State researchers made redundant

Two research sites are being shut down and 41 staff made redundant as a state-owned research company cuts costs in the face of three years of financial losses.

Industrial Research, which specialises in science for the manufacturing industry, will close its Christchurch and Auckland offices, with a total of 105 staff, but keep its Gracefield site in Wellington which has 300 staff. Some staff will be relocated to Wellington.

About half the redundancies were science staff, said chief executive Nigel Kirkpatrick.

He recognised the impact the cuts would have but said IRL had to cut costs. The company failed to reach revenue targets again this year.

"It is imperative and urgent that Industrial Research brings its resources into line with its income," he said.

"Meeting the expenditure needs of multiple sites is a burden the company can no longer carry."

IRL carries out research on a wide range projects for industry, everything from studying alternative energy technologies such as fuel cells to a pilot study in the Hokianga on growing saffron spice.

Yesterday Public Service Association national secretary Richard Wagstaff said the Government's competitive funding system through the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology contributed to problems at the state-owned science institute.

"The competitive model doesn't work, it makes everyone anxious and arguably promotes safe science because people go for what they know will be funded," he said.

IRL got around $25 million of Government money last year, but ran at a loss of $5 million. Mr Kirkpatrick said losses in the previous two years were slightly less.

Two spin-off companies set up by IRL, producing pharmaceuticals, had mixed fortunes in the past three years. Biopharm had made money before last year when "the market changed" and it ran at a loss, Mr Kirkpatrick said. The other company, Glycosyn, made a loss last year.