Endeavour Fund to invest $248m in research

Funding has been awarded for 68 new science research projects that will benefit New Zealand environmentally, economically, and socially, Science and Innovation Minister Paul Goldsmith announced today.

The funding, totalling $248 million over the next five years, has been invested through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) 2017 Endeavour Fund, which received an $81.9 million funding boost over four years in Budget 2017.

“The Endeavour Fund is an important tool in the Government’s ten-year vision for a highly dynamic New Zealand science system,” Mr Goldsmith says.

“The Fund looks for transformative initiatives that propose excellent research and have strong potential to improve a range of outcomes for New Zealand, such as marine ecosystems and hybrid energy.

“This year the quality of applications was exceptional, and a diverse range of applications were received which will address some really important issues facing New Zealand.”

As part of the 2017 Endeavour Fund round, up to $15 million per year in total will be invested in 41 projects under the ‘Smart Ideas’ initiative over the next three years. Smart Ideas are innovative research projects that have a high potential to benefit New Zealand.

Up to $43 million per year in total will be invested in 27 Research Programmes over the next five years. Research Programmes support ambitious, well-defined research ideas, which have high potential to positively transform areas of future value, growth or critical need to New Zealand.

Some examples of the successful 2017 Endeavour Fund proposals include:

• Developing hybrid-electric aircraft (Victoria University of Wellington);

• Recovering the trajectories of the marine ecosystem from the Kaikōura earthquakes (University of Canterbury);

• Improving NZ Pinot noir production (New Zealand Winegrowers);

• Exploring new technologies to improve weather forecasting (MetOcean Solutions Limited);

• Developing new charging technology for electric vehicles while parked or moving (University of Auckland).

“I want to congratulate all of the successful applicants and I look forward to seeing the new ideas and discoveries made possible by this investment,” Mr Goldsmith says.

The successful proposals were selected by the Science Board on 30 August, an independent statutory Board, following a review by independent experts. The new research contracts will begin on 1 October 2017.

More information on the successful proposals can be found HERE.

ENDS

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