IRL needs urgent overhaul, says Mapp
Connections with business not strong enough, minister says
Thursday, May 26 2011 || News || BY Lesley Springall
The government announced in March it would review our high value manufacturing and services sector and its investment in R&D. Mapp confirmed the review - together with the new Ministry of Science and Innovation's own investigations - would impact IRL's future.
“We looked at all the CRIs and IRL is the one that’s in critical need for reform because frankly we don’t have an organisation that’s better configured to assist New Zealand industry.”
The other seven CRIs have specific remits to assist New Zealand’s primary production sector or environment. IRL is focused on our manufacturing base, yet it doesn’t have strong enough connections with New Zealand business, says Mapp.
IRL is based in the wrong place, he says. IRL is in Wellington, but the bulk of New Zealand’s manufacturing base - and thus IRL’s potential client pool - is in Auckland and Christchurch.
But Mapp is supportive of IRL, hinting that if anything its budget should be beefed up to encourage the growth of high-value manufacturing in New Zealand. His office was also quick to respond to concerns that IRL would be moved from Lower Hutt, where it employs the bulk of IRL’s 350-strong workforce.
“IRL will have a continuing presence in the Hutt Valley,” his office says.
Rumours about the future of IRL have been bouncing around since the government announced the review - carried out by an independent panel comprised of Professor John Raine, head of the School of Engineering and pro vice chancellor innovation and enterprise at Auckland University of Technology, Phil O’Reilly, chief executive of Business NZ and Professor Mina Teicher, the former director-general of the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology.
Publicly IRL chief executive Shaun Coffey has not been shy about IRL’s own ambitions to change. In his presentation to Raine’s review team he stated that IRL’s revenues have grown from $55 million to more than $65 million in the last four years. But they could have grown significantly more with more resources, he said, as the organisation is only helping a fraction of those companies that want and need help with innovative developments.
O’Reilly was also unable to comment directly on the review until its findings have been made public. But given the immense range of different problems the country’s high-value manufacturing sector has it’s not surprising that a different type of CRI is needed to service them, he says.
The results of the review and the recommendations about IRL’s future are expected to be made public in July.
My experience is that the CRIs and Universities are not well connected to business and this is why we have so little really successful commercialization from these groups, relative to the spend.
Having key people in the markets where the customers are based is not a novel approach but one that is obviously lost on IRL and also the likes of the Ministry of Science and Innovation and NZ Trade and Enterprise. To many senior management people focused on Wellington (politicians etc) rather than on their real customers - businesses.
Posted by Anonymous at 09:50 on May 27, 2011
IRL should start by getting out of businesses where it competes with industry. It is there to complement them - not compete with them.
Posted by Howard Moore at 01:47 on May 27, 2011
ReplyFlag abuse