybe we could extend that to 5 per cent with a mobilised approach to improving infrastructure. Then we need to be able to measure our efforts to reach those targets - in terms that everyone can understand. We need leadership, which can come either from the Government or the private sector and, finally, we need to be bold.

New Zealand needs to make some big decisions and must be prepared to stick with them for the long haul. And that means that politicians do not dare tamper with the fundamentals. The commitments we need are part of the nation's resolve, not to be spoiled by political power-plays. The Knowledge Wave Project can provide the launching pad.

Features:

* The jobs challenge

* Common core values

* href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?reportID=57032">The knowledge society

Official website:

Catching the Knowledge Wave