Budget gives NZ$25m to institutes outside the big cities

A total of NZ$25 million (US$18.2m) will go to the development of research institutes outside New Zealand’s major cities in the next three years, the finance minister Bill English has announced in the budget.

The 2015 budget identifies a need to promote regional R&D by establishing focal points for activities. The government envisages supporting between one and three institutes over the next five years—to be located in areas other than Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

The institutes will be expected to bring in private funding to add to the government support, with their activities modelled on the Cawthron Institute in Nelson—a not-for-profit institute for aquaculture, marine biosecurity, and coastal and freshwater ecology.