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A couple of posts caught my eye this morning, representing very closely related discussions from opposite sides of the globe.

One from New Zealand, and a second from the United Kingdom.

Rod Drury, CEO of Xero, shares some insight into discussions taking place in New Zealand around how to encourage increased growth in the local IT industry by putting the right policy framework in place.

Some of the conclusions and ideas include;

Some of the general themes we’d like as an industry would be around

• Encouraging more people into the industry
• Certification programs
• Immigration
• Education

But what would be some specific and measurable things we could achieve if we worked together?

Here are some that I’ve been thinking of.

1. Establishment of an ICT procurement ombudsman, so that procurement issues can be raised without the vendor being penalized in the market.
2. A work visa program between New Zealand and Silicon Valley so that we can send our talented people up to work there for a few years and bring experts down here tightening the relationship between ourselves and the center of the tech universe.
3. R&D tax credits limits lifted if you are exporting products developed from that R&D.
4. The industry supporting Government initiatives on Online Identity Management for individuals and businesses facilitating electronic commerce. We could lead the world here.

Rod goes on to invite wider participation in this conversation, I suspect he is looking for strong voices from New Zealand, personally I think this is a good discussion to be having across the region.

There are some interesting ideas being raised in the comments.

At the same time my colleague Jerry Fishenden posted a list of sound bytes from NESTA’s Innovation Edge event that was held in the UK this week.

The final quote that Jerry picked up gives a lot of food for thought;

“In the 20 years to come there will be more innovation and disruption than in the last 100 years”

Every national government should probably be asking itself how it prepares for the significant change that will be driven by innovation in the IT industry, how it will position it’s local economy and how it will manage the social evolutions that these changes will bring.

The whole list is worth a read, and I think complements the conversation that Rod is having in New Zealand pretty well.

Much like the current dip in activity around eGovernment, discussions and policy that relate to how we create the right environment for a thriving IT industry in countries around the region seem to have slipped in priority over recent years.

It is encouraging to see these conversations appearing back on the agenda and bringing forth new thinking and ideas.