The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited CRIs – Where to now? University of Auckland Bioscience Enterprise Forum Peter Landon-Lane May

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited


CRIs – Where to now?University of Auckland Bioscience Enterprise Forum

Peter Landon-Lane

May 2011


NZ Crown Research Institutes

• 8 Crown Research Institutes• Subject to the Companies Act, State Owned Enterprises

Act and the CRI Act

• Approx 4400 staff and turnover of $700 mil

• Government policy changes including its response to the CRI Taskforce Report

• External operating environment

• What’s changed and what hasn’t? What can you expect from the CRIs?


Plant & Food Research

• Core Purpose: “to enhance the value and productivity of NZ’s horticultural, arable, seafood and food and beverage industries to contribute to economic growth and the environmental and social prosperity of NZ:

• 800 staff including 600 scientists, research associates and technicians

• 15 sites in NZ and rep offices in Australia and USA

• Formed from the merger of Crop & Food Research and HortResearch in December 2008

• Continuing the strategy we have developed over the past 1-2 years


Our Strategy

????better

cultivarsfaster

residue-freepest and diseasecontrol

more sustainable

and profitablesystems

resourcesfoodcrops

freshproduce

wholefreshfoods

ingredients

proprietaryfoods with

pricepremiums

consumer

consumerFMCGs

????better

cultivarsfaster

residue-freepest and diseasecontrol

more sustainable

and profitablesystems

resourcesfoodcrops

freshproduce

wholefreshfoods

ingredients

proprietaryfoods with

pricepremiums

consumer

consumerFMCGs

Focussing our research

• At four key points across the food value chain

• Targeting four types of outcome for industry


Two Key Government Policy Changes

1. “Core Purpose” defined• Purpose = what for

• Scope = within what boundaries

• Role and Operations = how

2. “Core Funding”• Some funding from ex-FRST contracts to be

devolved annually to CRIs from 1 July 2011

• Expected to be about 2/3 of the CRI’s FRST funding and therefore about 40% of its total funding

• Shifts accountability for investment decisions to CRI

• But doesn’t change the business model


Shift in accountability

• Less central government control of inputs

• More CRI accountability for results (“impact”)

• A linear view of this is:

Inputs → Outputs → Outcomes → Impact

• CRIs to be accountable for impact

• Due to the long timeframe for impact, also need progress KPIs: research outputs, uptake by end-users, etc

→ CRIs will be increasingly judged on the quality of their research investment decisions


How it all fits together


Priorities for PFR this year

• Partnering

• Portfolio management

• Productivity

• People


Key Themes for PFR

• Partnering – clients, end-users and research collaborators

• Research Portfolio Management• Robust investment decisions

• Optimised for impact

• Aligned with strategy – PFR’s and stakeholders’

• Science more clearly outcome-oriented, with adoption and impact indicators

• Simplification drive and financial improvement during the next two years after decreases in revenue


So what can you expect from us?

There will continue to be strong drivers for:

• Effective client / end-user engagement• Early engagement

• Strategic discussions about a co-funded research portfolio

• Measurement of uptake, outcomes and impact

• An open, collaborative approach to research

• Our summer student programme

• Demand for graduates in relevant science, technology and business disciplines




www.plantandfood.com

Documents

The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited CRIs – Where to now? University of Auckland Bioscience Enterprise Forum Peter Landon-Lane May