The minister of digital economy and communications, David Clark, has announced $20 million in funding for the government's yet to be finalised Digital Technologies Industry Transformation Plan (ITP) over the next four years.
Clark said the money will go towards supporting two key ITP initiatives.
They include helping the software-as-a-service (SaaS) community in the country with marketing efforts in global markets such as the United States, Australia and Europe, Clark said.
The government also wants to address an industry sector skills mismatch, and help train domestic talent and encourage New Zealanders to participate in the tech workforce.
As part of that, the government is introducing incentives for technology world leaders to move to the country.
This includes fast-tracking residency applications on the government's Green List for senior staff roles.
Among the roles Clark listed are information and communications technology managers, software engineers, as well as security and multimedia specialists.
Employees for the latter two professions need to be paid more than $120,000 and $95,000 a year respectively to qualify for the Green List.
Clark said the IT sector will help guide New Zealand towards a high-wage, low emissions economy, and has contributed $7.4 billion to the economy since 2020.
Since 2015, the IT sector has grown on average 77 per cent faster than the general economy.
The government wants to rebrand New Zealand as a global contendener in the tech market, and is committed to further industry initiatives that will be outlined in the finalised ITP, which is to be released in the coming months, Clark added.
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