NZ Crown Research Institutes: An overview
Dr Prue Williams, Crop & Food Research, NZ
In NZ, research is mainly carried out by Crown Research Institutes (CRIs), universities and private companies. The CRIs are independent companies owned by the Government. They carry out research for the benefit of NZ in association with universities and companies. Collaborative research is important for providing complementary skills, access to equipment, materials and other resources and to ensure the research will deliver outcomes for NZ. Access to NZ government research funds usually requires financial commitment from a company as demonstration of relevance of the research to the company needs.
Such collaborations come with challenges particularly tensions between science and industry about ownership of intellectual property and the speed at which science can react to commercial opportunities.
