Hundreds of teenagers have packed The Cloud on Auckland’s Princes Wharf this week for the Robotics World Cup, blissfully unaware that they are not there solely for the purpose of squaring off against rival teams in battles of engineering skill.

Just 50 metres away, representatives of the technology industry are eagerly scouting passing youths, occasionally trying to tempt them with interactive presentations and promises of riches.

This is the Technology Jobs Fair, where representatives from businesses such as Fisher and Paykel and Orion Health, as well as learning institutes like Massey University and NatColl, are promoting the technology industry as a promising, vibrant, and lucrative place to work.

Last month, the deputy CEO of Crown research institute Industrial Research Limited (IRL), Drew Stein, told the New Zealand Technology Trade & Investment Forum that while agriculture and tourism can continue to be the twin pillars of the New Zealand economy, the future of growth lies in technology.

Indeed, in a way, no-one has benefitted from the digital revolution more than us. Our separation from the global market makes manufacturing very difficult because of the overwhelming transport disadvantage. In information technology, though, our innovations can and do compete on an even footing with those of the rest of the world. 

The money is coming, with the government currently halfway through its four-year science and technology research funding incentive programme, not to mention investing in projects like the SmallWorlds online platform from Auckland-based developers Outsmart.

However, the industry continues to struggle with a skills shortage. NZICT, which organised both the Robotics World Cup and the Technology Jobs Fair, says it is a ‘perennial issue that has limited the growth of the industry for many years’.

Joshua Smyth, a game developer representing the New Zealand Game Developers Association, says the New Zealand game development industry grew by 46% in the last year, and if we see the same this year, businesses aren’t going to be able to cope.

"We want to show that there is a real gaming industry in New Zealand,” Smyth says.

"The industry is so massive, there is a need for people who can make games, so we need to encourage kids to see there’s a career in something like that.”

Ken Waller, manager of a design studio partnered with NatColl, agrees that the demand is outweighing supply.

"Graduates get snapped up real quick,” Waller says.

However, there are signs the tech industry is becoming more recognised, particularly the gaming industry, which has ‘grown up’ since the establishment of the NZGDA in 2001, Smyth says.

"It’s very much at the intersection between the creative and the technical,” Smyth says.

"There’s not just web design and accounting.”

Image source here.