List of New Zealand Clusters

A comprehensive list of clusters in New Zealand has been produced. The list was prepared after extensive internet research and analysis of regional development strategies.

List of New Zealand clusters August 2005 (PDF, 177KB)

Additional information should be sent to liz.gibson@nzte.govt.nz, Ph 04 910 4329.

About the List of New Zealand clusters

The list

• includes clusters and incubators with a sectoral specialisation
• is divided geographically.
• defines a cluster as a group of related firms that are attracting export income to a region.

The 180 clusters have been categorised by:

• the scale of the cluster (small, medium, large);
• the maturity of the cluster initiative; and,
• the level of intervention/support for the cluster.

Each cluster within the list is defined by three fields, scale, maturity and level of intervention. These terms are defined below.

1. Scale of the Cluster

A cluster may have a large number of companies involved (16+) and therefore be categorised as "large", but have limited exports (up to NZ$5mn) suggesting "small" scale. In such instances, the level of export earnings has been the dominant factor.

2. Maturity of the Cluster Initiative

The maturity of the cluster initiative has been categorised in five different ways:

1. No initiative: a group of companies exist but there have been no attempts to launch a cluster initiative
2. Initiation: the firms within the cluster companies have held initial discussions with interaction being predominantly of a social nature
3. Incubation: the cluster's stakeholders are developing a cluster strategy and conducting feasibility studies for specific joint projects
4. Implementation: stakeholders are working on specific projects and joint ventures
5. Improvement: the firms within the cluster are winning contracts or completing projects. They are building on results.

3. Level of Government Intervention / Support

Resources to support the development of local clusters are being made available from a number of organisations, including economic development agencies (EDAs), Ministry of Economic Development, Technology New Zealand, TPK, CEG and others.

These resources include funding (through grants) and time (particularly through the availability of local cluster facilitators).

Judgements on resource levels have been made by three levels of intervention: "None", less than $50,000 annually; and over $50,000.

The focus is on interventions to facilitate clusters, rather than larger scale projects such as the national forestry and wood processing strategy.