Most government support for technology is either too small to matter or buried under so much process that no owner has time to chase it. The MBIE AI Advisory Pilot is a rare exception. It pays half the cost of getting AI working in your business, up to a real number, and it is running right now.

If you own a New Zealand business and you have been putting off doing something serious with AI because the cost felt hard to justify, this is the part where the maths changes.

What the pilot actually is

The AI Advisory Pilot is a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment programme delivered through the Regional Business Partner Network. It co-funds up to 50 percent of the cost of working with an expert to identify AI opportunities and put practical solutions into your day-to-day operations, to a maximum of $15,000 per business.

Read that again, because the detail matters. It is not a training voucher and it is not a strategy grant. It co-funds the work of identifying opportunities and implementing them. That is the difference between a document that sits in a drawer and a system that runs in your business.

Following strong demand, the government expanded the pilot. It now supports up to 150 businesses, up from an initial 50, and the end date has been pushed out to 31 January 2027. Places are limited and applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so the window is open but it is not open forever.

The number that matters

The headline is simple. On a $30,000 AI engagement, the pilot covers $15,000 and you cover $15,000. On a $20,000 engagement, it covers $10,000. The co-funding is capped at $15,000, so the full subsidy lands on projects around the $30,000 mark and above.

The money is paid directly to your advisory firm. You pay only your share. There is no waiting months for a reimbursement and no fronting the whole cost and hoping it comes back. You pay your half, the government pays the other half straight to the firm doing the work.

Who can qualify

The pilot is aimed at established small and medium businesses that are ready to do something practical with AI rather than just talk about it. To be eligible you generally need to be a New Zealand registered business, have fewer than 500 employees, have been operating for at least 12 months, and not already be receiving other government AI funding. You also need to be able to fund your half, and to be a customer of the Regional Business Partner Network. Prior AI experience is not required. The pilot is built for businesses that are getting started.

If you are not sure whether you already sit inside the Regional Business Partner Network, your local partner can tell you in a single phone call. In Auckland that is the Auckland Business Chamber. For the exact current criteria, confirm with your local Regional Business Partner, because the details are managed at that level.

Why this favours doing, not planning

There is a whole category of AI consulting in New Zealand right now that sells you an assessment and a roadmap, takes the co-funding, and hands you a slide deck. The plan reads well. Six months later nothing in your business has changed, because a plan is not an operating system.

The pilot funds implementation, not just advice, and that is the part to hold firms to. When you use co-funding, the question is not “will I get a strategy,” it is “what will actually be running in my business when this finishes.” Ask any advisory firm you talk to exactly that. If the answer is a report, keep your money. If the answer is working automations around the tools you already use, with your team trained to run them, that is what the pilot is for.

At Enterprise DNA we build and operate the layer, we do not stop at the plan. Reporting that updates itself, client communication that never slips, intake and admin that runs in the background, all with human approval gates and a clear record of what the system did. You own everything we build, and you could run it without us. That portability is deliberate.

Where to start, for free

Here is the sequence that wastes the least of your time and money.

First, find out what is actually worth funding. Before you commit to a $30,000 engagement and an application, you want a clear, honest read on where AI removes the most work in your specific business. That is what our AI Operations Audit does, and it costs nothing.

In about 60 minutes we map where your team loses hours to repeated manual work, messy data trapped in spreadsheets and inboxes, and admin that grows faster than your headcount. You walk away with the three to five workflows where AI pays off first, an idea of the effort involved, and a straight answer on whether a co-funded engagement makes sense for you. No obligation, no charge.

Second, if the numbers stack up, you scope the engagement and apply for the pilot through the Regional Business Partner Network. Decisions typically come back within three to four weeks, and approved engagements run for up to six months.

Most owners find the audit clarifies the whole thing. It turns “we should probably do something with AI” into a short list of specific, fundable projects with a number attached. That is the point where the government paying half stops being an abstract headline and becomes a concrete plan.

The honest summary

The government will co-fund up to half of getting AI genuinely working in your business, up to $15,000, through to January 2027, and places are capped at 150. That is a real subsidy on real work, not a token gesture. The businesses that move first will have their systems running while everyone else is still reading about the funding.

The free AI Operations Audit is how you find out what is worth funding before you spend a cent. Sixty minutes, a clear map, and a straight answer. Book the audit and we will work out where AI earns its place in your business, and whether the government should be paying for half of it.

Programme details are drawn from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and Beehive.govt.nz. Eligibility and funding are set by MBIE and delivered through the Regional Business Partner Network. Confirm current criteria with your local Regional Business Partner before applying.