The Government is investing in ambitious research that will digitise Te Reo, grow the low-carbon protein efficient aquaculture industry, help interpret environmental trends, and large data sets says Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods.

The four projects range from teaching Siri to speak Te Reo to crunching large amounts of environmental data collected via satellites.

“The projects were chosen on excellence, and will help New Zealand to address some of our greatest challenges like bringing Te Reo into everyday digital interactions, and building a picture of climatic and ecological trends,” Megan Woods says.

“To harness the benefits of data science, New Zealand needs to be at the forefront of emerging data science technologies. The new investment will significantly lift New Zealand’s capability, provide fresh and ambitious thinking to support international and national collaborations in cutting edge data science research.”

Collectively the programmes provide a wide coverage of data science research and make good use of unique New Zealand data sets. They have strong domestic and international collaborations involving a number of New Zealand universities and research organisations with strong links to end users.

“Greater use of advanced data science across the economy, environment and society will create new ways of working, helping to position New Zealand for a sustainable, prosperous and inclusive future,” says Megan Woods.

Data science involves extracting useful information through different methods of recording, storing, and analysing data.

The investment comes through the Strategic Science Investment Fund (SSIF). The SSIF’s purpose is to establish and support longer-term research programmes of mission-led science critical to the future of New Zealand’s economy, environment and wellbeing. This is the first SSIF investment in a fund dedicated to data science research.

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