Biotechnology Research Roadmap - Science and Innovation

6.2.1 Directions: Economic
Direction 1
The government will continue to support and partner with industry, providing biotechnology research that
enables industry participation and helps develop and transform bio-based industries in New Zealand.
The government wants to ensure that all New
Zealand’s key bio-based industry sectors are receiving
maximum benefit from its biotechnology research
investments. This includes the primary and the
food and beverage sectors. To do this effectively
government, research and industry need to work
closely together. This ensures that the government’s
biotechnology research investments are taken up by
industry where it exists, and the resulting products are
acceptable to and valued by global markets.
Investing in higher risk, science-led research which
extends the horizons of industry and provides the
engine for a transformed future economy and new
industries is another important role for government
funded R&D.
Achieving this range of outcomes requires public
investment to retain a balanced portfolio of applied
research that maintains and extends New Zealand’s
comparative industry advantages and excellence
focused earlier stage research with the potential for
more transformational outcomes.
Different outcomes require different approaches
to setting research direction. For applied research
investments, research and investment agencies need to
set research directions and targets in partnership with
industry. From this comes an expectation that research
proposals supporting industry development will also
be assessed on their connections with end-user groups
both through the setting of research targets and/or cofunding
commitments. The rationale for this approach
is to actively involve industry end-users in the process
so there will be more likelihood they will gain direct
benefits from the research.
Research priorities for earlier-stage biotechnology
research with the potential to build new industry and
transform existing industry need to be primarily based
on internationally competitive research excellence.
However, the government also recognises that a
greater degree of flexibility needs to be built into
the research prioritisation and assessment process as
research opportunities transition from early stage to
more applied. This is because different industry groups
may be at differing levels of maturity in terms of their
capacity to co-invest, or in their own ability to take
up and progress the results of research (for instance,
research may be needed to prove to industry the value
of “new animals” or “new crops”). FRST have started
to build this increased flexibility into their investment
processes as part of a “sector development” initiative. 79
The government also has an important role to play in
stimulating private sector investment in biotechnology
R&D. Public-private research co-investment schemes
act as an incentive to achieve this. Co-investment
schemes also build important linkages between
research and industry.
Although the Research Consortia scheme has
improved links between research and industry,
a consistent theme in this Roadmap is that, in
reality, one size does not fit all across all industries.
Fragmented, heterogeneous industry sectors do not
currently absorb and benefit from biotechnology
research as well as centralised, vertically integrated
industry sectors. Notable examples of fragmented
sectors identified in this Roadmap are the marine and
food and beverage sectors (see Direction 2 below).
The Seafood Innovation Ltd research consortium, in
part due to sector diversity, has been predicated on a
different co-investment model than the other research
consortia.
The government will continue investing in publicprivate
co-funding partnerships with industry. It will
also continue working to ensure the most effective
models are adopted to support different types of
industry groupings.
79
FRST (2006), Investment Signals for the Leveraging New Zealand’s Natural Resources Investment Process 2006-2007, p.19-20
52 Roadmaps for Science : biotechnology research