New Zealand’s Innovative Partnerships
New Zealand is a unique country in the sense that it has a thriving ecosystem which has highly fostered research and development activities. In this, the business-friendly environment, as well as an ideal regulatory environment, has made this country flourish with new ideas and products. Currently, New Zealand is ranked among the best countries in the world to operate a business, owing to its robust economy which is stable and globally competitive. The economy is powered by a skilled workforce that has candid expertise in various sectors.
The government has been instrumental in ensuring that investors, as well as innovators, continue to flood to the country from all corners of the world. The government is committed to seeing that R&D across the economy rises to 2% of the Gross Domestic Product by 2027. The budget for 2018 has set aside $1 billion to facilitate this over the next four years. In addition, the government has a dedicated R&D agency referred to as the Callaghan Innovation. The role of this agency is to provide advice on innovation to interested firms as well as individuals, grants, and other related services. The R&D Loss Tax Credit allows companies to be refunded up to 28% of any tax losses associated with eligible R&D activity if the company is a New Zealand tax resident.
To further harness the innovation culture, the government offers investment visas to investors from all over the world. As of 2018, there exist two categories of visas. The first category is visas for those that intend to invest at least NZD 1.5 million in New Zealand over four years. The second category is for investors who wish to invest NZD 10 million in New Zealand over three years. The New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) works with the investors to identify investment opportunities in the country.
