Bright Future (policy)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
‘Bright Future’ was an innovation policy initiated by the National government in New Zealand in 1999. Originally called ‘Five Steps Ahead’, it was designed to identify the areas in which New Zealand innovation could be under threat, including its tall poppy syndrome. It was overseen by the Ministry of Commerce, whose minister at the time was the Hon Max Bradford.
One of its first moves in 1999 was to award a knighthood to an individual, having found that New Zealanders tended not to support single successful people, and sided more with teams. Electronics' innovator Sir Angus Tait was the first deserving recipient. However, after the 1999 General Election, ‘Bright Future’ was scrapped, with the succeeding Labour government having considered it electioneering.
