In 2018 the LASER-GO Global partnership has kick-started its activities with a mission to New Zealand and the State of Victoria, Australia. In February a delegation from the consortium visited Auckland, Dunedin and Melbourne where a number of meetings with public officials, company representatives and university leaders took place resulting in the mission which has been the most successful to-date in terms of leads and contacts.

The mission has been organized within the context of the intensifying economic diplomacy efforts on the part of the EU to sign trade agreements with New Zealand and Australia and bring both countries closer to Europe (the agreement between the EU and New Zealand is planned to be finalized next year). This political imperative has created a momentum for the cluster mission and added some political clout. At the meetings with business support organizations such as the Callaghan Innovation (which funds high-tech in New Zealand) as well as with the business associations (Employers and Manufacturers Association) the doors were wide open and the discussions were friendly and frank. New Zealand has never been keener than now to create long-term trade alliances with technology exporting countries which could benefit its primary industries and help to support its emerging technology companies to get a foothold across the world, including Europe.

The meetings held at the universities (University of Auckland, University of Otago, Swinburne University of Technology, RMIT) have showed that one way of getting to know the right people in the innovation ecosystems in New Zealand and Australia is via entrepreneurial academics who abound in those countries. Being disadvantaged by being located on a far end of the world, New Zealanders and Australians are very keen to make their mark by becoming the early adopters and the co-developers of innovative technologies. Hence, they are ideal partners for OEMs and technology ventures looking for a partner in global markets.

Visits to the technology companies and the venture capital firms have showed the importance of dedication, perseverance and a relentless focus on creating world-class products. The mission has gathered leads for the cluster companies but, most importantly, it identified the people and the organizations which could act as counterparts for developing a LASER-GO network of contacts within the innovation ecosystems in New Zealand and Australia’s State of Victoria. The reciprocal visits from both countries to Europe have been planned and the exchanges between companies on the potential cross-sales of their products have started.

If one could summarize a cluster mission with one by-line, it would not be too far-fetched to say that “New Zealand and Australia have been finally rediscovered”.