Carter David: Advanced Technology Institute Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Carter David: Advanced Technology Institute Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 08 November 2012. Volume:685;Page:6469. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon DAVID CARTER (Minister for Primary Industries) 
 on behalf of the Minister of Science and Innovation: I move  
That the Advanced Technology Institute Bill be now read a second time 
. The bill establishes a new Crown entity the Advanced Technology Institute—also known as ATI—a new high-tech HQ to support innovative New Zealand businesses primarily in the manufacturing and services sector. The purpose of the Advanced Technology Institute is simple: to help get New Zealand’s best ideas out of the lab and into the market place more quickly. Kiwis are great at coming up with smart ideas but we need to become more successful at translating those ideas more quickly into commercially successful products. The Advanced Technology Institute will help increase the number of research and development - capable firms lift New Zealand’s exports of high-value manufactured goods and services and support the Government’s aspirations around economic growth. It will focus on industries with high-growth potential such as the food and beverage manufacturing sectors the agritechnology sectors digital technologies health technology therapeutics and high-value wood products. 
When the Advanced Technology Institute Bill was referred to the Education and Science Committee the House requested that it be reported back by 6 November in order for the Advanced Technology Institute to be up and running in early 2013. The committee in fact reported back on 23 October and I am grateful to the chair and the members for their prompt consideration of this legislation. Submissions on the bill were highly supportive of the Government’s ambitions for the Advanced Technology Institute. Useful information was provided on how submitters saw the Advanced Technology Institute operating within the research and development sector and how it could operate to minimise perceived negative effects. The Government shares the views of many submitters that collaboration will be the key to the success of the Advanced Technology Institute. No single institution can expect to maintain all of the research capability required to service the manufacturing and services sector. To succeed therefore the Advanced Technology Institute must work with Crown research institutes with the universities and polytechs and with other research providers to develop partnerships that maximise commercialisation opportunities and to ensure that businesses better utilise existing research and development capabilities. 
To underline the importance of those objectives the bill’s operating principles mandating collaboration have been strengthened. I am aware that the committee heard a number of submissions regarding the nature and the extent of the Advanced Technology Institute’s in-house research capability. It was always intended that the Advanced Technology Institute would look to harness capability that exists across all research institutions and that it would not seek to unnecessarily duplicate expertise elsewhere. That said Industrial Research Ltd currently undertakes a significant research and development programme and it will become part of the Advanced Technology Institute upon its establishment. The Advanced Technology Institute board will decide the mix of resources and capability it requires to deliver its functions and this will naturally evolve over time. The bill simply provides the Advanced Technology Institute with the function of undertaking research and development. It is not prescriptive as to the extent or form. 
A number of submitters requested that membership of the board of the Advanced Technology Institute or the stakeholder advisory group be prescribed to those with characteristics such as geographical or professional representation institutional type or unions. The board’s appointment is governed by the Cabinet circular outlining the process for increasing diversity of board membership while the Minister must consult with the board before establishing the advisory group providing the means to identify specialist areas of assistance. The potential area of conflict of the institute being both a funder of business research and development grants and a research and development provider has always been recognised. This bill requires that systems and procedures are put in place to ensure that the Advanced Technology Institute acts fairly and transparently in allocating and administering research and development funding. I am confident those systems and procedures will be robust and will withstand scrutiny. The Advanced Technology Institute must also report on its implementation in its annual report as must the Auditor-General as part of the annual financial audit process. 
The Advanced Technology Institute which is to be named after the late Sir Paul Callaghan forms part of this Government’s commitment to promoting science and innovation in New Zealand through the Business Growth Agenda. In recent months we have announced a number of initiatives to improve linkages between science business and innovation. These include making improvements to business incubator settings assessing whether the tax treatment is discouraging firms from research and development expenditure promoting co-funding to encourage business innovation improving the economic contribution of both universities and polytechnics better monitoring of public science investment and incentivising public research institutions. Increasing business innovation is key to growing the economy. It is key to creating jobs and key to raising the living standards of all New Zealanders. This Government has set the goal of raising the amount businesses spend on research and development from where it is currently at 0.45 percent to 1 percent of GDP. 
The success of the Advanced Technology Institute will be measured in many ways but one of the most important will be how much it helps manufacturing and services firms to innovate to increase productivity to grow exports and to operate more efficiently. The Advanced Technology Institute Bill strikes a balance between being flexible enough for the Advanced Technology Institute to determine which services and activities will best support firms in the manufacturing and services sector to innovate and to commercialise their products while also being clear about the institute’s purpose the scope of its functions and the operating principles by which it is expected to abide. The Advanced Technology Institute will help ensure that innovative Kiwi firms have access to the necessary skills facilities infrastructure and new technologies that they need to lift their competitiveness and in turn boost New Zealand’s economic growth. I commend this bill to the House.