Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce announced an extra $410.5 million to fund science projects over the next four years in today's budget.
The new funding is expected to push up cross-government spending on science and innovation to $1.6 billion a year by 2019/20, and is part of Joyce's drive to grow business investment in research and development to more than 1 percent of the economy.
The biggest beneficiary of the new funds is the Endeavour Fund with $113.8 million over the period. The fund replaced the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's contestable fund and has been tilted to long-term, high impact, mission-led programmes. A further $66 million has been earmarked for the Marsden Fund and $63 million for the Strategic Science Investment Fund, which provides a mechanism to start, monitor and contrast different initiatives.
"Innovative New Zealand is a major step towards delivering on the vision of the national statement of science investment, and also supports the Business Growth Agenda, which seeks to grow business investment in R&D to over 1 percent of GDP (gross domestic product)," Joyce said in a statement. "Creating a thriving, independent research sector will have a strong impact on New Zealand's productivity, prosperity and wellbeing."
