The Prime Minister this morning pre-announced the science and innovation funding commitments that will be included in the Budget on May 20.
The Government also released its strategy on science and innovation.
The allocations totaling $321 million for new initiatives and including $96m of reprioritised money over four years are as follow:
* $189.5m for technology development grants to support R&D in businesses that already do significant amounts of R&D.
* $20m to trial technology transfer vouchers, which will encourage links between companies and publicly-funded research organisations.
* $11m to support technology transfer from research organisations to businesses and commercialisation of new products and processes.
* $13.7m in contingency funding for initiatives to improve the transfer of technology from research organisations to the private sector.
* $25m over four years for the Rutherford Discovery Fellowships which will support early to mid-career researchers.
* $9m over three years, starting in 2011/12 to attract top science entrepreneurial talent to New Zealand.
* $44.3m over four years in contingency funding for proposed large-scale science infrastructure, subject to Cabinet approval.
The Prime Minister revealed the funding allocations in a speech at the Wellington Chamber of Commerce at Te Papa Museum this morning.
Click below to play a recording of his speech:
[audio:https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/wp-content/upload/2010/05/john-key-science-budget.mp3]