Foster-Bell Paul: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFoster-Bell Paul: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 11 November 2015. Volume:710;Page:7881. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.PAUL FOSTER-BELL (National) to the Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment: How is the Government encouraging New Zealand’s medical technology sector to grow and contribute to the economy?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment): Recently I opened the Medical Technologies Centre of Research Excellence which is based at the University of Auckland and has been allocated core funding of $23.6 million through to the end of 2020 to bring together clinicians and industry in partnership to develop new health technologies for the prevention early diagnosis and management of disease and improve the health and well-being of New Zealanders. Medical Technologies will also help accelerate the growth of New Zealand’s emerging medical devices and health IT sector of around 150 companies with an estimated value of around $1 billion. Medical Technologies is assisted by a partnership that includes the Auckland University of Technology Callaghan Innovation and of course the University of Auckland but also Canterbury University Otago University and Victoria University.Paul Foster-Bell: How are centres of research excellence supporting health research?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Overall four of the 10 centres of research excellence funded from now until 2020 focus on health research. Medical Technologies is the second of two new health centres of research excellence (CORE) I have had the opportunity to launch this year the other being the Brain Research New Zealand centre of research excellence co-hosted by Otago University and Auckland University. These are joined by two other health-related COREs: of course the Maurice Wilkins Centre for molecular biodiscovery which develops cutting-edge drugs and vaccines and tools for early diagnosis and prevention; and the Riddet Institute which focuses on food and material science novel food processing human nutrition and gastrointestinal biology. Including centres of research excellence funding New Zealand spends a total of around $300 million on health research and development with about two-thirds of this coming through direct Government and higher education funding and the other third coming from business.Paul Foster-Bell: What else is the Government doing to encourage high-quality research in the health system?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Yesterday my colleagues the Minister of Science and Innovation and the Minister of Health Dr Jonathan Coleman announced a new health strategy that will be developed to focus on and align the economic and health goals of the health research sector. In addition to improving health outcomes and quality of care for Kiwis health research is a strength for New Zealand in terms of scientific quality which generates new high-value knowledge-intensive companies. The new strategy will help to enhance the impact relevance and uptake of health research and maximise the contribution of health science to New Zealand’s economic growth and the well-being of New Zealanders. This afternoon the Minister of Science and Innovation opened the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment contestable research fund for research proposals. This fund is worth about $35 million a year and is available for investment in excellent mission-led research that has the potential for long-term impact for New Zealand.