New Zealand Gazette – 2011 – No. 9

Page 205

✨ Hazards and Infrastructure Research Fund

31 JANUARY 2011 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 9 205

the effective management of the major hazards faced by New Zealand communities through improved hazard prediction and alert, management and recovery systems and practices, better urban design and development, and resilient infrastructure;
the effective capture and use of data, including human responses, during and after events; and
improved planning and service delivery by central, regional and local government, private sector organisations, and the community.

The above indicators will be measured by the Ministry of Science and Innovation at a sector level and will provide some indication of the success of the Fund.

Nature of the Fund

The Hazards and Infrastructure Research Fund will achieve its objectives by supporting research, science and technology in the following two areas:

Hazards — research to improve the management of hazards (for example, fire, flooding and earthquake) through hazard prediction and reduction, improving readiness, and emergency response and recovery. The research will support understanding of the physical causes of hazards, the social, economic and cultural factors influencing development of disaster-resilient communities, and the scientific underpinning for risk assessments/simulation models.
Urban development and infrastructure:
— Research into the development and management of cities and towns, addressing lifestyles, economic and community development, economic, environmental and social infrastructure, networks, governance, buildings and spaces, and the ways people use them.
— Infrastructure research to improve the development, provision and resilience of essential infrastructure networks, systems and services. The research will include studies on interactions between physical infrastructure and the human environment to support economic, environmental, cultural and social wellbeing.

This investment area will fund a wide range of multidisciplinary (physical, social, economic and cultural) research and systems-based approaches to meet the needs of government, councils, communities and businesses in managing hazards, and urban and infrastructure development.

Tools for Allocating Funding

Research, science and technology supported under the Hazards and Infrastructure Research Fund must in each case fit one of the following Tools:

Science-led contestable funding — investing through a contestable process in RS&T and related activities.
Long-term non-contestable funding — using non-contestable processes to invest in RS&T and related activities.
Commercialisation and technology and knowledge transfer support — research to increase the stream of commercial prospects from publicly-funded RS&T, and