R&D schemes set scene for NZ to boost science spend

IRL Chief Executive Shaun Coffey has applauded the introduction of the technology transfer voucher funding scheme announced recently by the Government but says the country as a whole can do more.

The objective of the voucher program is to bring more technology and knowledge from the science sector to the business community. The first phase of the program is aimed at the high-value manufacturing and services sector.

“IRL is delighted to be included in the first phase of the program. While it is widely understood that our public sector investment in research science and technology is low by OECD standards, our private sector investment is even further below that of our key trading partners. This scheme, I hope, will go some way to redressing these imbalances,” says Coffey.

Vouchers will provide a business with 50% funding to enable access to research services and expertise from publicly funded Accredited Research Organisations for a specific R&D project.

IRL recently launched its own program to help businesses improve their uptake of R&D. The IRL Co-investment Programme is designed to help firms get products to market with much lower development costs. Under the scheme, qualifying companies will get the opportunity to develop their ideas into prototypes and proofs of concept at a heavily discounted rate.

This scheme follows on from IRL’s successful $1 million R&D competition - What’s Your Problem New Zealand. “After running the competition we realised that New Zealand firms were very keen on utilising R&D to create innovative products but they needed some assistance,” says Coffey.

He says he hopes the IRL Co-investment Programme will enable many new ideas to leap off the drawing board and secure further investment in due course.

“I am confident that the government will extend the technology transfer voucher scheme to other sectors in time and I challenge other R&D providers to come up with their own innovative schemes to complement and support this initiative.