By Brian Fallow
WELLINGTON - Parliament's science and education select committee is disturbed that the Government is falling behind its self-imposed target for public spending on research, science and technology.
In 1996, the Government set itself the goal of increasing its spending on research and development to 0.8 per cent of gross domestic product by 2010. It is about 0.6 per cent now.
This year's Budget increased the research science and technology vote by $14.8 million, about half as much as the select committee estimates would be needed to be on track to reach the 2010 goal. The same was true last year.
"This Budget takes us into the 21st century, but it does not signal the financial commitment to research and development the next century will demand," the committee said.
It is also worried, it said, that there appears to be no way of measuring the effectiveness of the more than $400 million spent through the research, science and technology vote.
The Ministry of Research Science and Technology's recently published Blueprint for Change sets out in general terms the outcomes sought. Examples are: "Increasing technological intensity in New Zealand firms" and "Building knowledge and understanding of social processes and dynamics".
Such aims, its says, set the context for the ministry to negotiate a set of expectations and indicators with the agencies which decide where to spend the money, and for them in turn to do the same with science providers.
The MPs were unconvinced, however. "There appears to be a lot of faith that the new policy will achieve its aims but there is no measurable way of knowing when they are achieved."
MPs slam Govt on R&D spend
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