What we do

The purpose of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is to be a catalyst for a high performing economy to ensure New Zealand’s lasting prosperity and wellbeing.  

MBIE develops and delivers policy, services, advice and regulation to support business growth and the prosperity and wellbeing of all New Zealanders. 

MBIE integrates the functions of four former agencies – the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Department of Labour and the Department of Building and Housing.

We are the lead agency for delivering Better Public Services for business – including creating a one-stop online shop for all government advice and support to businesses. We’re working to reduce the effort businesses put into dealing with government, and raise performance ratings for government savings.

MBIE also drives the Government’s business growth agenda by:

• Backing New Zealand’s talent, ideas and enterprise
• Supporting a better environment and better prospects for business
• Helping improve the way Government works with business
• Read more about our work

Backing New Zealand’s talent, ideas and enterprise

• Building trusted, competitive and effectively regulated markets with participation from confident businesses and well informed consumers.
• Ensuring that businesses have access to the skills they need, and that current and future demand for skill is matched by supply.
• Ensuring safe and fair workplaces.
• Developing and supporting a high-performing science and innovation system.
• Lifting firms’ capability – including ideas, access to capital and relationships – so they can succeed internationally.
• Supporting the development of efficient, effective infrastructure.
• Enhancing the value of New Zealand’s natural resources

Supporting a better environment and better prospects for business

• Building skills: Better integration of business-facing and labour market policies so businesses can recruit people with relevant skills and New Zealanders have the skills they need to secure good employment.
• Building innovation: Supporting New Zealand to generate ideas and use them to build internationally successful businesses. Some examples are:
  • Funding for and incentivising research and tertiary institutions and scientists.
  • Policy on intellectual property, competition and early stage capital.
  • Delivering broadband as an enabler of innovation.
• Supporting access to capital: Having a holistic view of capital markets and being well placed to identify and address barriers to businesses accessing the capital they need on competitive terms.
• Supporting access to resources: Ensuring that Ministers and other decision makers have the scientific and economic evidence base they need to make decisions about allocating natural resources and managing potential environmental impacts.
• Building exports: Supporting a stronger two-way flow of ideas, people, capital, goods and services for New Zealand by establishing clear policy priorities; supporting market access negotiations; and drawing on the contributions of the Crown Research Institutes, Immigration New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and the Venture Investment Fund.
• Effective infrastructure: Supporting the development of the core infrastructure that supports a strong economy, including energy, communications, transport and housing.

Helping improve the way Government works with business

MBIE brings together a significant part of the public sector to shape and deliver a stronger economy. This means:

• Clear, coordinated and focussed policy leadership. For example, aligning economic policy, innovation policy and skills and labour market policy to support higher business performance and growth.
• More integrated advice, services and regulation for business.
• It’s easier to do business and seek advice from government.
• Government services organised to meet business needs – including improved coordination and reduced duplication.

More about our work

To read more about the work that MBIE is delivering to support a strong economy and NZ’s prosperity and wellbeing, visit our websites.