New Zealand
Falling behindAsia-PacificHigh income
Power #40 / 48Per-capita #23
Cognitive Power
19.1
of 100 · #40
CPI
19.1
CC
53.5
CDI
0.536
AIR
39.4
AIX
35.7
CRI
43.1
CM
41.7
CV
3.3%
Primary · absolute lens
Cognitive Power
19.1 · #40/48
Total national capacity — AI capital, compute, models & robotics. Strongest in researchers (total), economic mass, research output (total).
Per-capita lens
Cognitive Coefficient
53.5 · #23/48
How deep infrastructure runs per person — rewards intensity, like GDP-per-capita or the HDI.
CC projection to 2040 — Baseline
All 8 scenarios →Monte-Carlo band (P10–P90) around the median path. Dashed = illustrative historical reconstruction.
Median (P50)P10–P90 bandReconstruction
Pillar profile
Insight engine
New Zealand ranks #23 of 48 on the Cognitive Coefficient (53.5/100), with a trajectory classified as Falling behind relative to the frontier. Its strongest pillars are data, digital literacy; the binding constraints are compute, ai adoption.
Risks
- Low cognitive resilience: heavy reliance on externally-controlled frontier infrastructure.
- Relative position is eroding — growth pace trails the frontier, widening the gap.
Opportunities
- Largest headroom in Compute (20.7/100) — targeted investment compounds fastest here.
- Largest headroom in AI Adoption (28.7/100) — targeted investment compounds fastest here.
Recommended actions
- Prioritise the weakest pillar (Compute) to lift the geometric-mean development index (CDI).
- Convert access into utilization: workforce AI-skilling and agentic-workflow adoption.
- Broaden the base (education + data governance) to raise resilience and reduce concentration risk.
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These are model outputs and scenarios, not forecasts of actual outcomes. This platform measures access to, utilization of, and leverage from cognitive infrastructure — not intelligence. No causality or certainty is claimed.