Excellence in commercialising research

Welcome

Thank you for the invitation to attend this dinner and the opportunity to be a part of this celebration of sixteen years of excellence in commercialising research. UniServices has made a significant contribution to the transformation of the New Zealand economy with the great science being done here at Auckland University.

I appreciate this chance to hear David Drummond’s perspective on New Zealand and our research, science and technology system.

Thanking John Kernohan

I am also pleased to participate in marking the departure of Dr John Kernohan, and in recognising the contribution he has made.

Your sixteen years as Chief Executive at UniServices have been marked with numerous major successes both here in New Zealand and overseas, and I would like to thank you for the contribution you have made, not only to Auckland University, but to all of New Zealand. Your work has contributed to raising New Zealand’s reputation for research excellence overseas.

With every closing door a new one opens, and I am sure we are all looking forward to the successes Dr Peter Lee will bring about for UniServices.

Linking research and industry

The government sees linking research and industry as one of the key areas to continuing New Zealand’s transformation. UniServices is doing an admirable job linking research providers in long term relationships with key sectors. The last budget saw a significant increase in funding for research that supports core industries in New Zealand.

That budget included $6.5 million of new money for the New Economy Research Fund which invests in investigator-initiated research and new capability development. There was also $17.3 million dollars of new money for the Research for Industry Fund to develop and maintain the capability in the research, science and technology sector.

We also increased funding by $1.5 million for Technology for Industry Fellowships so researchers can bring new knowledge to businesses.

There are now a number of important initiatives designed to promote international collaboration. One of the major programmes was the creation of the International Investment Opportunities Fund to encourage the international co-funding of scientific research involving New Zealand.

In that same budget there was $50.38 million of new money committed to research, science and technology. This represented a 40% increase over the previous budget increase and the largest single increase ever in new funding in Vote RS&T. At that budget $212 million of new funding was committed over the following four years.
This Government remains committed to supporting the research, science and technology sector by encouraging the linkages between research and industry.

I applaud UniServices’ initiative in arranging tomorrow’s symposium 'Translating research into economic gain' and making the considerable expertise and knowledge of the speakers available to New Zealand businesses and government policy developers.

Need for universities to become more business-oriented

UniServices has succeeded by recognising that the value of building relationships between universities and businesses. As research produced by New Zealand universities gains an increasingly high international profile, these relationships will become even more important.

Overseas this is a lesson that is being rapidly accepted. In the UK for example, 89 per cent of higher education institutions are now offering a single enquiry point for business. UK universities are also experiencing a strong growth in income from consultancy work, rising 38 per cent in a single year to reach 244 million euros.

In addition, for every 25 million euros spent on research UK universities are creating one spin-off company with the combined turnover for the university spin-off sector reaching 520 million euros in 2003.

All of this shows that the efforts of UniServices are part of a growing international trend of universities proactively collaborating with business.

The government's support of research at Auckland University

I would like to take this chance to reinforce the New Zealand Government’s commitment to encouraging innovative thinking and the effective commercialisation of the work being undertaken at Auckland University and all research organisations in New Zealand.

I would also like to take a moment to reflect on the strength of the government's commitment to research at Auckland University. Research at all universities has received a boost from the Performance Based Research Fund. Auckland's leading performance in the PBRF exercise will mean that it will command a major share of the $185 million a year or more that will be flowing into the fund by 2007.

This comes on top of the $85.9 million Auckland received in external research income in 2003 alone and the $38 million received for the four centres of research excellence hosted by the University. In addition, Auckland researchers have enjoyed increased funding from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology. Clearly, there is great research coming out of Auckland University and the government is committed to doing all it can to support it.

Concluding remarks

The commercialisation of brilliant ideas encourages further discoveries as well as improving the lives of many throughout New Zealand and the world.
I hope you enjoy the symposium tomorrow and take advantage of this opportunity to exchange ideas. Keep up the good work.