The incubator support programme seeks to enhance the survival and growth of early-stage, high-growth businesses via the development of high-quality incubators. It currently contributes to eight incubators.
High-growth business may have ‘born global’ aspirations, as the domestic market is generally too small to sustain high growth, particularly in areas of new technology.
Entrepreneurial growth in New Zealand is constrained by the structure and size of our economy and distance from major markets. Because of these factors, support to early stage businesses with high-growth-potential is needed. While, in principle, incubators could be self-sustainable, in order to do so they would have to work in less risky areas, thus diluting the desired effect. Government intervention can enhance the incubator’s focus to the risky early-stage development of high-growth start-ups – an area where commercial operators are absent.