Helen Clark has today unveiled a $700 million funding boost for research, development and innovation projects and said the fund would grow to around $1 billion as it earned interest over the next 10 to 15 years.
OK, so the funding is targeted at New Zealand's pastoral and food industries. But it is a move I applaud. The timing of the announcement was fortuitous.
I spent this morning with Waikatolink, the commercialisation and technology transfer company of the University of Waikato. My trip included a meeting with Shane Stuart of FRST. The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology have made a research and development grant available to assist Pingar contract Waikatolink to design and develop some of the complex algorithms necessary for its publishing platform. This funding has allowed Pingar to speed up the development process and provide skills we did not possess in-house.
Next Monday and Tuesday, I will be attending the UK Technology, Innovation & Growth Forum in London. The Waikatolink input into the Pingar platform has been crucial. Today's announcement will hopefully allow companies engaged in New Zealand's pastoral and food industries to take advantage of similar funding sources to enable them to commercialise their product in the global market. Today's announcement is welcome.
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