Maharey Steve: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and  State Enterprises — In Committee 
Maharey Steve: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and  State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:638;Page:8806] 
Hon STEVE MAHAREY (Minister for Crown Research Institutes) 
: 
 It is good to follow on from Brian Donnelly who chairs the Education and Science Committee and therefore would know a great deal about what is going on with Crown research institutes at the moment. Following on from his comments I want to highlight four general areas that will be of interest to the Committee.  
The first one is that in this financial year the total revenue from the Crown research institutes portfolio rose by 4.7 percent which is I think an interesting turn-round in where things have been with the Crown research institutes over the last little while. These are difficult businesses. Once again—a little like Television New Zealand—we are asking them to earn revenue because around the world these days science clearly earns large revenue. As well we are asking them to ensure that they match their public service goal of delivering on good science. They have to balance those goals so it was good this year to see a little bit of a turn-round in the amount of money they have been able to return with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd being yet again as the member pointed out the stand-out institute in relation to the dividend returned to the Government.  
The second general point I would like to raise is commercialisation. We are now putting very very systematic pressure if you like on Crown research institutes to commercialise—to build a culture of trying to create value that they move down the chain and out the door—to try to create some extra value for the country. This year Crown research institutes entered into at least 50 joint ventures and licensing agreements. Some very interesting work has happened around Industrial Research Ltd. We have not yet seen the money of course but this year Industrial Research Ltd entered into the sixth biggest biotechnology licensing agreement in the world. If that pays off we are talking in terms of about $600 million being generated and that will be captured in part by Industrial Research Ltd. Those kinds of developments are very good. AgResearch itself is the biggest of our Crown research institutes and it has had a large number of licensing deals this year. A lot of new activity is going on in relation to AgResearch with the appointment of Andrew West as its chief executive. We are seeing some very interesting things happen there.  
The third major point I would like to mention is collaborations. One of the things that is also encouraging is for universities firms and Crown research institutes to get much closer together and over the last little while this year I have been extremely pleased to see—taking AgResearch as an example—something like 80 agreements signed up around the country between AgResearch and the universities. The Hopkirk Research Institute at Palmerston North now one of the major research centres in New Zealand will be a good expression of that between Massey University and AgResearch. I am sure that collaborations are something the select committee would have been pleased to see as well.  
Lastly I really urge members to get alongside Crown research institutes in terms of the sheer quality of science that is going on within them. When it comes to science Crown research institutes quite often feel that although they are chugging away doing hard work it is the universities that people always seem to talk about when it comes to doing research. These are big research engines that the Crown research institutes represent. They are large in the shape of AgResearch and a lot smaller in the shape say of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Ltd but they are all doing outstanding scientific work. Their people are publishing. For example last year there were 4500 publications from Crown research institutes 700 workshops and seminars and so on. This is the kind of work they are doing constantly and I certainly urge members if they are keen to get alongside the Crown research institutes particularly if they happen to be in a Dunedin seat a Christchurch seat or in Hamilton Wellington or Auckland to make sure the institutes understand they are recognised and to tell their stories. They are doing great science at the moment. They are publicly owned but they often feel a little left behind by the universities when people talk about these issues.  
I think it has been a good year and I commend the Crown research institutes. It is a tough environment. They are given the tough task of balancing science and commercial goals but I think that this year they have done us proud both in the financial sense and in the sense of producing good science. I thank the select committee for its excellent review of the Crown research institutes this year. 
Reports noted.