New Zealand is blessed with many assets that a country of our size might not expect. We have an oil refinery which we developed long before domestic oilfields were seriously considered. We have an aluminium smelter and a steelworks, we also have our own international airline; these are all hallmarks of a country that won’t let the size of its population hamper its view of itself.

Most of these assets came into being when New Zealand’s population was half what it is today. They were bold initiatives and came about due to strong leadership and a vision for the future. They operate successfully and have provided an industrial backbone which many other businesses have built up over the years, making significant contributions to New Zealand’s productive economy.

Interestingly, these assets were developed to help meet the domestic needs of New Zealand, not necessarily to compete in a global marketplace; despite this, many companies who’s development was fuelled by these big projects have gone on to make significant contributions to New Zealand’s exports and to provide many jobs for our population.

When you are a very small country, you need to have some big ideas to build industries around, they won’t just appear by themselves. An example of a ‘Big Idea’ for a small country is Singapore Airlines. With no need for a domestic carrier, Singapore had to commit to their airline being an international airline from day one. In contrast, the companies which were forerunners of Air New Zealand were domestic carriers East Coast Airways and Cook Strait Airways.

While the resulting airlines are today both international carriers, the thinking that drove their inception is different. In Singapore’s case, that same thinking has driven the development of a successful globally-focused aerospace industry which they built on the back of them having an international airline.

There was a time when we did not see ourselves as too small for big ideas and over the years the investment has paid off multifold in jobs, learning and building competence. There has also been the spin-off of building confidence as a country, which has also allowed us to take on other challenges. Winning and hosting the Americas’ Cup yacht race was a big idea which spawned a range of yachting-related businesses and built our reputation around the world.

There is a critical role for State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) when it comes to ‘big ideas’. They make up a significant component of our economy, particularly in the area of infrastructure where ‘big ideas’ can most easily come to fruition. 

A value-added role for entities like SOEs is to work with local companies to go beyond meeting their basic needs, and to develop innovative solutions which can then be taken to the global market. This also applies to Defence and other government entities. The process is called “lead user innovation” and is being used by other countries.

For instance, Singapore just announced that they “will commit S$450 million over five years to promote partnerships between the public and private sector to co-develop innovative solutions in areas such as urban mobility, environmental sustainability and energy security.”

While we sometimes punch above our weight in sports, which usually take the efforts of an individual or a small team of individuals, what Singapore and others are doing is saying ‘we will use the broad muscle of the public sector to support innovation’.  In other words, ‘we will create some big thinking’.

New Zealand is not too small to think big, we just need to recognize that this requires more than providing support to a sports team. We need a decisive and cohesive approach from Government so that we can build a productive economy; we need to again have ‘big ideas’ and the muscle to support them.