Hitting The Science Reset Button

BusinessNZ welcomes the Government’s announcement effectively 'resetting' the science system to deliver better economic growth and productivity for New Zealand.

Director of Advocacy Catherine Beard also welcomes the announcement regarding a special "one stop shop" agency for foreign investment.

"These are policy improvements we have advocated for, so we are pleased to see action on reprioritising of taxpayer investment."

Beard says New Zealand has previously invested far less in innovation (1.47% of GDP in 2021) than the rest of the OECD average (2.74%) and that there is a strong correlation between high performing economies and investment on innovation.

"Businesses have been faced with a complex system that is hard to navigate across various pots of funding, and crown research institutions were competing on overlapping projects.

"The simplification of the system and the change to allow creators of intellectual property to keep some of the value should be a welcome incentive.

"BusinessNZ looks forward to working with Ministers and the research science and innovation sector to get our research brains and business sector better connected and producing more export returns for NZ."

BusinessNZ’s paper on overseas investment and research science and innovation can be found on our website: businessnz.org.nz

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