Biotechnology Research Roadmap - Science and Innovation

Short term actions:
Research funding and investment agencies to:
set biomedical and drug development research priorities on internationally competitive research excellence.
focus later- stage research investments on research that builds on strong international links.
work on building collaborative partnerships within New Zealand that cover the entire basic-to-market
application spectrum.
Direction 5
The government will work to improve research funding processes to progress biotechnology research more
smoothly along the pathway to commercialisation.
The long lead times to development with
biotechnology related products require long-term
research investments. The government has important
roles to play supporting research commercialisation
activities in partnership with industry to grow the
biotechnology industry in New Zealand. This includes
the provision of funding to progress biotechnology
research that can be commercially used from basicto-applied-to-prototype
development and addressing
any funding gaps that are inhibiting the progression
of biotechnology research to achieve commercial
outcomes.
The establishment of the Pre-seed Accelerator Fund
(PSAF) has begun to fill what was a particularly
important funding gap for the biotechnology industry
in New Zealand. Preliminary reviews of this funding
scheme indicate that nearly 40% of projects funded
to date have a basis in biotechnology research. The
government has scheduled an evaluation of the
PSAF scheme for completion by 2008-09. This
evaluation will identify any aspects of the scheme’s
implementation which require further improvement.
The need remains, however, to improve continuity of
funding between funding portfolios and instruments
and to improve inter-agency alignment between
funding agencies which support complimentary
research commercialisation activities. For example,
recent evaluations indicate that there is degree of
confusion amongst the research community, and
overlap between the outcomes that are being sought
from both the NERF and RFI output classes within
Vote RS&T. There is scope for further RS&T system
policy work to investigate options for improving
these issues.
There is also scope for future improvements both
between and within research funding agencies to
streamline the progression of research to achieve
commercial outcomes. This needs to be coupled with
the appropriate review mechanisms to filter quality to
ensure that the research with the greatest likelihood
of commercial application is supported. This work
has already started. For example, FRST recently
introduced systematic review processes to manage
their research investments, in terms of assessing their
scientific quality, working out their fit with national
priorities, and assessing their delivery of outcomes
to date. One area identified which requires further
consideration in the short-term is whether health
biotechnology research funding processes are well
aligned between the HRC and FRST as projects move
towards commercialisation.
Work is also underway more broadly to identify
where greater coordination and alignment is required
between the government agencies that support
research commercialisation and business support
for firms. This includes work to develop coordinated
and seamless delivery between operational funding
agencies to improve the performance of existing
funding mechanisms which support business R&D.
Short term actions:
MoRST to evaluate the implementation of the Pre-Seed Accelerator Fund by 2008-09.
MoRST to continue to work on RS&T system policy settings to ensure that Vote RS&T is structured to
maximise commercial outcomes from research.
MoRST to work with research funding and investment agencies to develop improved internal and
cross-agency funding processes to further streamline the progress of biotechnology research ideas towards
commercialisation.
56 Roadmaps for Science : biotechnology research