New Thinking

It’s all about making a difference for New Zealand

Anthony Scott, chief executive, Science New Zealand

The formation of Science New Zealand marks a major new role for New Zealand’s Crown Research Institutes. It is a role taken up because of who and what they are, and the purpose they are created to serve.

Individually, each is heavily engaged with their particular sector(s). These are close and long-standing relationships, built on delivery of results that matter to the sector.

So it is not surprising that the nine Crown Research Institutes collectively generate more than $625 million annually. They undertake research (and commercialisation of that research) across every sector vital to New Zealand’s economic, environmental and social wealth.

The 4,400 staff are organised around research that makes a difference to New Zealand. They have a unique role as the nation’s research centres, mandated by Parliament to do research which benefits New Zealand.

They operate throughout the country, from forests to farmland, from major urban areas to the smallest, from beyond Cape Reinga to Antarctica; from the peaks of the Southern Alps to the deep trenches of our seas.

The Crown Research Institutes are some of the largest integrated research enterprises in the world, and are world leaders in their science.

Their excellence attracts people and organisations around the globe, as well as within New Zealand, seeking advice and often leadership. These global linkages provide insight, knowledge and connections of benefit to New Zealand.

Now, through Science New Zealand, the Crown Research Institutes are taking a larger role in raising appreciation of the value of science and technology for New Zealand. We will celebrate, inspire and encourage.

The goal is to reach out to a wider set of audiences: those people and groups with less direct knowledge of how science undertaken to address their needs is already making a difference for them – and are unaware of the potential for their future.

Why are these audiences important?

Simply, without the value of science and technology being embedded into the culture of the nation – through individuals, parents, schools, businesses, community organisations, local and central government – New Zealand risks being left behind.

Conversely, with RS&T, New Zealand can achieve what it wants – protecting our environment; retaining and attracting highly skilled people; having the health care we expect; quality jobs and high wages; retaining our role amongst the nations of the world.

More broadly, the large issues of our age are science-based challenges: climate change, sustainability, water and energy, food, housing and health.

Science will not provide all the answers; but can assist identify, develop and propose solutions.

Science affects every part of our working, social and community lives, and will do so for our children as well.

Recognition of the pervasive benefits of RS&T for New Zealand will encourage action, as it already has in other nations which have embarked upon this path.

So we expect to see more parents encouraging children into science study, because they see it as leading to valuable and valued roles later in life; business leaders being science-savvy, and having an expectation that RS&T can be a source of added value, new thinking and advantage; community and government bodies asking for science-based advice to devise well-informed policy and implementation; a more engaged public.

A society which values RS&T will invest in RS&T. That is so much more than just money. People and their employers will invest in training, in careers, in being open to and engaging with RS&T possibilities.

The nine Crown Research Institutes have awe-inspiring stories of what is working already, as they partner with sectors to deliver their needs. The Crown Research Institutes also work on new possibilities and new sectors. We need to tell these stories more widely.

We have a national treasure trove of science success. New Zealand is a nation built upon RS&T, although much of that is overshadowed by the myth of the No.8 wire and DIY ethic.

There was nothing No.8 about the world’s first refrigerated shipment of meat, in 1882 from Port Chalmers to London, that transformed our nation into a meat-supplier to Britain. That was RS&T.

Even now, some 20 per cent of our gross domestic product directly relies on the top 150 mm of our soil. The primary sector accounted for $24.3 billion of exports last year – more than 66 per cent of merchandise exports. Tourism – heavily dependent upon the quality of our natural environment – is worth another $18.6 billion.

Underlying the hard work of our farmers, foresters, horticulturalists, wine growers and so on, is RS&T that enables them to make the right decisions and to ensure that New Zealand is the best and most trusted source of supply and value.

We have the world’s best farmers, for example, because they are the most knowledgeable and receptive to new knowledge and its application. That training and that attitude are a huge asset for this country, and a model of how pervasive RS&T builds value.

It is science developed for New Zealand conditions that protects against pests, provides biosecurity, develops new techniques to preserve and regenerate our environment.

Manufacturing industry also benefits from science to meet local needs. New sectors are being established, which enable New Zealand businesses to compete globally in high-value areas.

Undoubtedly, our economic future also rests upon RS&T. The OECD Review on New Zealand’s Innovation Policy, released last August, stated: “the most important economic challenge is to raise income per capita sustainably by boosting productivity growth.”

New Zealand now has more people in the workforce, working longer and harder, than ever before. The OECD says it is time get working smarter: producing more value for the same or even less effort.

That is an RS&T challenge.

And, even as we focus on those issues for New Zealand, we know that our solutions will open up huge opportunities for New Zealand influence and economic benefit globally. Already, Crown Research scientists are helping shape global responses, both in policies and technologies.

Science New Zealand has an exciting role which can help transform how this country sees the value of RS&T for its benefit.

We will tell those stories in various ways, including through the internet (www.sciencenewzealand.org). They are stories which will inspire every New Zealander and even help strengthen our national identity as adventurous, creative, confident people.