✨ Smart Ideas Investment Mechanism




5 DECEMBER 2012 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 146 4245

Schedule 1

Smart Ideas Investment Mechanism

1 Specific policy objectives

1.1 Smart Ideas is designed to drive innovation and an entrepreneurial culture in the research community. Supporting novel ideas and emerging capability in research, science, and technology, and related activities refreshes the national science portfolio.

1.2 Smart Ideas is intended to:

(a) support basic discovery of, or applied research into, novel, promising ideas; and

(b) provide early guidance to researchers on positioning research, science, and technology, or related activities for successful application or commercialisation; and

(c) attract proposals from, and support, early career researchers in addition to more experienced researchers.

1.3 Subject to clause 2.2, Smart Ideas funding is available in two phases: a research phase ("Phase 1") and an application phase ("Phase 2"). The objectives of each phase are as follows:

(a) The objective of Phase 1 is investigative, in that it aims to use an innovative approach to develop new knowledge that will solve a problem, fulfil a need, or prove a hypothesis. While proposals should identify the potential application and benefits of the idea, the implementation pathway or user relationships may be relatively unformed.

(b) The objective of Phase 2 is to encourage applicants to move towards research, science, and technology, or related activities that will help apply the idea to achieve its market potential.

2 Specific eligibility criteria

2.1 To be eligible for funding under the Smart Ideas investment mechanism in either Phase 1 or Phase 2, the applicant must have committed to:

(a) receiving advice or mentoring from an entrepreneur or similar commercialisation specialist to aid commercial positioning, or from an end-user or service provider who could potentially apply the results of the research, science, and technology, or related activities; and

(b) ensuring that some market or user needs analysis will be undertaken or sourced during the programme to aid its positioning.

2.2 A proposal is eligible for Smart Ideas funding of up to $500,000 (excluding GST) per year for up to two years in Phase 2 only if the proposed research, science, and technology, or related activities are directly connected to research that received Smart Ideas funding in Phase 1.

3 Specific assessment criteria

A proposal for Smart Ideas funding that has been assessed as meeting the eligibility criteria for Science-led contestable funding must be assessed against the following specific assessment criteria, and each assessment criterion must be weighted as set out below:



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Online Sources for this page:

Gazette.govt.nz PDF NZ Gazette 2012, No 146





✨ LLM interpretation of page content

πŸŽ“ Smart Ideas Investment Mechanism

πŸŽ“ Education, Culture & Science
Innovation, Research Funding, Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship