Running investment processes
Contestable

We invest a portion of our funds through contest-based investment processes. These are either one-stage or two-stage.

One-stage process

In one-stage processes, researchers submit a complete description of their proposed research as the first step (called a proposal).

Two-stage process

In two-stage processes, researchers submit a short outline of their intended research first (called a concept). Once the concepts have been screened by advisory groups, we invite the researchers whose concepts best meet our criteria to submit full proposals.

How do you decide which concepts can proceed?

We use advisory groups to screen concepts against our assessment criteria.

We then ask the researchers with the selected concepts to submit full proposals.

How do you decide which proposals to invest in?

Once again, we use advisory groups to screen the proposals against our assessment criteria.

In addition, research proposals submitted through the New Economy Research Fund (NERF?) are peer reviewed. This area includes three portfolios – Future Human Technologies (FHT?), New Physical Technologies (NPT?) and New Zealand’s Strengths (NZS?).

We then consider all proposals against a range of balance factors to select the proposals in which to invest.

Balance factors allow us to ensure our investments:

• cover all the important research topics and priorities in a research area
• do not duplicate research
• support teams that are important for New Zealand's research capability
• include a range of short and longer-term research
• support a wide range of industries
• address critical questions for New Zealand
• support research that will benefit Māori.

Taking these factors into account and the limited money available for investment in some areas means some strong research proposals may not be funded in an investment round.

Still have questions? See our frequently asked questions for contestable processes.