Advanced Technologies.
Auckland combines a strong digital technology sector with growing capability in AI, quantum, photonics and other frontier technologies.
Sector Overview
Technology is a priority for Auckland and for the New Zealand Government. Frontier tech has been a big focus, with an initial NZ$231 million investment in AI and advanced technology, and three international quantum communication research partnerships established in 2025.
The public research body New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology (NZIAT) actively connects frontier research with frontier firms to translate cutting-edge science into real-world impact. This is in addition to an already well-established enterprise software sector, where over 80% of revenue from Auckland's top-tier tech companies is derived from international exports.
Auckland has a diverse, globally connected ecosystem of Kiwi companies competing at scale across many technology sub-sectors. Its top companies demonstrate high innovation, compelling work cultures, scalable business models and strong investment support.
Why Auckland for Advanced Technologies?
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1.
New Zealand’s largest technology centre
Auckland-headquartered TIN200 companies* generated NZ$10.5 billion in revenue in FY2025, the highest regional total in New Zealand. The region also accounted for 52% of national technology-sector employment in 2024, playing a critical role in New Zealand’s economy and giving investors access to the country’s largest concentration of technology talent.
*The top 200 technology export companies in New Zealand, ranked by the Technology Investment Network (TIN).
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Government-backed research
The New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology (NZIAT), headquartered in Auckland, is backed by more than NZ$231 million in government funding over four years. Working with universities, research organisations, industry and investors, it helps turn emerging science into commercial opportunities in AI, advanced materials and quantum technologies.
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Connected innovation infrastructure
GridAKL, Auckland Council's innovation hub, opened in 2015. It supports Auckland's startup ecosystem through founder programmes, events, workspace, mentoring and connections. GridAKL helps startup founders build capability, grow their businesses, access networks and investment, and contribute to Auckland's innovation economy. Auckland Startup Week, delivered annually by Auckland Council, brings together founders, investors, enablers, corporates and researchers to strengthen connections across the innovation ecosystem. The week provides investors with exposure to emerging companies, innovative technologies and high-growth investment opportunities.
Ecosystem
ORGANISATIONS
Businesses
Research and Funding
Success story
Auror: an Auckland software company taking on a US$180 billion global crime problem
Auror shows how a homegrown software company can build a category-defining platform in Auckland and take it to some of the world's largest retailers. Founded in 2012 by Phil Thomson, Tom Batterbury and James Corbett, who were named EY Entrepreneur of the Year New Zealand winners in 2022, the company set out to tackle a problem retailers had long treated as unavoidable: retail crime. It is one of the highest-volume crimes anywhere, yet it is widely underreported, and the incidents that were recorded tended to sit in separate store systems, spreadsheets and paper logs that never captured the true scale of the offending or gave police enough to act on.
Auror's Retail Crime Intelligence platform changes that. It lets retailers record crime consistently, identify repeat offenders and see the patterns across incidents, then share that intelligence securely with police to stop the most prolific, violent and organised offenders. The platform is now used in more than 85,000 stores and helps protect around six million frontline retail workers across New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and Canada. Independent economists estimate that its use by New Zealand Police has generated nearly NZ$100 million in productivity gains, the equivalent of adding more than 450 officers to the force.
Auror has grown worldwide while keeping Auckland as its base. Around 150 of its 270 staff are in New Zealand, and Auckland remains the company's largest office and its research and development home. In 2024 Auror raised NZ$82 million in a Series C round led by W23 Global, the venture capital arm of Woolworths Group, alongside Axon Enterprise and Reinventure. The funding supports the company's international expansion and further research and development.
Auror's growth shows how an Auckland-founded enterprise software company can develop technology at home and scale from Auckland into international markets.
Work with us
Meet Dr Maile Giffin, our advanced tech specialist.
Focuses on the growth of Auckland’s frontier technology and cleantech sectors through targeted industry initiatives.
