O'Connor Simon: Advanced Technology Institute Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
O'Connor Simon: Advanced Technology Institute Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 08 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6483. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
SIMON O’CONNOR (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 Exhausting—absolutely exhausting. The Advanced Technology Institute Bill is a positive bill. There has been a little bit of focus actually on what was seen as a truncated or a supposedly fast process. I actually think the process was sufficient. 
Those of us who do research in different forms know that you come across a eureka moment and it can come at any point in time. I think this Government realised fairly early on the eureka moment around the Advanced Technology Institute Bill. This is an opportunity for the country and one that should be embraced enthusiastically. I think that when we look at the majority of the 23 submissions that we got in the Education and Science Committee people were behind this. There are always I suppose some cosmetic or small aspects to be discussed but by and large people are supportive of this project. This Government is keen to get on with the job—that is the key. 
When we look at the Advanced Technology Institute Bill there have been a number of distractions today in the speeches around it but there really are two words that sum up the bill. The first is “mechanism” and the second is “conduit”. This is a mechanism a legislative mechanism to bring about a body to facilitate research and development in New Zealand. It is a mechanism. It does not need to be incredibly prescriptive. It does not need to reflect ideology. It does not need to say which mates have to be on the boards. This is a mechanism a legislative mechanism to bring about an Advanced Technology Institute. 
What is this institute about? It is a conduit. At the end of the day it is about taking the best research in New Zealand and acting as a conduit to make the research into a commercially viable option. It mirrors a lot of institutes around the world. I can think of one that is somewhat similar. I had the pleasure earlier this year to go to the United States to look at the American political system. One part of our trip was to go into Massachusetts—it was actually back to a place Cambridge where I had lived—to see the Cambridge Innovation Center. This is a place that acts as a conduit taking good ideas and linking them to business. One of the most fascinating elements of the Cambridge Innovation Center was that the likes of Google and Microsoft had chosen to build nearby it. It is acting as a conduit—again facilitating research development and good ideas supportively and actually linking them across to business. I think when I look at the Advanced Technology Institute there are degrees and direct similarities at work there. 
Again it is important to see that this bill is firstly a mechanism and secondly a conduit. It is not something to be distracted pulled apart and seen as sort of a facilitation of cronyism or whatever else has been thrown at it today. This is a conduit for the substantial funding that the Government does put into research and development. There is often talk about these tax credits and so forth but what is often forgotten is that this Government has successively increased the total funding into research and development. As part of Budget 2012 this Government has allocated approximately $166 million over 4 years to the Advanced Technology Institute—$166 million over 4 years. This is a substantial contribution by the Government to support people in New Zealand. 
In fact it also touches on and gets very similar to something we have already out by Auckland Airport. There is a facility there to act as a conduit around the food industry a place where people come with their ideas and their research if you like and turn them into something that is commercially viable. Again there are really good examples both local and overseas that this Advanced Technology Institute Bill is working on. 
So I think it is really important that we do not get distracted by the cronyistic designs of some parties. It is certainly not a place to fall into the Chicken Little argument that this is going to be the end of research in New Zealand—we have heard that today. This is a bill a legislative mechanism—[ 
Interruption 
]; indeed—to facilitate and help people bring that cutting-edge research that New Zealand has. We think about the work that Orion Health does we think of the work that Fisher and Paykel Healthcare does. I think actually of a few of my friends who work within the scientific area. They want this bill. They are already at the coalface doing fantastic work. Let us get on with it. We promptly looked at the bill. We appropriately looked at the bill. Let us get it on to the Committee and the third reading.