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Posts Tagged ‘innovation’

Who influenced Craig Foss to change the patents bill against our Kiwi software industry?

Posted by on September 13th, 2012

The debate in the second reading of the Patents Bill yesterday afternoon was intense.

At the heart of it was why Commerce Minister Craig Foss had made, what on the face of it, seemed like an ill-conceived decision to change the wording of a key clause which will affect our local software industry adversely. By moving away from a position which blankly said a software  program could not be patented, he has qualified this hugely by adding the following:

..prevents anything from being an invention for the purposes of this Act only to the extent that a patent or an application relates to a computer program as such

The “as such” change opens to the door to big multinational corporates being able to take advantage of an ambiguous clause to dominate and stifle smaller innovative software developers in court.

Foss claims it won’t. Labour, the Greens and NZ First claim it will. We don’t know what the Maori Party, John Banks and Peter Dunne think yet. I hope they’ll look at it carefully and listen to local developers.

The Kiwi software industry certainly thinks it will affect them badly. They put together a petition and in just 4 or five days with almost 1100 signatures asking the Minister to reconsider. And it might be worth noting that among the 1100 signatories are some of our biggest software innovators; Jade, Orion Health and Xero (PS: Xero didn’t sign, but their head of design did).

Now it emerges that, despite the on record commitments of previous Commerce Minister Simon Power since 2010 that the recommendation by the Commerce Select Committee to exclude software from patentability would stand, there were backroom meetings with the multinationals from the moment the Bill was reported back to the House, pressuring the Minister and officials to change their minds and open the door to software patentability.

Somehow the language used in Craig Foss’s amendment  is precisely that requested by those lobbyists. This “as such” language both undermines the software exclusion to the point where software is, in fact, patentable, while at the same time it’s asserted to be the best language to implement a software exclusion? One of those positions is false. We know – and the pro-software patent lobby’s support for it is ample verification – that the “as such” wording will rapidly be used to circumvent the software patent exclusion.

Here’s the evidence. A blog post by NZICT, which represents those multinationals, including Microsoft and IBM specifically, requested that the Ministry of Economic Development change its language to that used by the European Patent Convention “because that language can easily be circumvented” and in effect undoes the software patent exclusion. The NZICT Group (claimed to have) had assurances from the MED that it was never the ministry’s intention to ban software from patentability in any case.

Note: this blog post has since been taken off the NZICT website. I wonder why?

Labour yesterday tabled this blog post in the House during the debate and raised questions about how this backroom deal was done and why the select committee’s intent had been circumvented and hijackedby the multinational’s agenda against the interests of our local software development industry.

It’s worth noting that the main MED actor in all of this is Rory McLeod, who is also the main IP negotiator on behalf of MFAT in the TPPA negotiations. Coincidence? I think not.

What does the government think it’s doing stifling our most important innovators. This is bloody ridiculous.

The Foss amendment now provides the pro-patent multinational lobby with exactly what they specifically requested in June 2010.

Yet somehow Foss and MED are trying to sell this as the most certain way to ensure a software patent exclusion. It can’t be both.

The Kiwi software developers vehemently oppose the Foss amendment because they believe that they will be vulnerable to multinational corporate patent suits on software inventions. This has proven the case in the European jurisdiction.  There are hundreds of comments on the petition website from Kiwi software developers about this.

I have been contacted directly  in the last few days by a Canadian software company which has planned to relocate to NZ because of the patent ban on software because it was a better environment in which to innovate.

I was told late last week about a synthetic biology start up which is a co-investment of $170m between NZ and Taiwan. It came about because NZ was seen as being proactive for digital start ups because of this Patent Bill sitting on our books.

In the US over the last 20 years, its been estimated that the cost to the US economy of patent litigation is half a trillion dollars. We don’t want the US system because it’s all about patenting this and that and patenting trolls who trawl the planet looking for inventions they can pretend to have ownership over. We don’t want the European system as it stands either. It’s the European system whose ambiguous “as such” has resulted in 30 years of expensive litigation, and has resulted in most software being patentable despite that being contrary to the spirit of the legislation.

What we want is a law that’s as clear and unambiguous as we can make it. That protects our innovators and allows the physical invention to be patented (such as a washing machine) but keeps the software code which runs the washing machine protected by copyright and not by patent.

The moment the prospect of patent litigation looms on the horizon, there’s only one group who benefits and that’s patent lawyers who can tie companies up in the courts for years. The big corporates don’t mind as they are protecting their market share and stifling competition.

Copyright adequately protects software development.

Software is lines of code, like music is lines of notes, or books are lines of text. Software is a collection of mathematical equations. In order to create new software you have to build on existing software.

Everyone – including National – has accepted that software patents should be excluded – I don’t think that’s being re-litigated here. What we need to take National to task for is the fact that the way they have chosen to implement the software exclusion won’t, in fact, work. Moreover, it appears that they’re consciously adopting the means for implementing it which fundamentally undermines their stated goal.

How can they claim, with a straight face, that the wording of the bill requested by the pro-software patents lobby – because it effectively reverses the exclusion – is the best way to exclude software patents? The same language can’t achieve both ends. It appears that, either due to incompetence or malice, the Minister and/or his advisors have adopted language which fundamentally undermines their stated aim of excluding software patents.

As I said in my speech in the House yesterday (9 minutes into this clip), we need to encourage our innovators not stifle them. Labour hopes the government will work that out before this Bill passes.

Patents exists purely to provide an incentive for inventors to create for the greater good. Patents categorically DO NOT exist “to protect an inventor’s investment”.  Given that the software industry has spoken decisively about the language it wants to use to implement the broadly supported ban on software patents, why not accept that these people have done their homework.

Given that they are the ones who will have to live with this legislation from day to day, let’s accept that the kiwi software industry has offered better language for the software patent exclusion than the pro-software patent lobby’s preferred language proposed by Foss’ ill-advised SOP.

That’s why I moved an amendment this week to follow this statement:

10A(1) A computer program is not an invention for the purposes of this Act.

My amendment simply says

10A(2): Subsection (1) does not prevent an invention that makes use of an embedded computer program from being patentable.

This means a computer software program is not patentable. Fullstop.

Two observations:

  • Comms and IT Minister Amy Adams claims her portfolio has nothing to do with software and patents. Extraordinary as she claims to represent the software and IT industry.
  • David Farrar on Kiwiblog has been very silent. Would love to know what he thinks
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Filed under: comms & IT, economy
21 Comments

Charter School Model Found Lacking

Posted by on August 18th, 2012

The Government has recently announced its framework for charter schools to be introduced into our education system. It would be convenient to think that this is an initiative solely driven by National however information released under the OIA shows that National was considering this model well before the election.

From the research I have read especially that coming out of Stanford University tell us that the gains are nominal, not consistent and there are serious quality issues. It’s yet another way to suck money from the public purse and privatize the profits without the same accountabilities as public schools.

In particular Charter Schools will:
• Be able to pay teachers whatever they like and not require them to be registered
• Establish a governance board that is not necessarily made up of parents
• Screen which students may or may not attend their school
• Vary the delivery of an education curriculum or not draw from the NZ education curriculum

National is promoting Charter Schools as a fix for ‘the long tail of underachievement’ and the significant issues faced by network provision in Christchurch post the earthquake. Local Consultation did not take place although forums have been held in both South Auckland and Christchurch.

Are Charter Schools a better option than the current system?

We are not starting from scratch, we have homegrown solutions. New Zealand has an education system that has public schools, private and integrated schools, kura kaupapa and wharekura. In maori mainstream and some english mainstream schools, innovation and leadership have resulted in great outcomes for Maori and Pasifika students but the system does not cope well with rolling these innovations out or rewarding success. The shift in mindset should be to change the ‘norm’ where curriculum content, relationships between student and principal, recognition of the corresponding importance of language, culture and identity align to education and vocational pathways for young people. All this can be achieved in the public schooling system without the need for Charter Schools.

It appears that Charter Schools will be particularly attractive for faith based schools and private sectors interests. One only needs to ask why such schools were not established under existing provisions of the Education Act as a ‘special character’ school? Could it be that these schools do not want to conform to the same obligations as other schools funded from the public purse? There will be greater difficulty in keeping these newly designated Charter Schools accountable to the wider public who want to promote tolerance through diversity of opinion and faith rather than the prospect of ‘closed community’ thinking.

The Government has to recognize that socio-economic background does have an impact on children’s learning outcomes. Having a warm home, kai on the table, a stable job for parents, affordable access to ece and a quality public education system is critically important for the great majority of young people. Charter Schools will introduce greater competition on public monies at a time when we need to lift expectation across the system so all public schools deliver to those children.

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Filed under: education, Uncategorized
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A nation of makers #8

Posted by on January 24th, 2012

The ODT reports today yesterday:

Dunedin-based technology company PocketSmith is one of six finalists in the BNZ Start-Up Alley competition.

The competition is to help grow New Zealand’s web and technology start-up businesses.

Pocketsmith has a competitive personal finance management tool that allows users to track their expenses.

Pocketsmith is part of the University of Otago’s Centre for Innovation Distiller community.

I first visited Pocketsmith at the Distiller about two year’s ago. They were starting to make an impact then. The Distiller is a group of people (they call themselves technopreneurs) who work on their own projects, but work co-operatively and sometimes collaborate. They share space, ideas out of their creative enviroment comes great ideas. They call it social entrepeneurship.

NBR wrote about them mid last year;

PocketSmith co-founder Jason Leong told NBR his company’s success was all down to the power of open source development, the software-as-a-service (or SaaS) model for delivering your product over the internet, and the viral power of social networking and professional community sites.

Read more about how they have become a success story here.

Good on them.

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Filed under: comms & IT, economy, internet
2 Comments

A nation of makers #7

Posted by on January 16th, 2012

Profiled in today’s Dom Post Nathan Li’s online application Educa, which allows parents to see and comment on their pre-schooler’s e-portfolio – an online record of their development, including photos and videos, created by teachers at her preschool.

Li developed Educa with input from early childhood teachers and parents, and launched the web application in April last year.

22 pre-schools using it so far. They are hoping to expand  into Australia.

Wish this was available when my kids were in pre-school.

We need more Nathan Li’s.

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Filed under: comms & IT, economy
7 Comments

A nation of makers #6

Posted by on January 5th, 2012

Dene Mackenzie writes in the ODT about Jade Software and their innovative JOOB product. The story is a few days old but worth reading. Think they deserve the award.

We need more companies like Jade. Hopefully who think it’s worth it to stay based in NZ.

A year ago, Jade Software was preparing to invade Silicon Valley and California. After battling through the Christchurch earthquakes, unprecedented travel and successfully establishing a beach-head in California, Jade Software has earned the title of the Otago Daily Times Southern Business of the Year.

Opening an office during the year in San Francisco paid dividends for Jade Software, but there is much more to the company than just establishing a beach-head in the United States.

The US was seen as the big unknown for the Christchurch-based company which has a significant operation in Dunedin.

The product at the forefront of the big push into the US was JOOB, with which jade had previously been successful when presenting at a huge technology fair in Berlin.

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Filed under: comms & IT, economy
11 Comments

There’s money in being green

Posted by on July 8th, 2011

I was at the very cool and slick launch of Pure Advantage last night. There’s been a bit of media around it, but the message is simple – NZ is clean and green and it’s not only a great thing but we can leverage it to make money out of it. Check out their facebook and website.

A line from last night:
China has committed a trillion dollars to alternative energy. And it’s not because they care about trees.

There’s money to be made in being green.

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Filed under: economy, Green Jobs, Pure Advantage, Research & Development
6 Comments

Opportunity or cost

Posted by on July 4th, 2011

I met the German Foreign Minister,  Guido Westerwelle, a few weeks ago with Phil Goff. I asked him about the extraordinarily bold move the German government had made to phase out nuclear power over the next 10 years after the events at Fukushima. His reply was interesting. He said that it wasn’t such a surprising move to anyone who understood the feeling towards nuclear power in Germany. But then he said he thought the move would be an opportunity for innovation particularly for German manufacturing. Looking forward, he felt it would stimulate Germany to become a world leader in clean technology and power generation. 

 It made me think whether NZ could contemplate the opportunities that might come with joining the ETS, rather than the usual focus on cost.

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Filed under: Research & Development
7 Comments

R&D is worth banging on about

Posted by on June 30th, 2011

I keep banging on about the importance of R&D in our economy. But here’s an interesting graph on R&D.

R and D graph

 http://www.psfk.com/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/b0a29805980d0c046a5a16c60fe2731e.jpg

 It shows the number of patents filed per dollar spent on R&D. We come out about fourth best, in other words, we’re really efficient at converting our R&D money to patents.

 Before we start congratulating ourselves, imagine spending more. We spend less on business R&D than almost all those other countries. Yet if we use this graph as a guide, each $1 million we spend in addition would likely provide us more patents than just about any other country (up to a limit of course).

 Then look at Korea. Where will it be in 20 years – exceed our GDP – it currently comes in just behind NZ?  You bet.

 Patents are not everything. We are NOT good at commercialising our ideas, often in the form of patents. There are other reasons for that. But it’s the starting point for commericalisation.

 R&D is worth banging on about.

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Filed under: Research & Development
13 Comments

Christchurch earthquake: Our amazing ICT community

Posted by on February 25th, 2011

UPDATED:

When bad stuff happens, the instinct is to do something. Making hot dinners seems to be top of the list.

There are so many people doing amazing things at this time. If people don’t mind, I’m going to highlight some work being done by New Zealand’s ICT community, which tends to remain a bit invisible.

Scores of geeks around NZ (hope they don’t mind the term)  have been making the equivalent of hot dinners since Tuesday afternoon. What they’re doing illustrates how quickly Kiwis rise to the occasion and create innovative solutions.

They’ve been furiously at work creating new and innovative platforms to enable NZers to understand the earthquake and its devastation better;

See eq.org.nz which shows the Christchurch recovery map (Read this for info about who’s behind this amazing resource and what they’re doing)

To enable people who need emergency accommodation, transport and places for their pets to go to link up with those who can offer help;

See TradeMe’s Christchurch Earthquake support website

And to enable Christchurch businesses to keep operating and get the help they need;

See here a site launched today called business.eq.org.nz

It’s mission? Supporting IT Businesses in Christchurch
This site is being set up to coordinate the efforts of a number of organisations and businesses who want to deliver support to the Christchurch based IT sector. Once the initial rescue operations are over that city’s economy will need help to recover.

Keep in mind that what most people will need is work to pay the bills. If you have a project, consider how work could be allocated to Christchurch based firms and contractors. Consider whether projects your company has won could be done faster with help from Christchurch. The goal is to rebuild a vibrant and strong IT industry in that city.

As well as doing the “can you help”, “we can help” match up we hope this can quickly become the place where projects can be identified, resourced and run.

It’s worth noting that business.eq.org.nz has been created by created by Catalyst IT, Based in Wellington. Their staff have also been manning (eerk!) staffing the TXTs for the Student Volunteer Army in Christchurch, basically allowing for the coordination of the students to the areas of much need.

And here’s the support being offered by Microsoft to its customers and support partners in the Canterbury region.

And this is probably but the tip of the iceberg. Some amazing work being done and I’ll keep writing about it.

Update: NZICT and NZTE have been running a hardware collection programme which has  500 items collected, as well as international interest through NZICT’s membership of the World IT and Services Alliance (WITSA).  NZICT has also been coordinating offers of office space, hosting facilities and support from companies through the ICT community, and there are also plans underway to provide financial assistance to affected companies in Christchurch.  DIA has also been involved in balancing the requirements of government agencies.

If anyone has any hardware, facilities, services or other ideas to contribute please contact Brett O’Riley at brett.oriley@ict.org.nz

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Filed under: comms & IT
15 Comments

A nation of makers

Posted by on February 9th, 2011

One of my children describes himself as a “maker”. And he is. He makes film animations, has moved to making video clips. He directs, films and works out the sound, then edits. He still needs help. He’s 10.

What’s his pathway into the world? What will NZ look like when he leaves school? Will we have an encouraging environment for him to do tertiary study and then get a good job. Or just get a good job? Will he stay here?

New Zealand desperately needs a focus for our future. What industries are we fostering and growing? What jobs can our kids look to?

Yesterday, NZer of the Year Sir Paul Callaghan said this:

The widening gap with Australia is such that the extra annual earnings required to match its level of prosperity is about NZ$40 billion, equivalent to about five times Fonterra’s export earnings, or nearly four times our tourism earnings.

So what is the cause of our “prosperity deficit”? In my view it is not because of our lack of mineral resources, nor because of how hard we work. New Zealand is one of the hardest-working societies in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

We are poorer because we choose to work in low-wage activities. Our current gross domestic product per capita corresponds to $120,500 of revenue per employee. To match Australia, we need $174,000 a job. By contrast, tourism in New Zealand earns $82,800 revenue per employee, a mere two-thirds of what is needed to maintain our current per capita GDP. Tourism may provide valuable employment for underskilled New Zealanders, but it cannot provide a route to greater prosperity.

Productivity is not about how hard people work. It is about the nature of the work they do. Samsung, which makes silicon chips and consumer electronic products, earns NZ$850,000 a job while Apple Inc earns $1,700,000.

… Therein lies a future path for New Zealand. Our top 100 technology companies export $4b a year. We need 10 times that, a goal we are capable of achieving. And to ensure all New Zealanders share in the benefits, every child must have a chance at taking part in this future.

I want a country that’s highly connected across rural and urban NZ, where we have a plan to make technology the backbone of a highly innovative new industry with strong export potential. An industry that’s creating lots of new jobs that pay good money. Jobs for our children. To do that we need strong infrastructure. Broadband that’s fast, affordable and fosters a competitive and innovative technology industry. And as I spelt out last night, my concern is that we’re not going to get it.

 

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Filed under: broadband, children, comms & IT, economy
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New Zealander of the Year

Posted by on February 5th, 2011

paul-callaghan

Sometimes when I see contests like New Zealander of the Year I have my doubts about the ability to judge such diversity of achievement against one another. But the choice of Paul Callaghan is one that I am so delighted about.

Paul is a remarkable person and remarkable New Zealander. Many people will have come to know him from his slot on Kim Hill’s show that demystified science and related it to important everyday issues. His work on nanotechnology and the establishment of the MacDiarmid Centre at Victoria University are enough alone to justify the praise that Paul is receiving.

But for me, more than that he is someone of vision. Paul was the guest speaker at the first Peter Fraser Memorial Dinner that we held in Wellington in 2009. His vision for a New Zealand where we use science, research and development to create new economic and social opportunities is exciting. (You can read about it in Wool to Weta.) More than that he links to the importance of reducing inequality, something I understand he talked about when receiving the award the other night.

And Paul is also a man of courage. His public battle with cancer over the last couple of years has shown all his characteristics- never giving up, always looking for a new angle or solution and doing it all with good humour and humility.

A highly deserving winner, congratulations Paul.

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Filed under: education, science
5 Comments

Introducing… David Clark

Posted by on January 13th, 2011

In 2011, Red Alert will do a few new things. One of them is to introduce you to some confirmed Labour electorate candidates who will do the occasional guest post.

This will give them the opportunity to put forward some ideas and you the opportunity to get a sense of who they are before the upcoming election.

Today’s guest poster is David Clark, the confirmed candidate for Dunedin North.
David Clark

I’m convinced that Dunedin is quite possibly the best little city in the world.

And in many ways, Dunedin is a microcosm of the New Zealand I love. Dunedin has big-city culture and a small-town friendly feel.  It has quality amenities common in larger centres: film festivals, a lively arts scene, and coffee.  And it has village charm: low crime-rates, a palpable lack of hubris and ‘Hi, how are ya?’ as you walk down the main street.  It’s a city of learning surrounded by natural beauty.

And the things that make New Zealand great – our fantastic natural endowment, a fair and interesting society, and productive innovative businesses – must be preserved.

We’d like the egalitarian ethos, the easy-going feel, and a love of learning, to be givens. Yet increasing disparities in wealth and opportunity threaten these things.

My values are core Labour values.  I believe in equal access to high-quality public services.  Quality education and healthcare should be available to all – regardless of wealth or status.  Innovation should be encouraged and wealth should be shared.

Thankfully I’ll be working with a Labour team that is presenting a vision of a better New Zealand.  Perhaps one that’s a wee bit more like Dunedin.

Happy 2011 to all Red Alert readers.

David Clark is a former Ironman, has worked in factories and shops, has a PhD from Otago University, has spent time at the Treasury and served as a Presbyterian Minister.  David has a young family and is Deputy Chair of the Otago Community Trust. He also runs a student hall of residence.

David was selected in September as the Labour candidate to contest the Dunedin North electorate seat in 2011. For a more detailed biography visit here

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Filed under: Arts and Culture
40 Comments

Why software shouldn’t be patentable

Posted by on August 8th, 2010

Here’s another one of my posts that may make some of you yawn.

Will keep it short. I’ve just read a really good piece on why software should not be patentable. Thankfully, NZ law is going in that direction (read earlier piece about Simon Power sticking to his word supporting the Commerce Select Committee recommendation to exclude software from being patentable) though there may still be some intense discussion to come around the regulations that accompany the legislation.

Why do I care about this? It’s about innovation. And nurturing and supporting the NZ ICT industry which I believe has the capacity to help drive our country’s economic future.

The piece, called Why we need to abolish software patents, is written by Vivek Wadhwa an entrepreneur turned academic from UC-Berkeley, Harvard Law School and Duke University. He argues that fledgling startups have  to worry more about some big player or patent troll pulling out a big gun and bankrupting them with a frivolous lawsuit than they do about someone stealing their ideas.

Brad Feld, managing director at Foundry Group, says that we should simply abolish software patents.  He believes that the system has spun completely out of control, with the vast majority of filings not passing the fundamental tests of a patent (that it be non-obvious, novel, and unique innovation).  Copyright and trade secrets have historically been the primary protection mechanisms for software intellectual property, and they are still the best solutions.  Feld notes that technology companies are now forced to divert huge resources to defend themselves from patent trolls rather than advance their innovations.

The founders of the United States considered intellectual property worthy of a special place in the Constitution—“To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” They had the concept right, but they surely never conceived of Amazon.com patenting clicks in an online shopping cart and methods for having an online discussion, or Microsoft patenting methods for activating double click applications with a single click. It’s time to do as Brad Feld suggests: simply abolish these abominations.

Hat tip: nstranger retweeted by nzcspaul (Twitter)

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Filed under: comms & IT, copyright
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Gee the Aussies actually think ICT issues matter

Posted by on July 26th, 2010

The key ICT political figures in the Federal Election are expected to go head to head in a debate at the National Press Club on 10 August.

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has extended invitations to communications minister, Stephen Conroy, the Opposition shadow communications minister, Tony Smith, and Greens ICT spokesperson, Scott Ludlam to take part in the event.

Computerworld Australia will seek to clarify each party’s policy commitments on the following ICT-related issues in the lead up to the vote:

  • The National Broadband Network (NBN);
  • e-Health
  • Digital education (computers in schools)
  • Gershon Review changes
  • Government 2.0
  • Security and cyber crime
  • The Internet filter
  • Defence cyber capabilities and oversight
  • ICT skills development
  • ICT innovation
  • Privacy Act changes
  • Sustainable ICT
  • Smart grids, transport and environment systems
  • Online piracy and copyright protection
  • ICT advocacy
  • Online services
  • Departmental IT transformation program

I wonder whether Steven Joyce (the Minister of Communications and many other things)  could have a debate with me on any of these issues (other than broadband).

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Filed under: broadband, censorship, comms & IT, digital, infrastructure, internet
9 Comments

Field Days

Posted by on June 17th, 2010

I was struck by the sheer size of Fieldays at Hamilton when I visited yesterday. It’s truly extraordinary. It covers a huge area and is expected to be visited by over 130,000 people over its four days. It was also great to see the face of NZ agriculture at its finest – particularly as this year’s theme was innovation.

They even advertised my arrival. In Labour colours and font. Thanks to Tim MacIndoe who took the picture.

Field Days 1

That event, and the MAF forecast of future prices is encouraging. Dairy, forestry, lamb are all set to rise. Even wool, which has been performing rather poorly is expected to rise over the next four years. That’s good news for the NZ economy.

I just hope it won’t be used as further proof by those who believe that shipping out commodities is our future.

We believe that at our peril. We need to be developing higher value products from our commodities, not just shipping ever larger quantities.

This was the message delivered in KPMG’s agribusiness report. It forecast increased demand for our commodities, but that demand is likely to be met with increased supply from Chile, Eastern Europe, China and others – some of our most welcomed exports is the farming expertise we’re delivering to less developed farmers in those countries.

Green, ethical, clean commodities from NZ will be our defining difference – and provide the premium – that our wealthier customers will be willing to pay. So too will be the new products that our R&D will create. They need to be sophisticated, clever, responding to our markets and with a low carbon footprint.

What we don’t want to do, with these optimistic forecasts is take our eye off that ball.

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Filed under: agriculture, science
11 Comments

Sex, Science and Money

Posted by on May 21st, 2009

Sometimes science is not the sexiest subject in the world. Certainly for those of us subjected to reciting  the periodic table and lectures about turning off  bunsen burners it did not come to life.  But in New Zealand we have some terrific scientists who have the ability to bring to life their subject area. One of those is Peter Gluckman.

As such there is a lot to applaud in the government’s announcement that he will be acting in a part time capacity as a Science Advisor for the PM. Gluckman is a world leading scientist who at the Liggins Institute has pioneered studies of child development and its link to health in later life. Having him as a voice in the ear of the PM is great.

But the reality is all the advice in the world will mean next to nothing if resources are not available. Gluckman himself says he will not be involved in discussions about funding. There is a need for urgent discussions. As my colleague Moana Mackey has noted, the government is gutting science funding. They have ditched the $700 million Fast Forward fund in favour of a very modest $30 million agricultural science fund. They also ditched the R and D  Tax Credit which was set to help increase our pitiful private sector spend on research and development.

And just last week Bill English let slip that tertiary education was a likely loser in the Budget. The linkage between universities and science and innovation in New Zealand needs to be enhanced, not cut back.  In the midst of  a recession it is the very time we need to invest in education and science so that we are able to jump start the economy and create jobs. The government bangs on about improving productivity. One of the keys to that is increasing R+D and innovation. It seems the government thinks the only way to productivity is to cut staff.

Gluckman says as part of his role he “wants to make science sexy and attractive”. Without funding  from government and support to private research and development it is looking to be as unattractive as an ACT caucus pyjama party.

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Filed under: education
11 Comments