By DANIEL RIORDAN
It's been called a technopolis, and if that's too grand a term for most of its citizens to embrace comfortably, it at least captures the essence of Christchurch's status as the country's information technology centre.
Although the cheekiest of the Christchurch boosters hark back to the days of Ernest Rutherford, most date the beginnings of the city's emergence as a technology centre to the formation of Tait Electronics about 30 years ago and, a little later, to Sir Gil Simpson's software innovator, Aoraki Corporation.
While these companies continue as powerhouses, managers who learned their trade with them have begun their own companies and new success stories have been written by entrepreneurs both Christchurch-bred and attracted to the city by its IT dynamism.
It was also Christchurch that came closest to luring United States technology giant Motorola to New Zealand, and which is already home to the Kiwi operations of other multinationals such as Trimble Navigation.
Today a new breed in whizkids in their 20s and 30s are using the internet to launch what they hope may become new dynasties.
Why Christchurch? There's more than one explanation.
Dennis Chapman, one of the most successful of the Tait old boys (see Next Wave - C4), says the city's businesses had to rely on export earnings long before Auckland and Wellington looked overseas.
That's "export" as in from the South Ilsand to the North Island, in search of markets big enough to support the growth they needed.
Being long and expensive distances from their customers encouraged the businesses to get it right first time.
Thus many Christchurch companies were exposed to some of the rigours of export markets - albeit pseudo ones - long before their North Island counterparts, and they have managed to retain some of that edge.
Undeniably, Sir Angus Tait's influence is enormous.
His company exports specialised mobile and portable radio communications equipment worth more than $100 million a year.
Its growth - which had its perilous moments and at one stage needed Government help to continue - encouraged the local university to forge relationships and around it grew an infrastructure of metalworkers, plastic makers, couriers, importers and shippers.
The bright sparks who learned their trade at Tait's took advantage of this infrastructure when they launched their own businesses.
Wellington and Auckland never developed that infrastructure in the early days and Christchurch has kept ahead. Many North Island firms send to Christchurch for quality parts.
A healthy supply of well-trained technicians and tertiary-qualified researchers may be another explanation.
Certainly Christchurch has highly regarded tertiary institutions, but then so do Wellington and Auckland.
A high turnover of key staff has long been the bane of high technology industries, but Sir Gil believes Christchurch does better than comparable centres when it comes to retaining the best minds.
No doubt the outdoor lifestyle afforded by Christchurch's access to the South Island's playgrounds is a big attraction for high-tech immigrants.
While the old guard continues to thrive, a new breed of entrepreneur has risen, launching internet products in the way Sir Angus once farmed radio waves and, like their forerunners, doing things their way.
Every centre has its share of bright young things whose technological leaps take the breath away, but the communal atmosphere of the Christchurch scene is replicated elsewhere only in isolated pockets.
The sharing of ideas is ongoing, but has its focal point on Friday evenings when dozens of the Garden City's high-tech innovators come together informally over beers and barbecues. The social sessions, rotated around companies, are a networker's dream.
Just as important is the reassurance they provide that whatever challenges they face as they beaver away in home offices and cramped inner-city spaces, they are not alone.
Older, more established players are part of the mix - even media are welcome.
Participants say the danger of giving information to competitors operating in the same area is minimal.
Almost without exception, their companies are focused on overseas markets in which the definition of niche starts at about $100 million and which provide plenty of room for the locals.
If someone inadvertently gives up a nugget, the gold is just as likely to soon move the other way.
And ultimately, the foreign exchange earnings these go-getters are chasing will come back to Christchurch anyway.
<i>Between the lines:</i> Southern breed of entrepreneur
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