Source: New Zealand Government
Good evening
It’s a pleasure to be here tonight to celebrate the 13th annual KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards.
Thank you to Dr James Hutchinson and KiwiNet Chair Katherine Sandford for the invitation to join you. And a huge congratulations to all the winners and finalists – your achievements are a testament to your hard work, creativity, and determination.
Looking around the room, I see a significant part of New Zealand’s innovation ecosystem – researchers turning ideas into impact, entrepreneurs building companies from the ground up, and investors backing our bold visionaries.
I want to give a special acknowledgment to the commercialisation teams within our universities and public research organisations. Your work often happens behind the scenes, but tonight is a celebration of your skill, ingenuity, and contribution to New Zealand’s future. Thank you.
One of the 5 pillars of the Going for Growth strategy is science, innovation and technology.
And you – the people who turn research into real-world solutions – are at the heart of that plan.
We know that world-class research is only the first step. To truly unlock its value, we need to turn discoveries into products, services, and companies that benefit New Zealanders. That’s why we’re reshaping the science, innovation and technology system to better support commercialisation.
Here’s a brief precis of changes that simplify that pathway
We’ve set up the Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council – bringing together respected leaders from science, business and industry to advise Government on where investment can have the greatest impact.
We’ve also merged the Crown Research Institutes into three new Public Research Organisations – to encourage collaboration, reduce duplication, and create clearer pathways from research to market, as well as creating some of the biggest research organisations in the world.
For the commercialisation community, that means stronger partnerships, better alignment with industry needs, and a simpler more connected platform for scaling innovation.
The new Bioeconomy Institute tell me they already have around 55 commercialisation projects in the pipeline.
Through a fourth organisation – the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology – we’re accelerating our mission to grow a high-tech, high-value economy. This institute will connect researchers, industry and investors to turn cutting-edge discoveries into real-world impact and economic growth.
Our recent $70 million investment in AI research shows our commitment to building a resilient, globally competitive innovation system. And we’re exploring future opportunities in areas like quantum technologies and synthetic biology.
I acknowledge that public good, stewardship and some humanities and social sciences research are just that, public goods and may be less easy to monetise. I however am also interested funding research that more clearly leads to real commercial outcomes and helps create highly productive, knowledge-intensive firms, and we’ll
be looking to work with you to help us achieve that.
Here’s what one third of a billion in funding I have announced in the past 6 months looks like.
In the past 6 months I have announced:
$70 million for AI,
$71 million for new materials and magnets,
$46 million worth of Endeavour Smart Ideas grants,
$183 million for Endeavour Research Programmes, and
$42 million for a biodiscovery science platform, and there is more to come.
International connections are also vital to our success. Through Invest NZ, we’re attracting global talent, capital and partnerships to strengthen our innovation ecosystem.
The success of the Active Investor Plus visa is already bringing new investment into New Zealand businesses – creating jobs, opening global markets, and helping our companies scale faster.
As of 30 September, there were 359 applications for the visa, including 1,154 people, amounting to a total investment of $2.155 billion. That direct investment can also include technology, manufacturing and renewable energy, and they are hungry to invest in your ideas.
A key part of commercialisation is intellectual property and in the coming weeks, I look forward to announcing the Intellectual Property Management Policy – a real game-changer for commercialisation in New Zealand, particularly for universities.
It will aim to remove long-standing roadblocks and puts researchers with great ideas firmly in the driver’s seat – creating stronger incentives and clearer pathways to bring ideas to market. We want to cut red tape and help brilliant ideas from our labs reach New Zealanders – and the world.
These new intellectual property changes will encourage researchers to think big – to see commercialisation not as an afterthought, but as a natural part of their research journey – just like you do. More specifically, the advice to me is that the sooner we get ideas out of universities and into the commercialisations sector, the better outcomes we will get.
To emphasise this, I announced $20 million earlier this year for applied PhDs where students will be required to complete project management, finance and entrepreneurship courses.
In closing, I want to reaffirm this Government’s commitment to you. We see your work. We value your expertise. And we believe that your vision and ingenuity will continue to shape New Zealand’s future and I will back that.
Let’s keep building that future – together.
Congratulations to tonight’s award winners. We all want to look back in the next 10 years and remember that we were here tonight, and witnessed the next unicorns and venerated clever people doing clever things. Congratulations.
