Funding is reallocated from:
- Endeavour Fund – $13.489m (from 2028/29)
- Health Research Fund – $11.487m (from 2028/29)
- Marsden Fund – $15.119m (in 2028/29)
- New to R&D Grant – $18.084m across 2025–2028
- Callaghan Innovation Operations – $24.336m across 2027–2029
- Contract Management – $3m across 2026–2029
In addition, $37.537m is being reprioritised from the Strategic Science Investment Fund from the 2025/26 financial year to the 2028/29 financial year, from contracts coming to an end over the three years.
Funding for the new research agency is also being made up of $21.603m from unallocated funding for the National Science Challenge.
In a statement, the Public Service Association union expressed disappointment in the move, adding the Government was “trying to quietly cut funding from respected and established research funds”.
PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said scientists rely on these funds for ground-breaking work and they deserve ongoing support.
“The Government says it wants kickstart our economy with investment in science, meanwhile chopping science off at the knees and hoping no one will notice,” Fitzsimons said.
“It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul, raiding science funds without providing the increased funding science needs to drive growth. The economy will be worse off and we will keep losing scientists to other countries which value them.”
Similar concerns were expressed by physicist Dr Ben Wylie-van Eerd, speaking for the Save Science Coalition.
In an interview, he said it would have been nice if the Government was clear this was partially a reprioritisation when it made this announcement.
“It’s quite disappointing,” he said. “I feel massively let down by learning this.”
Wylie-van Eerd said he was particularly upset about plans to reduce the total of the Marsden Fund, which he said was an area for “complete blue-skies research” that did not necessarily have to have any commercial outcomes.
Green Party science spokesman Scott Willis said the Health Research Fund supported research into kidney disease, diabetes and epilepsy. He also expressed concern over reduction in funding for the Endeavour Fund, which supports climate research.
Willis said it appeared the Government was “shuffling funding” and the changes seen last year and proposed over the coming years will weaken the science system and its capacity.
“We definitely need investment in science for the public good,” he said, and issues such as health, the climate and the cost of living would not be solved by “science-for-profit”.
In a statement, Reti, the minister in charge of the reforms, said what was taking place was important.
“Reform of our decades-old science system, including the establishment of the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology, is a priority for the Government’s economic agenda,” he said.
“Previously, New Zealand has been slow to focus on the role of advanced technologies across the economy and investment in the potential of advanced technologies has been under-weighted within the research and innovation system.”
Reti said the Government was continuing to support public good science and a strong economy would allow for more choices.
When the announcement of the new institute was made, the Government said the importance of a return on investment was a significant focus.
Last month, the Government announced it was committing $231m over four years to the new tech institute, aiming to focus on artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and innovation that could lead to economic growth.
At the time of the announcement, Reti confirmed about $80m was being leveraged from Callaghan Innovation.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the country needed to embrace new technologies and that it “will actually make our businesses and our research much more commercial and actually improve productivity”.
Budget 2025 allocated $20m across two financial years for the establishment of four new Public Research Organisations (PROs), of which the Advanced Technology Institute is one.
Last year, the then Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins said the contestable Endeavour Fund, which is proposed to lose about $13m in the advanced technology institute changes, was being updated to “grow the economy”.
“Commercialisation is essential to realising the social and economic potential of our science, innovation and technology system. I look forward to learning more about the impactful projects funded through future funding rounds,” Collins said.
Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.
