4 JUNE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

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analysis should recognise the overall direction and strategic focus signalled by the Government, and characterise how investments should be reprioritised to address the target outcomes and goals.

To complement this initial analysis, purchase agents will also be asked to align current investments with the target outcomes. This will provide the starting point for reprioritising investments.

The analysis and investment plans for target outcomes will need to be agreed with the Minister of Research, Science and Technology before purchase agents implement new investments.

Ongoing analysis

As well as complying with financial management processes, purchase agents must provide information on the effectiveness of their investment decisions. Each October, purchase agents will provide a longer-term strategic analysis to the Minister of Research, Science and Technology which:

• reports on the nature and scale of their current and developing RS&T portfolios for each of their target outcomes;

• identifies possible changes to these portfolios over time, and the implications of such changes for the investments they manage; and

• advises how the funding emphasis across Output Classes and Outputs of Vote RS&T could change over time.

This analysis will be assessed by MoRST and fed into the annual budget process to ensure that any changes to appropriations are based on the best available information.

Over time this information will provide a strong basis from which to change the range and scope of Vote RS&T Output Classes to ensure that the science envelope goals are being achieved.

C. Providers

Providers of RS&T will need to recognise that:

• decisions on how much money is available for purchase agents to spend will be made through an informed annual budget process;

• they contribute to this budget process through the information they provide as part of the contracting process;

• the policies and procedures outlined in this blueprint will challenge them to think outside of particular sector groupings and to make wider connections in the work they do;

• any changes in purchasing will be evolutionary; and

• Government is placing a particular emphasis on expectations linked to the capacity to innovate.

D. Users

Many of the users of RS&T have contributed directly to the definition of the target outcomes through the sector strategies developed as part of the Foresight Project. These strategies have been compiled in the Innovation:Link 2010 database.

It is expected that sector groups will continue to use foresight methodology to focus on their future competencies and RS&T needs and to update or re-develop their strategies over time. These strategies will continue to be an important component in their interactions with purchase agents and providers.

The impetus for users to continue to engage in this process will come from the direct benefits they will receive from:

• thinking about their businesses differently; and

• positioning their own direct investment in RS&T. Such benefits have already emerged from sectors grouping in new and unexpected ways and thinking jointly about their futures.

5. Stewardship expectations

Government has ten explicit expectations regarding the mechanisms of allocation of resources to RS&T activities within the science envelope. Purchase agents will be held accountable for their stewardship of these mechanisms through the performance measures developed with them and reflected in their specific purchase agreements. Not all expectations are relevant to all purchase agents. Individual purchase agreements will indicate which expectations will require particular attention. These expectations will also impact on providers and users as they influence the way in which target outcome research portfolios are developed and allocation decisions are made.

1. Focusing on outcomes

Government’s goals are to be implemented by purchase agents focusing on outcomes. The 1997 statement of priorities for FRST clearly identified a need to move from:

‘a strong focus on small scale purchasing of outputs, over relatively short time frames, and within a rather rigid framework of rules and procedures’

to

‘a strategic far-sighted and proactive strategy for focusing on the achievement of outcomes’

These expectations matched directions to the HRC to identify more clearly how their funding decisions will contribute to outcomes. FRST and the HRC have each incorporated an outcome focus in many of their recent purchasing decisions. The implementation of the Foresight Project intensified this move, through involving a wide variety of providers and users in identifying the target outcomes which they believe to be important for the future of their sectors. The Marsden Committee operated through RSNZ will be asked to provide information on how their investments contribute to target outcomes, and analysis of the opportunities it sees for knowledge and human capacity gaps across the target outcomes.

2. Supporting future-focused sectors

Rather than merely supporting existing sector interests, emphasis should be given to knowledge-led innovation. Building on progress made through the Foresight Project, purchase agents will encourage and facilitate ongoing development of innovation strategies, across diverse sector groups. This process involves ongoing updates of RS&T investment priorities and maximises the adoption of results.

3. Purchasing balanced portfolios

The principle that public good RS&T should be based on balanced portfolios, developed through negotiation and relationship building, was established in the previous policy statement.

Portfolios should include a diversity of RS&T ideas and approaches, and include a mix of strategic underpinning science, applied research, user-linked information transfers and technological learning initiatives. They should deliver widespread net benefits over time, without displacing or otherwise creating disincentives for investment from others.

4. Fostering collaboration and integration

Purchase agents will need to work collaboratively, to ensure coherence in areas of overlapping interest for the various investments within Vote RS&T. Overlaps in the funding system are preferred to gaps, so that innovation-related activities falling into borderline areas are not disadvantaged.