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We offer a complimentary
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Welcome to
our new monthly "R&D News & Views" in which we will keep you
updated with news about business, science and technology.
The four
items for this month are:
- Catalyst turns Five
- Kyoto & Carbon Credits made easy
- The 2005
Budget - the bits that may be useful ahead of your tax
cut!
- "Only the
Paranoid survive"
With much
pleasure we announce our fifth year of being in business, a small but
significant milestone. And what have we learnt in this time? The main
things that strike us are:
- Effective
innovation and its implementation in
New
Zealand business is hard yards. Ideas
are cheap but doing something with them takes vision, focus, the right
people, a very good understanding of the market and a readiness to take
risks.
- It takes
time; time to plan, time to get the right people, time for a season to
pass to get results, time to build capability. It strikes us that there
are very few short cuts.
What of the
future? This is best summarized in one word 'focus'. From the businesses
that we have worked with the clear achievers are those with the ability to
focus on the few things that really matter to their business. They have a
very good understanding of their market, and based on this are able to
focus on those parts of the business where innovation can really make a
difference.
To those of
you who have been our clients over the last five years a very big "Thank
you". It has been a pleasure to work with
you.
It is
apparent that many people are confused by the impending imposition of a
carbon tax and frustrated in their inability to receive appropriate advice
for their business. To help address this in some small way we are planning
to hold a half day workshop in August this year to enable participants to
work through the implications for their business. The location will be
Wellington
because it is central.
We
anticipate providing participants with:
- An
overview focused on business implications
- A simple
system of calculating their own exposure/risk
- Options
for addressing your business risk
- >A case
study
Justin
Ford-Robertson, our in-house expert on such matters will facilitate the
workshop.
To assist
us in gauging support for such a workshop we would appreciate feedback or
comment. This could either be on the merit of the idea, or specific items
you believe should be covered. Please email Malcolm, Justin or
Jane.
justin.fr@catalystnz.co.nz
malcolm.garnham@catalystnz.co.nz
jane.lancaster@catalystnz.co.nz
Hidden in
the budget confusion are a few positives; those relating to R&D
are:/P>
- It is
welcome news that Technology New Zealand has an allocation of $54.4m, a
gain of $13.8m, and a range of expanded schemes including the Technology
for Industry Fellowships and Technology for Business Growth. Other
direct support for industry was less. Research for Industry sees a
continuing increase, up $10.7m to $188.0m, which includes further
support for industry-based research consortia.
- The
International Opportunities Fund grows to $7.7m, tripling its size from
$2.56m. This will encourage further international collaboration by N.Z.
researchers.
- Supporting
Promising Individuals increases by $2.9m to $17m, with increased support
for a range of schemes including Teacher Fellowships, NZ S&T
Post-Doctoral Fellowships, and HRC Career Development
Awards.
- The
Minister for R,S & T, Steve Maharey, expressed his strong belief in
the value of the Marsden Fund, (this fund is focused on academic or
"blue sky" research in a range of fields) and this year's increase of
$3.44m increases the Fund to $33.9m.
- The CRI
Capability Fund increases $9.3m to $38.1m. This Fund has the clear
purpose of supporting CRIs to maintain and increase their research
capabilities. Rightly or wrongly this is effectively bulk funding, and
marks a move away from the 100% contestable funding approach of the last
decade
What is
missing from this budget - the funds for social research and research into
Maori knowledge and development remain constant in dollar terms, i.e.
declining in real terms.
This quote
concluded "Innovation and Management", the third lecture in the Reith
Lectures 2005 "The Triumph of Technology". The comment is a reflection on
the required level of international competitiveness for businesses of the
future.
The 2005
Reith Lectures were presented by Lord Broers. Alec Broers is President of
the Royal Academy of Engineering and Chairman of the House of Lords
Science and Technology Committee. He was also Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge
University from 1996 until 2003. He was a pioneer of nanotechnology and
the first person to use the scanning electron microscope for the
fabrication of micro-miniature structures.
His lecture
provides a knowledgeable insight into what has worked in innovation, and
management and what is likely to be successful in the future. While it is
focused on engineering and computing technologies, his advice applies
across other fields.
- The
outline of the ideal team for the creation of technology:
"In a small
company, the ideal leadership team consists of a chief executive who has
extensive experience of the market and good business sense, the creative
engineer who stands at the chief executive's right hand and provides
knowledge and contacts that spread throughout the entire technical
spectrum, and the chief financial officer who acts as the
disciplinarian"
- On the
transfer of technology from academia to business
"In small and medium
sized companies, where the resources are not great enough to fund
large-scale research in universities, technology is best transferred by
the academics moving out of their universities and devoting their full
energies to the product development process."
- On ideas
"Ideas have to be proven to be useful, and the world told about them,
before any paths are beaten"
The full
lecture and others in the series can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2005/
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