Wellington
Now the idea of a ‘ Kiwi Landing Pad ’(KLP) in San Francisco may or may not be a good idea.
The need for relatively small Kiwi companies to have a place to call home in the USA from whichto attempt to sell their wares, can perhaps be justified on an economic argument, and mostdefinitely on an emotional one.
What’s harder to fathom is why the Ministry of Science and Innovation has fronted up withUS$300,000 to set up a hub in the southern part of San Francisco in what is known as the Marketdistrict. Cloud accounting company Xero is one of the first tenants for the KLP, which has beeninitiated by TradeMe founder Sam Morgan. It has also been supported by Sir Stephen Tindall.
Sure, MSI is (ever so slowly) figuring out its role. Getting the ‘I’ part of its name up tospeed seems to be taking forever, and it’s a pity present Minister Wayne Mapp is quitting politicsat the coming elections – the caretaker nature of his ministerial overview can’t help drive whatis needed from the innovation point of view.
In MSI’s statement of intent, it lists (and puts in a diagram) one of its strategic partners asbeing NZ Trade & Enterprise.
Which is the point, actually.
Surely it is NZTE’s role to fund/partner this type of initiative?
NZTE has an office an hour or two down the road in Los Angeles, but of even more relevance, SanFrancisco is the location of one of its key ‘
Wouldn’t the KLP be a graphic example of a Beachhead – one located in the famed SiliconValley? Isn’t this the sort of project that sits much more comfortably in NZTE’s camp?
For New Zealand’s sake, we have to hope this isn’t some kind of turf war that’s going onbetween MSI and all-comers. The fact that MSI has the biggest budget allocation doesn't mean itshould be carrying out a multitude of roles.
There’s been no mention of such a change in government departmental responsibilities – andthere’s certainly nothing indicated in MSI’sstatement of intent (under whatever broad way you want to define innovation), that saysunderwriting relatively wealthy Kiwis’ USA real-estate plays is part of its core mission.
And while we’re in a “What are you up to MSI’ mode, the following observations?
The ministry’s invited a dozen or so stakeholders and strategic thinkers to Wellington for astakeholder engagement exercise on 12/13 Sept.
How many people accept the invitation to the exercise will be interesting, but perhaps MSI needsto ask itself some other questions first.
•How many of these extremely busy people (the great and the good across industry and science)are prepared or able to set aside the two days asked for?
•What is the role of MSI’sInnovation Board?
•What is the role of MSI’s Science Board?
•What is the role ofMSI’s senior management team?
The last question’s perhaps a bit unfair, as its senior management team hasn’t long been intheir roles. But, wouldn’t heading out to ask some of the questions the engagement exercise wouldprobably do so, be a perfect reason for them to get out around New Zealand and see what’s neededat the coalface?