1926

NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

No. 79

Ministry of Research, Science and Technology

Foundation for Research, Science and Technology Act 1990

Notice to the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology

The Government’s Policies and Priorities for Public Good Science and Technology

Issued by the Minister of Research, Science and Technology July 1997

Foreword

The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology is the Government’s “purchase agent” for public good science and technology. Fundamentally, the Government requires the Foundation to ensure that the totality of the public good science and technology it purchases contributes measurably, over time, to New Zealand’s long-term economic, social, and environmental goals. This document sets out the Government’s policies for public good science and technology, and the priorities to which the Foundation is to adhere in allocating funds.

The whole of this document constitutes a written notice to the Foundation under section 7 of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology Act 1990. This notice supersedes the notice issued in June 1995, as amended in April 1996, entitled Public Investment in Science and Technology: A Review of Directions Through to the Year 2001, but restates the same funding targets for a set of output classes that were established in that document. The purpose of issuing this new notice is to state clearly that the Government expects outcomes to be achieved with the investment in each area, and to point the way for the Foundation to enhance its funding processes to better ensure that this happens.

Publicly funded science and technology has undergone much restructuring but has now resulted in a system in which decision-making is transparent, accountabilities are clear, and priorities and allocations are determined in a systematic manner. Perhaps not unexpectedly, reaping these gains seems also to have resulted in a strong focus on small-scale purchasing of outputs, over relatively short time-frames, and within a rather rigid framework of rules and procedures. The Foundation now needs to develop a strategic, far-sighted, and pro-active strategy for focusing on the achievement of outcomes. This ethos will also need to be imbued in all of the scientists and technologists that are funded by the Government through the Foundation.

The Foundation’s new approach should be focused on achieving outcomes by purchasing well-composed portfolios of science and technology. It should recognise that negotiation and relationship-building are critical in a stable long-term purchasing environment, but that contestability and fostering a diversity of ideas and approaches will remain important aspects of the purchasing strategy. It will also be crucial to foster the interactive relationships amongst all of the researchers, technologists, engineers and other professionals, in publicly-funded organisations and in the private sector, that together underpin a vibrant and thriving knowledge-based society.

To emphasise that outcomes are what the Government is interested in, this document sets out high-level goals for public good science and technology, and also describes strategic goals which are to be pursued in each of seventeen social, economic or environmental areas. The policies and priorities set out in this document will remain in force until the Government issues any amendments or new instructions to the Foundation. A comprehensive review of priorities will take place by March 1999.

MAURICE WILLIAMSON, Minister of Research, Science and Technology.

Dated this 22nd day of July 1997.

1. Strategic Context

1.1 New Zealand’s Future as a Knowledge-Based Society

Research, science and technology are critical to assuring New Zealand’s future competitiveness, environmental sustainability and social well-being. “Knowledge”, in the form of advanced skills and learning, and new technologies, is an increasingly important contributor throughout the economy and society. We need to be adept at both creating new scientific and technological knowledge through research and development, and at learning by adapting existing technologies for innovative purposes. Knowledge creation, technological learning and innovation thrive in an environment where researchers, technologists, designers, engineers and marketers all interact routinely, share common goals and have effective ways of learning from each other. The Government’s investment in public good science and technology is intended to form a vital part of our national system of innovation.

The following themes will be of critical importance to New Zealand, and will impinge on how public good science and technology investment is managed to best effect:

• Increasing globalisation
• Increasing focus on the Asia-Pacific Region
• Population growth and movement
• More rapid social changes
• Increasing environmental awareness
• Shifts in economic structure and new ways of creating wealth
• Increasing competitiveness
• Technological change
• Public understanding of and attitudes towards science and technology.

These issues are expanded on in Science and Technology: The Way Forward; the Government’s Strategic Statement to Guide Investment through the Public Good Science Fund (Ministry of Research, Science and Technology 1994), and will be revisited during the next major review of priorities for public good science and technology, to be completed by March 1999.

1.2 The Government’s Goals for Science and Technology

In August 1996 the Government set out its broad strategy for research, science and technology in RS&T:2010 The Government’s Strategy for Research, Science and Technology to the Year 2010. The Government has three overarching goals:

• Fostering societal values and attitudes that recognise science and technology as critical to future prosperity.

• Ensuring an adequate level of investment in science as a component in national life which has cultural value in its own right.

• Maximising the direct contribution of science and