The ENZ factor: we have to think

By Yoke Har Lee

How New Zealand can be relevant to foreign companies seeking to develop global business strategies is the key message the Apec CEO Summit is pushing.

A 100-page document spells it out. New Zealand is more than just one of the world's greatest tourist destinations. Little known to the world, New Zealand has a mass of small companies with world-class capabilities in areas ranging from superconductivity, biotechnology, GPS technology, horticulture, software, timber, among others.

Above all, New Zealand has the ENZ factor.

The ENZ factor is a term coined by the CEO Summit's Strategic Investment Group to describe atom-splitter Lord Ernest Rutherford's thoughts on why Kiwis are innovative: "We haven't got the money, so we have to think."

Errol Clark, chairman of the Strategic Investment Group for the APEC CEO Summit, said the document would be personally handed to each delegate at the summit.

"It is largely about getting them to be engaged into thinking about us as one of the world's greatest investment destinations. What drives New Zealand is our ENZ factor, the creativeness of our people.

"The push is not just about money. It is about smart money and the word 'smart' has to be underlined."

He said building strategic links was the only way to go for New Zealand to be able to create jobs, for the regions and for the country as a whole.

In the book, a sample of New Zealand's innovative companies are being highlighted. They include Buckley Systems which supplies 90 per cent of the world's machines used in ion implanting for semiconductor fabrication; Aoraki Corp, whose Jade software is breaking grounds in e-commerce; and Timber Technology, a company with innovative wood bending know-how.

The document highlights New Zealand's vast natural resources, the fact that it is one of the world's easiest places to do business and what it offers in terms of lifestyle and environment.