By Yoke Har Lee
The first applications for financial support from the New Economy Research Fund will probably be called next month, with the fund operating by January and $36.25 million available by July 2000.
The Foundation for Research Science and Technology, which will allocate funding, hopes to have its terms of reference finalised by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology "within a couple of days," Dr Steve Thompson, chief executive of the foundation, told the Business Herald.
Because the fund would be focused on scientific research with a commercial target, Dr Thompson said, the foundation would form an advisory panel to help choose the projects it would back.
He signalled that it would include specialists with a track record in market opportunity development, although the size of the panel had not yet been decided.
What concerns Dr Thompson, however, is the perception that the fund should operate similar to a venture fund.
"The people [who think the foundation is the wrong choice for administering the fund] seem to have the wrong idea that we are down the venture capital end."
The new body was not meant to be giving money to companies typically financed by venture funds. Its aim was to back good science which could lead to the development of new industries, he said.
"In the documents coming from the Government, the fund is positioned as an investigator-initiated technology push." He defined this as targeted science.
"It is a technology push with a gleam in your eye - it is scientists saying, 'wow we can see some commercial possibilities if some basic science questions can be solved'.
"It is also scientists saying, 'we have got something that might work here but there is still an awful lot of science to be put in place'."
One hypothetical example Dr Thompson cited was in optical computers. They were now based on computer chips powered by electrons. But scientists thought using photons might be possible and research was ongoing.
And in the biotechnology area, gene mapping was widely available. But how to use it in medical science was still being explored.
By January, the new fund will have $5.625 million available, and this will later be raised to $11.25 million. The Government also intends to transfer $25 million from the Public Good Science Fund, bringing total funds by July 2000 to $36.25 million.
The chief policy adviser for the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, Dr Paul Reynolds, said the only other contender to administer the fund was the Royal Society.
He said the foundation had competence in the area of science funding. "It had the systems and procedures in place, which means it could rapidly get up to speed [to be the purchasing agent]."
Research fund will have $36m available by July
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