Joyce Steven: Callaghan Innovation Bill — Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Joyce Steven: Callaghan Innovation Bill — Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 04 December 2012. Volume:686;Page:7009. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister of Science and Innovation) 
: 
 I move  
That the Callaghan Innovation Bill be now read a third time 
. This is a special day in a special year for New Zealand’s science and innovation community. This bill is the latest evidence of this Government’s absolute commitment to the growth and development of New Zealand’s science and innovation system alongside initiatives like the National Science Challenges increased investment in basic research increased investment in engineers and scientists—in fact 50-odd changes as part of our Building Innovation stream of the Business Growth Agenda. 
An important part of the Government’s Business Growth Agenda is ensuring that there are better linkages between business science engineering and design so that great ideas are commercialised and generate income and jobs for New Zealanders. This bill provides the legislative framework for establishing Callaghan Innovation as a high-tech HQ for New Zealand businesses. Callaghan Innovation will be a one-stop shop offering high-tech New Zealand companies the business innovation support they need whether it be in science engineering design or technology in order to become successful internationally. The organisation carries the name of the late Sir Paul Callaghan in recognition of his belief that science was not only about great ideas but also about getting value from those ideas through innovation and commercialisation. 
Alongside the passage of this bill through the House the Government is currently finalising the detailed design of Callaghan Innovation to have it under way by 1 February next year. Cabinet will shortly consider its accountability and performance framework what business innovation support functions will be transferred from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and how Callaghan Innovation will align with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to ensure there is no wrong door for businesses accessing these sorts of Government services. 
New Zealanders are great at coming up with smart ideas but we do need to be better at turning those ideas into commercially successful high-tech products that we can then sell to the world. We need science engineering and design expertise joined at the hip on product development. We must encourage an entrepreneurial spark amongst our science and research community. New Zealand is blessed with outstanding entrepreneurs and outstanding scientists but we are not yet as successful as we need to be when it comes to converting ideas and intellectual property into business success. The challenge in this case is to fire up more of our young scientists so that they see starting their own business joining a start-up team or joining an established innovation business as a viable alternative—or indeed addition—to an academic career. 
In many ways the pathway has been established with some of our top businesses coming from entrepreneurs who have over many years applied innovative thinking to home-grown science and engineering. The challenge for Callaghan Innovation will be to accelerate that activity to help more firms reach that level of success by connecting them with the know-how and the facilities that they need. 
Based in Auckland Wellington—including the Hutt Valley—and Christchurch Callaghan Innovation will be strongly business focused and responsive to commercial needs. Its initial focus will be on industries with high growth potential such as food and beverage manufacturing agricultural technologies digital technologies health technologies therapeutics and high-value wood products. Callaghan Innovation will offer value-adding services such as product testing and analysis access to specialised expertise and facilities national measurement and standards work commercialisation advice and of course its own research. 
Collaboration will be the key. As well as offering its own services Callaghan Innovation must improve connectivity between businesses and the significant but highly distributed capability that exists across New Zealand’s many public and private research organisations and within businesses themselves. It will build partnerships to maximise commercialisation opportunities and develop global connections through which New Zealand companies can access international expertise and keep abreast of technology trends and market opportunities. 
It will also manage the Government’s business research and development co-funding streams. However it will not be responsible for allocating contestable science funding. That will continue to be administered by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. Much of the foundation of Callaghan Innovation will come from the assets and staff of Industrial Research Ltd which will become a subsidiary company of the new organisation. 
The Government sees greater business innovation as a key to growing the economy. There is a big gap in private sector investment in research and development in New Zealand. Although there are many reasons for that research shows that if we can increase business research and development expenditure that will help drive economic growth. So the Government has set a goal of raising the amount that firms spend on research and development from the current 0.54 percent of GDP to at least 1 percent of GDP and we see Callaghan Innovation playing a critical role in helping to leverage that greater investment. The success of Callaghan Innovation will be measured by how many companies it helps to become research and development capable how many spend more on research and development and most of all how many it helps to innovate to become more competitive and lift New Zealand’s exports. 
I firmly believe that Callaghan Innovation will be a great step forward in New Zealand’s plan to achieve faster growth through the application of our innovation and of our Kiwi ingenuity. I commend this bill to the House for adoption.