Encouraging technology adoption by firms
The Commission has today released its draft report on Technology adoption by firms for the Technological change and future of work inquiry.
This report deals with the policies to encourage technological adoption and how governments can better encourage technology uptake by firms and grow productivity.
Decisions about whether and how to adopt technology are taken by individual firms. Many factors influence these decisions, but the most important drivers are relative prices, risks, rewards and management capability. Government policies and infrastructure affect firm technology adoption decisions, sometimes in unexpected or unintended ways.
Protecting and extending business environment dynamism should be a priority of any government seeking to encourage technology adoption. The business environment should be kept open to flows of goods, services, capital, data and ideas. This helps to offset the constraints on technology adoption created by New Zealand’s size and distance. New Zealand’s policy settings generally support openness now, but this needs to be maintained. There are some specific areas where government action could help remove barriers to, or increase the rewards for, technology adoption. These are discussed in the report.
Technology adoption by firms and a one-page briefing are now available to read.
The Commission is seeking public comments, feedback and other relevant evidence on this and the other four draft reports until 17 February 2020. Submissions can be made via this website - we look forward to your feedback!