Wellington
Industrial Research Ltd. should be changed to an innovation development agency reckons
The proposal is part of the recently released Institution of Professional Engineers of NZ's
IPENZ says there are missing elements in our country's policy framework. We need to boost ourprivate sector expertise to develop, adapt and adopt new technologies (innovation expertise), and todevelop industries that are less likely to migrate offshore and are thus more 'sticky'.
IRL should receive part of a (to be established) innovationexpertise fund as part of its core funding, and as well as delivering important R&D, it shouldbecome more focused on innovation expertise development the document says.
Under such a scheme, IRL's key performance indicators would be the extent of industryco-investment and the personnel transferred to the private sector.
IPENZ bases part of its proposals on a case study of
This 38 year old body is focused not so much on research, but the development and thetransformation of research capability to assist Taiwan's economic development according toIPENZ.
More than 60% of ITRI's 6,000 employees are at Masterate or Doctorate level in communications andoptoelectronics, precision machinery and MEMS, materials and chemical engineering, biomedicaltechnology, sustainable development and nanotechnology.
Apparently over 160,000 people have graduated from ITRI, with the majority now being employed inthe business community - some in mid to high level management positions.
IPENZ says ITRI is therefore flooding the business economy with graduates who can apply theirtechnical knowledge and in time move into management roles in businesses.
New Zealand can do something similar IPENZ says. "With a greater diversity of business leaders atthe helm, companies exploring offshore markets will be better equipped to invest wisely in R&Dand market development," the report says. "This will include building clusters with other visionarycompanies based in New Zealand."
IPENZ says that CRI's other than IRL, with a significant role to develop private sectorexpertise, could be partly converted to industrial development mode by providing some of their corefunding from a innovation expertise fund.
IRL chief executive Shaun Coffey was at IPENZ's launch of its document, and you can presume hewouldn't have attended if he was violently anti its proposals.
Now, there's plenty of daylight between an independent body's 'thinking' and government (and CRI)policy.
But IRL's been heading down interesting paths in co-funding private sector research initiatives,and being one of the recipients for the Ministry of Science and Innovation's (via Tech NZ)technology transfer vouchers is in a healthy position to further develop in this area.
As is always, quite rightly, the case, there are sure to be discussions around IPENZ'ssuggestions going on behind the scenes.
Watch this space.