By Alexander Speirs Supported by an Asia New Zealand Foundation media travel grant, NZ Herald reporter Alexander Speirs travelled to China earlier this year to investigate the national drive towards innovation as the country’s economy moves into a new phase. His reports were published in the New Zealand Herald’s China Business Report. Speirs is a member of Asia New Zealand’s …

Innovation is the lifeblood of the New Zealand economy. In the 2015 Innovation report, we investigated how California continued to drive evolution as competition for entrepreneurs heightens. We drew lessons from some of the world’s most innovative US companies and talked to New Zealand trailblazers there. We examined NZ innovation trends from software through to clean-tech and green-tech and looked …

New Zealand recorded a smaller-than-expected trade surplus in February, led by declining dairy exports, while the annual deficit widened to the largest in more than five years. Statistics New Zealand said the trade surplus was $50 million in February, lower than the $392 million expected in a Reuters poll of economists. January’s surplus was revised down to $33 million, from $56 million. The …