Reaction: Linking R&D with fees regrettable

Professor Philip Sallis is deputy vice-chancellor of Auckland University of Technology and manager of AUT's Technology Park incubator.

Professor Sallis is disappointed increases in research funding for tertiary institutions are conditional on accepting the government's offer on subsidies for all students.

"I would have liked the Government to recognise the realistic costs of delivering tertiary education in adequate funding and not have tied that issue with providing funding for basic research."

The budget announced a new contestable Centres of Research Excellence Fund worth $40.6 million in operating expenditure over four years with a one-off $20 million capital injection to invest in strategic research assets in the first year.

Associate Minister of Education Steve Maharey said to have access to the fund "an institution will have to agree to stabilise its fees."

Professor Sallis said there were also issues to be resolved about how centres of excellence would be defined and what were the excellence priorities.

But he was more positive about the funding boost for the Incubator Support Programme, delivered through Industry New Zealand.

Budget funding raises the 2000-01 awards pool by $400,000 to $950,000 and increases the total funding from 2001-02 onward by $1.2 million to $1.8 million.

From 2001-02 the awards will total $1.5 million, with the remaining $350,000 covering administration and a national Incubator Network service.

"It doesn't provide an awful lot for the 19 incubators around the country. But it's a start."

He said:" The follow-on funding for sustainable development of incubators - to provide an environment where software and technology businesses can grow - is vital."

Professor Sallis saw the $100 million seed fund as the highlight of the budget." It's good news and should really help fledgling startups and innovators."

John Blackham of software company Xsol said funding for incubators was at the right level.

"A small amount makes people work harder and think about how to use it. There's no one incubator model out there that can say for sure that they've got it right. We're all learning."

He had a similar view about the new funding of $11.6 million for research which includes an extra $2.3 million for the New Economy Research Fund, which supports cutting-edge research with commercial prospects.

There is also a $2 million increase for the Marsden Fund, which supports excellent 'blue skies' or basic research.

There is $5 million to move health research to a fully-funded basis and $1 million more for environmental research.

"Most of these are baby steps towards transforming our economy," he said.

www.nzherald.co.nz/budget

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