NZ tech sector has what it takes to attract international investment - industry boss

The tech sector says it has what it takes to woo international investors, who have come courting.

A number of large tech sector investors were currently in the country, after taking advantage of a limited easing of border restrictions late last year.

Tech New Zealand chief executive Graeme Muller said the industry had what takes to attract the investment necessary to help more tech firms scale to a global size, with a number already doing that.

He said investors will want to see if there were government policies in place to support tech organisations and the firms.

"Is there opportunity for these firms to access talent internationally, so not just be locked into this market, but do they have the internal structures and capabilities to tap into global skills markets anywhere."

While the ongoing border had slowed down international recruitment, Muller said that also offered an opportunity for firms to prove their resilience.

"We have a lot of companies at the moment looking for a lot of people and so it's pretty easy to see from an internal organisational perspective, whether they've developed the capabilities to tap into the global market to access skills," he said, adding those who had developed that capability would be able to demonstrate that.

In addition, he said the government was working with industry to develop a digital transformation plan.

He said there was competition between investors with the industry attracting billions of dollars of investment over the past year.

"That flows back into helping the next wave of early stage companies coming through."

Muller said the only real inhibitor was access to skills, which was a global issue.

"If we can find some sort of competitive advantage in that space, get better at upskilling locally in New Zealand, get better at getting people from education into the tech sector and get better at accessing the best talent from around the world and getting back into New Zealand. We stand to do really well."