Wellington
Trying to be fair and even handed in that great kiwi egalitarian tradition may be havingdetrimental effects on the country's science, and ultimately, innovation output.
New Zealand has a number of fragmented research centres and researchers scattered around thecountry, who, for the last 20 years or so have operated under a competitive model. This createsshort-termism of outlook and a reduction in what might otherwise be achieved says the New ZealandInstitute's director, Rick Boven.
"The trouble we have here is not enough concentrated effort by specialists," he says. "We'vethought that we can drive scientific performance by competition, when the real competitors areoffshore. We need to specialise and bulk up."
Boven's solution is the creation of (virtual) institutes, where geographically separatedscientists could collaborate for the benefit of the country and themselves; an action Switzerlandcarried out a number of years ago. The European nation was recently ranked number one in the GlobalCompetitiveness Report.
Fragmentation of research effort also leads to less connectedness Boven says. Small andgeographically dispersed scientists "means the connections and relationships become assets of theindividual," he says. If the individual leaves in a small centre, generally speaking that knowledgedoes too.
"If you have a larger, concentrated entity, the connections and relationships are assets of theinstitution. Even if people move on, the assets are retained."
The model of longer term, core funding that government is increasingly moving to for universitiesand CRIs, is applauded by Boven. This is because the competitive model of research funding has thetendency to be: