The New Zealand government on Tuesday set a goal of raising research and development spending by both businesses and government in order to encourage innovation and make the country more competitive.

Launching the government's Building Innovation report, Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce said the country had a long way to go in R&D spending.

The report targeted raising the amount businesses spend on R&D from 0.54 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 to more than 1 percent. The average for the Organization for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) group of developed countries was 1.62 percent of GDP.

It also had the goal of raising government R&D funding from 0.6 percent of GDP to 0.8 percent. The OECD average was 0.73 percent.

Total New Zealand expenditure on GDP in 2010 was 1.3 percent of GDP, compared with the OECD average of 2.4 percent.

"We are making good progress in areas like lifting business R&D, but we started from a low base so we have quite a way to go," Joyce said in a statement.

The report provided comprehensive details and updates on more than 50 government policy initiatives covering areas including business innovation, competition policy, public science, research institutions, the innovation workforce, innovation infrastructure, intellectual property law, and international linkages.

The government was aiming to increase R&D spending by co- funding programs with private companies.

Initiatives to grow business R&D further included the development of a national Advanced Technology Institute and encouraging multinational firms to invest in doing R&D in New Zealand.

"To get higher economic growth and greater prosperity, New Zealand as a whole will have to keep investing more in innovation it's as simple as that," Joyce said.

"We want to make New Zealand a more innovative, internationally competitive nation. More investment in R&D will allow our businesses to grow bigger and faster."

Other initiatives highlighted in the report included encouraging the development of innovation parks, increasing government investment in the teaching of engineering and science students, and improving the settings for intellectual property.

New Zealand business groups welcomed the report, saying a culture of innovation is needed to catapult New Zealand's economic performance.

"Recognizing that there are many ways to facilitate knowledge- based industries and that innovative businesses can spring from any sectors, it is encouraging to see the wide range of actions taken by Government to advance innovation," Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly said in a statement.

However, opposition political parties said the report lacked innovative thinking and set low targets.

"Other small countries have innovation rates three times that target and we need to set our sights higher," leader of the main opposition Labor Party David Shearer said in a statement.

The opposition Green Party said the government's weakening of environmental regulations such as the Emissions Trading Scheme, was sending the wrong signals to the private sector about the role of innovation in the New Zealand economy.

The number of patents issued since the center-right National Party-led coalition came to power in 2008 had "flat-lined," Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman said in a statement.

(Source: Xinhua)