The New Zealand government is paying for an extra 141 undergraduate students to do research internships at businesses across the country, Wayne Mapp, the innovation minister, announced on 2 December.
Mapp announced an increase of funding for the annual programme from NZ$1.28m to NZ$2.4m.
“This Government wants to see better connections and increased collaboration between the science and business communities. These internships contribute to this goal,” he said.
“This initiative has twin benefits: young, promising engineers, technologists and scientists will be able to prove themselves in a commercial research environment. And businesses have the chance to tap into the latest knowledge, insights and skills to contribute to new products, processes or services,” he added.
The money will be used to increase the number of students taking part in the internships from 200 to 341.