Technology Transfer Vouchers go the way of the dinosaurs
Dave Guerin runs a blog and a paid subscription model for
Education Insider -essentially an education everything at the tertiary and beyond level.
He keeps a super-close eye on legislation, comings and goings, controversy.....and governmentbudget announcements.
Dave reads the fine print - the following is his delving among the entrails - and makes someexcellent observations. (Thanks Dave)
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We noted Steven Joyce’s
changes to businessR&D grants
in our Budget analysis, but we always meant to come back and look at the details.It was good that we did, because we missed the major change – the abolition of Technology TransferVouchers. The Vouchers directed (usually smaller) firms into working with research organisations onprojects (
accreditedpartners included 8 universities and 2 ITPs). The Government offered matching funding tofirms.
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The Vouchers did not have a fast or high uptake and seem to have become acasualty of their relative lack of success. They were introduced in the 2010 Budget and the
first voucher wasannounced in December 2010
. $5m was to be granted each year for a total of $20m over four years,but by Aug 2012
only$4m had been given out in 39 grants, by which time $11.25m had been budgeted. The original$100,000 requirement from businesses was dropped to $30,000, but uptake has not been sufficient toretain the Vouchers.
- While the removal of Vouchers is understandable from aGovernment view, it does remove one of the few initiatives to encourage interaction between smallfirms and research organisations. The final design of the R&D Project Grants might address thatgap (as might Callaghan Innovation’s future facilitation activities), but it seems that anopportunity has been missed, without any immediate alternative.
Key Facts
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Steven Joyce announced
three new businessR&D grants on Budget day, saying that they “replace the previous Technology DevelopmentGrants, TechNZ Project Grants, TechNZ Capability Grants, and Technology TransferVouchers.”
- Technology Transfer Vouchers will end. We missed the brief reference inJoyce’s media release on Budget day, but we have confirmed the situation with CallaghanInnovation.
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R&DGrowth Grants
replaced the previous Technology Development Grant – key changes are notedbelow.
- Businesses with a minimum of $300k of R&Dspending in NZ, and at least 1.5% of revenue spent on R&D over last 2 years will be eligible(used to be 3% of revenue over past 3 years, plus at least $3m revenues).
- After twoyears of funding, businesses can be re-assessed for a further three years funding.
- The cap on funding per annum will increase to $5 million (was $2.4 million).
- Most of the subjective judgement associated with receiving a grant has been removed
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R&D Student Grants
are being retained from the previous TechNZ Capability Grants. They will provide support forundergraduate and postgraduate students to work within R&D active businesses. These were part ofthe previous TechNZ Capability Grants.
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R&D Project Grants replacedthe TechNZ Project Grants – key changes are noted below.
- Project grants aretargeted at firms with smaller R&D programmes and those that are new to R&D.
- Project grants will typically provide 30-50 per cent public co-funding (was 50%).
- Project grants will be repayable under certain circumstances – particularly if a businessshifts its R&D activity offshore (this is new).
Previous sticK stories about the Tech Transfer Vouchers can be found
here
,and
here.
Technology Transfer Vouchers go the way of the dinosaurs
Technology Transfer Vouchers go the way of the dinosaurs
