FRSTNews
September 2007

From the Chief Executive

PGST Investment Round

A total of $628 million has been allocated to 115 contracts with more than 30 organisations in the 2006/07 Public Good Science and Technology ?(PGST) investment round, one of the biggest sums since the Foundation was created 17 years ago. Most of the contracts will start from 1 October.

A key feature of the round has been the introduction of some new elements to our process, to provide a more stable funding environment for the sector. In particular this has been marked by the introduction of negotiated investments for science programmes with a proven track record to provide greater certainty for researchers and organisations engaged in longer-term research.

Thus of the total investments, $290 million has been allocated to 13 negotiated contracts with six organisations. Some of these have been finalised, and we are continuing to work through the others.

The investments are worth close to $113 million in the first full financial year. At this stage we expect around $100 million a year will be available for investment in the 2007/08 investment round, which is already well under way.

The primary production sector was the biggest area of research in the 2007/08 round, taking $311 million or close to half the $628 million allocated.

Fonterra’s record payouts announced recently reflect the importance of this sector to New Zealand’s economy and the need for us to be innovative if we are to remain globally competitive. Of course, the primary sector is much more than dairying, and the new contracts include research involving fruit, fish and seeds as well as milk and many other products and areas.

We have also increased the amount we’re investing in research to help us understand and respond to climate change. In this area the Foundation is investing in the continuation of significant long-term research projects led by the Crown Research Institutes NIWA, Landcare and GNS and is increasing its investment in research looking at mitigating and adapting to climate change, and modelling the impacts for New Zealand. This reflects an increase in funding in the Budget for research into managing climate change.

Other important areas of research in this investment round are new technologies, manufacturing and service industries, energy and infrastructure, and sustainable use of resources such as soil and water.

These investment decisions are a major part of the public research, science and technology funding picture, but are not the total amount of investment. The Foundation has invested smaller amounts in specific areas through other processes and also invests about NZ$50 million a year to support firms undertaking research and development through our Technology New Zealand programmes.

We believe that overall we are achieving an appropriate and balanced spread of funding, while targeting investment to research that best fits with the Government’s objectives.

It is an unfortunate fact of a contestable process that there will always be some good bids that miss out, but we are confident that we have a robust process that has seen us target the money to the research most likely to benefit New Zealand.

Full details of the round can be found here.

Staff appointments at the Foundation

Eileen Basher has accepted the new position of Director Business Investments in the Investments Group and will start with us on 15 October.

Eileen is currently Manager, Business Performance within Statistics New Zealand where she has established a new function focused on developing useful statistics on business R&D activity in New Zealand. Before this, she had several roles in Fonterra and the New Zealand Dairy Board, including a focus on technology and product development to support leading brands in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Earlier in her career, Eileen was involved in a number of New Zealand companies in the area of product development, mostly in the food and beverage sector, including Griffins.

We are also welcoming Bill Boyd to the position of Group Manager Communications and Marketing, based in Wellington. He will join us on 8 October.

Bill is an experienced senior manager with communications, marketing and stakeholder management experience. He holds an MBA (Distinction) from Massey University, and has an extensive background in the technical and science sectors. His previous role was Manager Marketing & Communications for the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority (EECA).

Originally from the South Island, Bill lists his interests as tramping, golf and general sports spectating.

Regards, Murray Bain.

Newsflash

The next edition of FRSTNews should come out to you from our new-look website www.frst.govt.nz

We have been developing a new website and are close to launching it.

We hope you will find our new website:

• easier to find information on
• clearer, with plain and consistent language
• user-friendly with flowcharts and visual indicators
• better tailored to different audiences.

We will continue to develop it over the coming year, so, once it's live, make sure you send in your suggestions on how we can make it better.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the redevelopment project.

MacDiarmid Young Scientists of the Year

New Zealand’s top young science talent will have four months to organise their entries for the 2008 MacDiarmid Young Scientists of the Year Awards, when entries open on Monday, 19 November.

The prestigious awards, organised by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology with principal sponsor Fisher & Paykel Appliances, are designed to publicly celebrate the achievements of New Zealand’s future leaders in science and to encourage others to follow in their footsteps.

They are named after the renowned New Zealand-born Nobel Prize winning scientist Professor Alan MacDiarmid, who died in February.

Entries close on Friday 14 March, 2008, followed by a three-tiered judging process. The 2008 awards gala dinner will be held in Auckland on Thursday 14 August.

This year’s 2007 MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year winner was PhD student Jessie Jacobson, whose research could contribute to a cure for the fatal brain disorder Huntington’s disease.

By creating DNA containing the Huntington’s disease gene and replicating it in sheep, 25-year-old Jessie has made the world’s first large transgenic animal model for a neurodegenerative disorder.

Jessie won a cash prize of $10,000 and a trip to the United Kingdom to attend the British Association’s annual Science Festival and received the MacDiarmid gold medal.

This year’s overall MacDiarmid Awards runner-up was University of Auckland student James Russell, whose world leading research into the behaviour of rats invading offshore islands has potential to be used for island conservation around the globe. He received a cash prize of $5,000, a travel grant to attend a science event in Australasia and the runner-up MacDiarmid medal.

There are five categories in the MacDiarmid Awards with each winner receiving a cash prize of $5,000, as does the winner of the award for best Masters level research. Four students also receive a runner-up prize of $2500.

To find out more about the awards, click here.

Problem solving with global expertise

The Global Technology Partnership (GTP) has introduced a new subscription service and appointed a group of regional economic development agencies to help New Zealand companies access global expertise.

The partnership helps find qualified technology partners with specific knowledge and skills to solve a company’s most challenging technical problems.

Last month, the Foundation signed up five regional economic development agencies – Enterprising Manukau, Venture Taranaki, Vision Manawatu, the Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce and Wellington-based company Strategia – to help promote the service, which is complementary to other Foundation investment schemes.

Two subscription packages are available from $3250 plus GST. Partners is targeted at smaller to medium sized companies, while the new premium service Partners+ is targeted at larger high-growth organisations.

Foundation GTP business investment specialist Rosanne Ellis says the fast, confidential service gives clients direct access to more than 20,000 technology experts from leading universities, research institutions and corporations around the world.

Some big names are involved including MIT and Berkeley in the United States, the Imperial College in the UK, Fraunhofer in Germany, Beijing University in China and CSIRO in Australia.

"About 70 New Zealand organisations to date have accessed the service, which can help with a many issues including overcoming barriers to trade, product development, international supply chain logistics, optimising production and technology and market due diligence," she said.

It has been used to reduce time-to-market, improve product quality, reduce costs, and improve decision making when organisations face complex issues requiring specialised knowledge.

"It is simple. A client works with a Foundation specialist to define a business problem which is then sent out to the global expert network. Within 15 working days, we deliver clients a short list of qualified experts and a snapshot of the solutions they can deliver," she said.

For more information – call Auckland 09 912 6730, Wellington 04 917 7800, Christchurch 03 963 2070, or email gtp@frst.govt.nz or visit our website.

Studying climate history a weapon against global warming

The Foundation is supporting a researcher with world leading expertise in climatology and glaciology, who is studying the vital clues contained in ice samples about the impact of global warming.

Originally from Germany, Dr Nancy Bertler is member of New Zealand’s Joint Antarctic Research Institute, a collaboration between Victoria University and GNS Science which includes the state-of-the-art National Ice Core Research centre in Lower Hutt, housing laboratories, analytical equipment and refrigerated rooms for the long-term storage of hundreds of metres of ice cores from Antarctica? and New Zealand glaciers.

Dr Bertler’s team is working to understand climate variability in the past few thousand years as a key to predicting the danger points and thresholds in the future. She has completed a three year Post Doctoral Fellowship from the Foundation and is now receiving further support from the Foundation through its Bridge to Employment scheme.

The Foundation invests NZ$6 million annually in the fellowships programme, which is designed to foster development of New Zealand’s emerging and future science leaders and build greater research knowledge and capability.

Dr Bertler came to New Zealand to work on a research programme designed to unravel climate history by drilling into the sea floor in Antarctica, which is headed by Professor Barrett from Victoria University. She enrolled in a PhD course at Victoria University and subsequently received support from the Foundation to continue her research.

To date, her work has shown that samples taken from hundreds of metres below the surface in coastal areas of Antarctica can help scientists trace major climate shifts in the past that are not detectable in ice cores taken from the interior of Antarctica. The interior is more protected from storms and dramatic changes that circle the Antarctic and shape the world’s climate and ocean circulation.

Dr Bertler’s team, scientists from NIWA and international collaborators are studying the particles of dust and chemicals inside the ice cores to look back in time and learn more about what drives climate change. Dust caught in the ice is a measure of how vigorous past storms were while isotopic ratios frozen in snow crystals are used to reconstruct rapid temperature changes and the gas trapped in tiny bubbles provides a sample of an ancient atmosphere from thousands of years ago.

"We can see that there is a very stable relationship between these gases and temperature – as the concentration of gases increases so does the temperature and vice versa. Our goal is to look at climate patterns in the past to try to put threshold points on some of these potential events and predict what will happen and when, in the near future."

Dr Bertler says New Zealand’s capability in her field of research is highly regarded globally.

"The research team in New Zealand is small but highly specialised. Our ice core facility is also unique. It’s not the biggest – there are maybe 10 in the world and possibly three are larger than New Zealand’s – but it offers the most possibilities in terms of the breadth of analytical expertise."

Driving commercial outcomes from research investment

The Foundation has a new commercialisation team specifically set up to work with Crown Research Institutes, universities and other research organisations to improve the delivery of commercial outcomes from Foundation contracts.

The team is targeting results from the New Economy Research Fund (NERF?), Research for Industry (RFI?) and PreSeed? Accelerator Fund (PreSeed) investments. The team will also help raise research organisations’ commercial capabilities and improve their links with potential New Zealand and international private sector partners.

Over the past 10 years, the Foundation has invested $3 billion into public sector research, science and technology. Many of those research projects have now reached a point where they will benefit from receiving extra commercialisation support, which will improve the return on investment for research, science and technology.

Led by the Foundation’s director of commercialisation, Suki Siriwardena, the new team consists of Graham Scown (senior commercialisation manager) in Christchurch and Jonathan Miller (commercialisation manager) and Dee Nolan (commercialisation assistant) in Auckland.

The main investment scheme administered by the commercialisation team is the PreSeed Accelerator Fund (PreSeed) which helps research organisations maximise the commercial benefits from publicly funded research. Up to $9.3 million per year is available for PreSeed contracts from 1 January 2008.

The Foundation is currently seeking proposals from research providers for PreSeed, but only public sector or not-for-profit private sector research organisations may apply. Applications close on 12 October 2007.

For more information about the PreSeed process, visit our website.

FDA approval for animal health products opens export doors

An Auckland company has cracked rigorous United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements positioning it to become a global supplier of animal health products from New Zealand.

The stamp of approval means Argenta Limited has the only FDA-approved facility in New Zealand for the commercial manufacture and supply of such a range of chemistry-based animal health products and has already helped the company clinch a multi million dollar manufacturing contract, with more new work in the pipeline.

Argenta was formed a year ago through the acquisition of Nufarm Health and Sciences, which manufactured animal health pharmaceuticals for the Australasian market, and Chemlabs, an animal health research and development company.

FDA assessors spent a week at Argenta’s premises in May and the company achieved another milestone by passing the inspection first time.

CEO, Dr Doug Cleverly credits the result to an extremely intensive and expensive work programme carried out by Argenta over the previous nine months and led by an FDA consultant from the US, whose involvement was supported by investment from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

The Foundation contributed NZ$130,000 through its Technology Expert scheme to the costs of bringing Assumpta Norrell to New Zealand for regular visits to ensure Argenta would meet the FDA’s rigorous technical and operational standards.

"Assumpta’s assessment after we had acquired the business showed we were in very poor shape and there were literally hundreds of things we had to do, ranging from buying new equipment to having the right systems in place. It was a huge task and a huge boost to everyone when we succeeded."

He says support from the Foundation was crucial in the process.

"Buying Nufarm’s animal health business and Chemlabs a year ago was a major financial commitment and the Foundation investment allowed us to engage Assumpta as the lead on this project but also to dedicate other resource to the FDA programme. The result was that we were far better prepared for the FDA when they came."

Staff numbers at Argenta have grown from 72 to 90 in the last year.

www.argenta.co.nz

Changes to TechNZ schemes

Technology New Zealand (TechNZ) is introducing a competitive, contestable process which focuses on supporting high growth, globally competitive companies.

Changing to a contestable process is being driven by several factors:

• Research and development tax credits announced in the Budget mean the Grants for Private Sector Research and Development? (GPSRD) scheme, originally introduced in lieu of tax cuts, has been discontinued.
• There is high demand for TechNZ funding and less funding for both Technology for Business Growth (TBG?) and Technology in Industry Fellowships (TIF) schemes.
• The Foundation is responding to the government’s economic transformation agenda by targeting investments in companies with high growth potential.

By introducing a contestable process, the Foundation is also adopting a sector-based investment portfolio to ensure we support the best companies in the information communication technology (ICT?), manufacturing, biological industries (including food and beverages,) and biotechnology sectors. The companies we target will be a mix of start-ups and established larger companies.

Technology for Business Growth (TBG)

We are encouraging applications from the following four sectors.

1. Biological industries – We are keen to grow this sector and invite applications
2. Biotechnology – Projects must be beneficial to New Zealand such as local manufacture rather than license deals
3. Manufacturing – New proposals should target globally competitive markets.
4. ICT – There is strong competition for software proposals, but there are opportunities for electronics and related industries (hardware/software).

If you’re interested in applying, please submit a TBG concept to a Foundation business manager.

Technology in Industry Fellowships (TIF)

TIF Expert?, TIF Education? and TIF Undergraduate? schemes are suitable for high-growth companies with an export focus. To qualify, companies must demonstrate there will be a strong benefit to New Zealand – both in new capabilities as well as the economic returns and any spill-over benefits. Sector issues are less of a concern.

• Successful TIF Expert proposals will either input specialist technical expertise into a company’s research and development project or will provide specialist expertise to better define or target a future R&D project
• Successful TIF Education and TIF Undergraduate proposals will be research and development projects with some level of technical uncertainty.

If you would like to know more about TechNZ, please contact your Foundation business manager or nearest FRST? office.

Formway Going Green

Wellington company Formway Furniture, already an industry leader in furniture design, is pioneering another innovation by transforming itself into an environmentally friendly green business.

Formway is implementing a company wide programme that will embed sustainability and environmental awareness into all aspects of its business with initiatives ranging from cutting emissions and reducing waste through to researching new, sustainable materials for its commercial furniture.

Formway, which is internationally known for its award winning Life chair, which responds and adjusts to the weight of a person without the need for levers, knobs or buttons, has manufacturing operations in New Zealand and Australia, and its designs are made under license in the United States and Asia.

With investment support from the Foundation, Formway employed Jake McLaren, a former ecodesign specialist from the United Kingdom, to implement an environmental strategy and move the company towards creating ‘greener furniture’.

"The Life chair was the first major project to ensure environmental considerations were a key part of product development. We are now applying that thinking to every part of our operation. This is not about marketing or simply making improvements, but really walking the talk and bringing about a culture change throughout the organisation," says Mr McLaren, now Formway’s Environmental Manager.

Macro changes made as a result of the programme include adopting a new core material - the medium density fibre board that Formway uses widely in its workstations for the Australian market - that has lower levels of formaldehyde and is sourced from certified sustainable forests in the state of Victoria. Formway is also focused on ensuring both the design of its furniture and the materials used achieve the best available environmental product performance and the company is investigating a ’takeback’ and recycling system for its products.

At the micro level, on the office and factory floor, says Mr McLaren, measures adopted include using energy efficient light bulbs, putting recycling bins close to work stations and making environmental considerations a factor when purchasing everything from paper to factory equipment.

Formway has joined the Landcare Research EnviroSmart scheme and is close to achieving certification for its environmental management systems. In addition, it has run environmental presentations for clients at its showrooms in Auckland, Wellington, Sydney and Melbourne and taken part in events like the Australian Green Building Councils ‘Green Cities’ conference earlier this year.

The company is also working with its suppliers to source environmentally friendly products that meet its standards.

Mr McLaren says the move towards greener buildings with greener furniture inside them is a global phenomenon that Formway can’t ignore.

"The idea of greener buildings has really swept through the property market in Australia and it’s coming in New Zealand, particularly with the government’s new green procurement policies that focus on the purchase of eco-friendly goods and services."

Investment from the Foundation has been through its Technology Expert programme with Mr McLaren joining the staff of Formway after his initial consultation period.

Foundation Senior Business Manager Lins Kerr says Formway has already proven itself a leader in the field of design and is now taking a leadership role in an area that will be crucial to success for New Zealand businesses in the future.

www.formway.com

Public access to Foundation funded research

In May, we released a document on the adoption of new public access principles in the Foundation’s contract. We have completed the consultation process and have decided to delay any changes to the Foundation’s existing public access principles. We made this decision for two reasons:

1. The Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) is reviewing whether to adopt the recommendations on public access from the recently released Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report, OECD Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding
2. The breadth of opinion among submitters on adopting the proposed principles.

The Foundation believes it would be premature to adopt the proposed public access principles before MoRST completes its review. Our team will work with MoRST to incorporate the insights gained from our consultation into their review.

If you have any questions on the public access consultation, please contact Lee Robinson, the Foundation’s Principal Policy Advisor, at Lee.Robinson@frst.govt.nz or 04-917-7847.

$4.5 million International Polar Year research

Six exciting research projects touching on climate change and protecting the fragile Antarctic environment have been approved to mark International Polar Year.

The projects were made possible by a special three-year, $4.5 million contestable fund to support International Polar Year research, announced by the Prime Minister in May and administered by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology,

"International Polar Year represents a unique opportunity for New Zealand scientists to participate in a number of important Antarctic scientific collaborations," says Foundation Chief Executive Murray Bain. "These collaborations are likely to produce major advances in Antarctic science and reinforce the position of New Zealand as a serious science partner, particularly in the Ross Sea region."

Three of the projects will be led by the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and one each by the University of Otago, Victoria University of Wellington and Waikato University.

The projects will look at such diverse subjects as summer biological activity in melt-water ponds, the winter thickness of the sea-ice, the effect of climate change on micro-organisms that grow in sea-ice, the ecosystems of the Dry Valleys, understanding the Antarctic’s unique marine ecosystems and the Antarctic ozone hole.

Each of the projects is being funded over three years. The successful project teams will have the full support of Antarctica New Zealand when they embark on projects in the challenging Antarctic field environment.

Antarctica New Zealand Chief Executive Lou Sanson welcomed the new Antarctic science funding. "We are thrilled to be supporting the research that is made possible by this funding. One of the objectives of International Polar Year is to spark a pulse of new polar science. The New Zealand Government has clearly answered that call and recognised the importance of Antarctic research for addressing questions of global significance.

These projects represent significant opportunities for the scientific community to be involved in cutting edge research. TheInternational Polar Year provides a once in 50 year opportunity for a concentrated international science and research effort focussed on the polar regions, which are critical to the climate of the planet but about which comparatively little is known.

International Polar Year actually runs for two years, from March 2007 to March 2009. It is an initiative led by the International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organisation to begin a new era in polar research. It aims to further human understanding of the Arctic and Antarctic environments.

The last such year, 50 years ago, was marked by the founding of Scott Base and the beginning of New Zealand’s co-operation with the United States’ science programme in Antarctica.

KAREN Capability Build Project Fund

The second round of the KAREN Capability Build Project Fund is now open to applications.

KAREN (Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network) is a next generation telecommunications link for New Zealand educators, researchers and innovators. It provides high capacity, ultra high-speed connectivity between New Zealand's tertiary institutions, research organisations, libraries, wananga, schools and museums, and the rest of the world.

The aim of the fund is to build institutional capability amongst KAREN's core members. The criteria for the fund have been revised to reflect the priorities identified in the recently released Advanced Network Capability Building Roadmap 2007 - 2009. The primary areas of focus are:

• supporting adoption and implementation of real–time collaboration technologies for teaching and research
• supporting the adoption and implementation of middleware – specifically enabling sharing of data and/or information or computational resources, scientific equipment or facilitates national or international collaboration, and
• coordination of standards-based novel methods of data collection and analysis eg tele-instrumentation, visualisation and simulation, data and text mining

The Capability Build Project Fund is administered by the Royal Society. Visit www.rsnz.org for an application form. Applications close on 30 November 2007.

If you are interested in discussing the priorities from the roadmap contact Bill Choquette at Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Ltd (REANNZ) on +64 4 913 1099 or bill.choquette@reannz.co.nz

Leading researchers recognised with fellowships

Eleven of New Zealand’s brightest researchers have been awarded Foundation fellowships to study a range of topics, from conservation of species and preventing cataracts and heart disease through to developing cheaper and more efficient solar panels.

More than 50 scientists applied for 11 Post Doctoral Fellowships, which foster development of New Zealand’s emerging and future science leaders and build greater research capability and knowledge.

The fellowships offer a maximum annual stipend of $58,000 plus allowances for research costs and ongoing skills development, usually for three years. The Foundation is allocating a total of $2.9 million to this round of fellowship candidates and invests $6 million annually in the fellowship programme.

"The Foundation is a major investor in people who make research, science and technology possible and it is encouraging to receive so many high quality applications", says Chief Executive Murray Bain.

"These fellowships support New Zealand’s ability to carry out high quality research, which is a fundamental requirement for any country that wants to provide a sustainable, quality standard of living for its people."

The fellowships were awarded to Aynsley Hickson, Scion Research; Nicola Gaston, Industrial Research Ltd; Ann Wood, Victoria University of Wellington; Julie Lim, University of Auckland; Stuart Lansley, University of Canterbury; Suzanne Furkert, University of Canterbury; Gabe Redding, Massey University; Kelly Hare, University of Otago; Nigel Gapper, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University (USA); Abby Thompson, School of Food Biosciences University of Reading (UK); Damian Moran, Department of Marine Ecology and Aquaculture, Danish Institute for Fisheries Research (Denmark).

Assessment criteria included the research benefits for New Zealanders and the ability of the researchers to deliver tangible results that can be implemented into viable products or processes.