Some of the Bay of Plenty's biggest IT users have banded together to form an information sharing and resource attraction group.
The group, named Rhubarb, was formed last year.
Zespri chairman, Andrew Goodin, said Rhubarb was about making the Bay a more attractive place for information and communication technologies (ICT) and providing the resources local companies need.
The members of the group were looking for opportunities to share ICT resources, Mr Goodin said. "That way we can try to create some scale because one of the challenges we have in the Bay of Plenty is scale. It's very, very difficult at times, even though its a beautiful location, to entice people here."
Bay of Plenty Polytech IT manager Rabindra Das said business intelligence was an area that could be used to attract permanent specialists to the Bay.