Researchers told: Work together to boost innovation

The inability of New Zealand’s research, science and innovation sector to co-ordinate its efforts at home and abroad is the biggest challenge to lifting its performance, say government officials.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is seeking feedback on the government’s draft research, science and innovation strategy. The “ambitious” agenda covers moving to a zero-carbon economy, supporting regional economic growth, protecting the environment and creating high-value jobs.

It sets out an eight-year target to lift national research and development spending to 2 per cent of gross domestic product from almost 1.4 per cent today. To achieve that, businesses will need to spend $4 billion a year on R&D, almost twice the $2.15b spent in 2018. Also, the government will have to lift its own spending to almost $3b from $1.6b now. That excludes the cost of the new R&D tax incentive regime.

The document singles out weak connectivity as the key challenge facing the sector. That includes a local research community operating in isolated “silos”, limited links between researchers and users of that research, and an insular focus on New Zealand — rather than international peers — as the frame of reference for researchers, innovators and institutions.

While New Zealand produces a lot of research, it has struggled to convert that into new products or services. New Zealand universities and public research centres file fewer patents than their OECD peers and other small advanced economies.

The draft strategy proposes adding connections to the existing principles of excellence and impact to help guide future investment and policy decisions.

MBIE will have to re-examine some rules about how its system functions, the report says, including policies on open access to data and research and the incentives for researchers and innovators to connect and to share information freely.