The New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) engaged Deloitte Access Economics to define and map New Zealand’s space economy and estimate the contribution it makes to New Zealand’s economy.

Deloitte Access Economics distributed a survey to organisations across New Zealand’s space economy. Out of the 220 surveys distributed and 119 unique responses, 104 responses were deemed suitable for analysis. The information gathered from survey responses was augmented with desktop research, financial data and direct consultations.

Key results and additional analysis:

• The New Zealand space economy is New Space driven, characterised by a mix of start-up and well-established, small and large entrepreneur-driven and privately-funded space companies which service both government and non-government customers. This is in contrast with traditional space economies where large-scale government activity has been a major driver.
• The direct contribution of the space economy to New Zealand GDP (value added by the activities of businesses within the space economy) in 2018-19 was $897 million, representing a value-added share of 51% of total revenue. 
• The indirect contribution of the space economy to the New Zealand economy, i.e. the value added by the space economy’s expenditure on goods and services used in the production process in 2018-19 was $789 million.
• Space directly supports an estimated 5,000 full-time equivalent roles (FTEs). Total employment, including indirect effects, was 12,000 FTE jobs.