[Slide 1: Presentation opens with MBIE branded presentation title screen entitled “Endeavour Fund Roadshow 2025 Investment Round”. A picture of the presenter, Alan Coulson, is inlaid at the top right.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa, Kia ora, ko, Alan Coulson, tōku ingoa. I'm the manager of Contestable Investments and the Endeavour fund manager. Welcome to the Endeavor Fund Roadshow for the 2025 Investment round. I want to preface this section by thanking you all for your contributions. We literally could not run the Endeavour fund without you.
[Slide 2: Next presentation slide appears displaying the text for the MBIE opening karakia, with Māori karakia and English translation:
Retain and hold fast to your mana, be bold, be brave.
We turn your attention to the future, that's where the opportunities lie.
By working together we will flourish and achieve greatness.
Taking responsibility to commit to doing things right.
Tihei Mauri Ora.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
I'll just take us through the opening Karakia for MBIE.
Tāwhia tō mana kia mau, kia māia
Ka huri taku aro ki te pae kahurangi, kei reira te oranga mōku
Mā mahi tahi, ka ora, ka puāwai
Ā mātau mahi katoa, ka pono, ka tika
TIHEI MAURI ORA
[Slide 3: Next presentation slide appears displaying the outline of the presentation]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
So, in the structure of today's session, I'll talk us through the Endeavour fund and the decision-making process. We will go through a wrap up for the 2024 investment round. We will introduce the 2025 Investment rounds, and in particular the changes for this round. And in a session at the end, we'll talk a little bit about things for applicants to consider.
[Slide 4: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Endeavour Fund]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
What is the Endeavour Fund? The purpose of the Endeavour Fund is to support excellent research with the potential to positively transform New Zealand's economy, environment, and society and give effect to the Vision Mātauranga policy.
[Slide 5: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the current New Zealand science funding system]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
In terms of where the Endeavour Fund sits in the science funding system, this graphic, which has been around for a number of years and is available in our 2022 to 24 Investment Plan, that's the old one, just gives a positioning of Endeavour in the scale between investigator led research and user led research on the horizontal axis, and competitive versus institutional stroke negotiated research on the vertical axis. And you can see Endeavour is the big blob in the middle, slightly to the left, towards the bottom.
[Slide 6: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the two Endeavour Fund funding mechanisms]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
So, within Endeavour, we have 2 funding mechanisms. There is the Smart Ideas Fund, which is for smaller investments intending to catalyze and rapidly test promising innovative research ideas with high potential for benefit to New Zealand. A Smart Ideas program can be for 2 or 3 years. And the amount of funding available for each Smart Ideas program is between 400,000 as a minimum to 1 million as a maximum. For Research Programmes, these are our larger investments intended to support ambitious, excellent, and well-defined research with credible and high potential to transform New Zealand's future. The term of a Research Programme may be 3, 4, or 5 years. And the minimum investment is 500,000 per year. There is no maximum, but we will talk a little bit more about the size of research programs and the things for applicants to consider.
[Slide 7: Next presentation slide appears titled Decision Making Process]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Our decision-making process.
[Slide 8: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the members of the Science Board including photos]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
The Science Board makes funding decisions for the Endeavour Fund. You will find this list of Science Board members on our website. And they meet a number of times a year, particularly in August to make the Endeavor funding decision. For 2025, there we're meeting 2 times a year to make funding decisions. And we'll cover that later in the presentation.
[Slide 9: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the decision making for Smart Ideas and Research Programmes]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
So how are decisions actually made? So, for Smart Ideas, the Science Board typically invests in the best proposals based on a ranked order list based on total mean weighted scores. The Gazette Notice instructs the Science Board to fund for 2025, at least 47 Smart Ideas. For Research Programmes, the Science Board are instructed that these must have sufficient merit, as indicated by its total, mean, weighted scores, and take a portfolio approach, which we'll describe in a minute, in making the final investment decision with the aim to fund at least 17 proposals. The annual investment of 55 million for endeavour has an indicative split of 17 million for research ideas, Smart Ideas, I beg your pardon, and 38 million for Research Programmes.
[Slide 10: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Portfolio approach and the Investment Plan targets]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
The portfolio approach is largely guided by the Investment Plan targets as published in the new 2025 to 2027 Investment Plan available on our website. This specifies that the proportion of portfolio targets by investment mechanism is 20% for Smart Ideas and 80% for Research Programmes indicated by the number of programs and dollar figures that were on the previous slide. In addition, the proportion of portfolio targets by research outcomes category is unchanged from previous years of 70% economic output categories, 25% environmental output categories and 5% for societal research outcomes.
[Slide 11: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Portfolio approach and the Investment Signals]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Investment signals instruct the Science Board what additional things to look at in responding to the investment signals. And signals apply to all areas across the economic, environmental and society output categories. And the Science Board look at considering the overall mix of investments to meet the investment targets in the Investment Plan. The Science Board looks for opportunities to fund proposals which respond best to the Investment Signals.
[Slide 12: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Portfolio approach and value, concentration and duplication]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
As part of the portfolio approach, The Science Board also looks at value, concentration and duplication. It considers the value offered by the largest research proposals. So large proposals need to be of the highest quality to receive investment, as the Science Board pays particular attention to them. An assessment of the value of funding, for example, 2 small proposals, rather than one large proposal. The value criteria is also linked to the requirement in the Gazette Notice to fund 17 Research Programmes. In duplication and concentration, the Science Board looks to avoid making duplication and excessive concentration in Endeavour, and in the broader public science system in its investments. The Science Board also looks to meet policy objectives within the Vision Mātauranga policy, if applicable.
[Slide 13: Next presentation slide appears titled Vision Mātauranga]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
I will now hand over to my colleague, Dr. Willy-John Martin, who will speak to the Vision Mātauranga, component of Endeavour.
[Slide 14: Next presentation slide appears titled Vision Mātauranga. A picture of the presenter, Willy-John Martin, is inlaid at the top right.]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Tēnā koe Allen, tēnā koutou katoa. Willy-John Martin, tōku ingoa. I'm the Pou Pūtaiao/Director, Māori, Science Innovation and Technology, here at MBIE.
[Slide 15: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about Vision Mātauranga]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Vision Mātauranga is a science policy that encourages partnerships to achieve innovative outcomes for New Zealand. It seeks to do so by further realizing the distinctive potential of Māori knowledge, resources, and people. Giving effect to the Vision Mātauranga policy is one of the aims of the Endeavour Fund. Each year a number of the successful proposals address Vision Mātauranga. The full policy can be easily found online. So, I encourage you to seek that out and to read it.
[Slide 16: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about giving effect to Vision Mātauranga.]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Now, there's no single way for a proposal to give effect to Vision Mātauranga. Considering that the policy regards Māori knowledge, resources, and people, one way of giving effect can be through the people side where a proposal might be co-led or led with Māori researchers. Or by working with the Māori researchers as researchers in the team with Māori communities or entities. Other proposals may give effect through knowledge, that is, through the exploration of Māori knowledge or methodologies where that is relevant. And then there are many, many other approaches as well. It should also be noted that Vision Mātauranga will not be applicable for all proposals as well.
[Slide 17: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about Vision Mātauranga in the 2025-2027 Investment Plan; initial information display:
The 2025-2027 Investment Plan clarifies that: Where applicable, the proposal must consider the relevancy of Vision Mātauranga]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Each year there is confusion from some applicants as to whether addressing Vision Mātauranga is mandatory for a proposal to be successful. And it's useful to note that every year there are successful applications that give effect in Vision Mātauranga. And there are successful applications that do not give effect to the policy. The key is for a proposal that is fit for purpose, and we've sought to clarify that this year. In the Endeavour, we ask researchers to consider whether the Vision Mātauranga policy is relevant to their proposal. In other words; Think about it.
[Slide 17: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about Vision Mātauranga in the 2025-2027 Investment Plan; additional information appears on slide: It is expected that the Vision Mātauranga Policy will not be relevant to all proposals.]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
There will be applications where it is not relevant as I've mentioned earlier, this is now acknowledged explicitly to help remove some of the confusion.
[Slide 17: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about Vision Mātauranga in the 2025-2027 Investment Plan; additional information appears on slide: When it is relevant: Proposals that give effect to Vision Mātauranga policy should demonstrate the relevance and use of a fit-for-purpose approach.]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Where it is relevant, we encourage you to use a fit for purpose approach, and to summarize all of that in another way. Think about whether the Vision Mātauranga policy is relevant to your proposal. And if it is, don't overlook it, and if it isn't, don't force it in, and then, if you do it, do it well.
[Slide 18: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about Vision Mātauranga data questions]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Finally, here are the data questions relating to Vision Mātauranga, that you will see. they are the same as last year, and they relate to Māori people and knowledge attributes of your proposal. Ka pai. May I now introduce you to my colleague, Gabby Hine?
[Slide 19: Next presentation slide appears titled 2024 Endeavour Round Wrap-up. A picture of the presenter, Gabby Hine, is inlaid at the top right.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
Kia Ora. My name is Gabby Hine, and I'm a Senior Investment Manager. I'm also the co-lead of the Endeavour Fund with Melanie Tomintz. Today I'll be talking about the 2024 round, and giving you some general reflections, a bit of a breakdown of the round, some success rates, and also some key takeaways from 2024.
[Slide 20: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about general reflections of the 2024 round.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
Alright. So, let's start off with some general reflections. This year we saw that the quality of applications continued to be very, very high. We had a submission number of 488 proposals. This was 351 Smart Ideas concepts, and 137 Research Programmes. These came from 49 organisations, and they covered a wide breadth of disciplines. It's worth noting here that last year we had 38 organizations apply. So, there was a significant increase there in the number of organizations for 2024. The largest request for funding this year was 2.9 million per annum. but the largest funded proposal was 2.7 million per annum, and the next largest was a bit of a drop down to 2.3 million per annum. It's worth noting, however, that after impact assessment the annual average request was 2.04 million per annum. So, we very much saw a large number of proposals that we're looking for around the 10 million dollars mark.
[Slide 21: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about general reflections on FoR and SEO codes.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
So, the FOR and SEO codes some general reflections here. As you can see on the screen for Smart Ideas, the top areas with high requests for investment were manufacturing, mitigation and adaptation to climate change and information communication and data technology. For Research Programmes, the top areas with high requests for investments were manufacturing natural hazards and mitigation and adaptation to climate change. There were some quite strong themes across this year where we saw some definite trends in terms of the areas that were being applied for across the portfolio.
[Slide 22: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the breakdown of the 2024 round.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
So, a bit more of a breakdown of the 2024 round. We had 488 applications, as stated before. Of the 351 Smart Ideas, 4 of those were ineligible, and 96 progressed to full proposal. However, 2 withdrew, and so 94 were actually submitted. Of the 137 Research Programmes, only one was ineligible and 45 progressed through to impact. 71 were successful. So, we funded this year 53 Smart Ideas and 19 Research Programmes. You'll see that our success rate is a bit lower than 2023 at 13.9% overall. Smart Ideas at 15% and Research Programmes at 13.8%.
[Slide 22: Next presentation slide appears displaying more information about the breakdown of the 2024 round.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
Here's a bit more of a breakdown in terms of value. So, of the 53 Smart Ideas full proposals that we funded, we overall funded 18.17 million per annum, and there was 53 million in total contract value. There were 19 Research Programmes proposals funded with 38.2 million per annum of new money and a total of 183.1 1 million total contract value. While this has changed for 2025, it's also worth noting that this year 8 out of the 19 proposals funded, was submitted under the transform impact category for research programs. So that's 42.1%, which is an increase in what we normally see. We also saw that there was a response to at least one specific Investment Signal after impact assessment, for Research Programmes. So, 29 out of the 45 proposals responded to at least one Investment Signal.
[Slide 23: Next presentation slide appears displaying more information about the breakdown of the 2024 round.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
Some more information which you might find helpful. As you know, as Alan already stated, the target for our portfolios are: Economic at 70%, Environment at 25%, and Social at 5%. This year, as you can see, for submission, we had 79.3% in Economic so well above the target. 9.7 in Environment, so far below, and 10.2 in Societal, again, above the target. Expanding knowledge down the bottom came in at 0.8%. What we funded, as you can see, is in the 3rd column, 78.6 Economic, 14.4% Environment and 6.6% Societal with 0.5% falling and Expanding knowledge. As you can see there, the Environment Portfolio continues to be undersubscribed and Societal, continues to be oversubscribed.
[Slide 24: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about Smart Ideas success rates.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
Here, we've broken down the submissions and success rate by organizations for Smart Ideas. So, you can see here that Tertiary Institutes submitted the large number of proposals with 237 of the 351. CRIs came in at 76, Independent Research Organisations at 16, and organizations that we classify as “Other” at 18. Far over, on the right hand column, you can see the proportion of funded proposals. So, for Tertiary Institutes 13.5%, CRIs came in at 25%, Independent Research Organisations 12.5, and organisations classified as “Other” were at 0%.
[Slide 25: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about Research Programmes success rates.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
We also have the same information broken down for Research Programmes. You can see here that Tertiary Institute submitted 82 of 137 proposals. CRIs submitted 35. We had 9 from IROs and 10 from organisations classified as other. And you'll see here again on the right, 11% of our funding went to Tertiary Institutes. 17.1 went to CRIs, Independent research organisations took 33.3% and 10% went to organisations classified as “Other”.
[Slide 26: Next presentation slide appears displaying more information about Smart Ideas success rates.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
So, here you can see the success rates in comparison to previous years. So, we've put up the last 3 years prior here for you. So, in 2023, we actually thought we got quite a large number of Smart Ideas at 316. But this year came out far further than that at 351 concepts. This year we were able to fund 53 Smart Ideas, which is wonderful, but you can see our success rate is actually lower than last year, because of the large number of submissions. We were able to fund more, however, this year in terms of money at 18.1 million.
[Slide 27: Next presentation slide appears displaying more information about Research Programmes success rates.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
You can see here again that while we funded 19 Research Programmes last year and 19 Research Programmes this year, our success rate did dramatically declined to 13.8%. This is again, because we received a large number of Research Programmes this year at 137 submissions, whereas last year it was 106. We also funded slightly less our annual value of new investment this year, at 38.2 million.
[Slide 28: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about Key take-aways.]
[Audio: Gabby Hine speaks]
What are some key takeaways from 2024? That's a good question. So, we did see some concentration across the portfolio. That was much more evidence than what we saw in 2023. Key areas being marine biology, biosecurity, natural hazards, and water. We had a significant increase in applications from private and small organizations. As mentioned previously, we went from 38 organizations last year to 49 this year. The societal portfolio is still oversubscribed with a target of 5% and are sitting at around 10%, while environmental is still very undersubscribed. Some identifiable issues that you might want to take forward into 2025 are: CVs. This year we saw quite a decrease in the quality of CVs with many applicants not adhering to the guidelines. This is something that we will be taking more note of in 2025, as it is important that you do adhere to the guidelines for CVs. We also still saw some letters of support being uploaded. Please do not upload letters of support. We do not pass these on to assessors, and they are removed. The other key thing to note is that this year in Pītau we introduced a role called Project Support. What we did this year was allowed people to put into that role key researchers that may not have been able to access Pītau due to issues with RealMe. However, going into 2025, it is really important that you put people in the correct roles, as we now have a large number of people sitting in project support that perhaps should be placed in key roles, such as key individual, researcher or key researcher, something to think about when you go into 2025. All in up it has been a fantastic year, with a large number of high quality and extremely interesting proposals. And now what I'll do is pass over to my colleague Melanie, who will take you through 2025.
[Slide 29: Next presentation slide appears titled 2025 Endeavour Round. A picture of the presenter, Melanie Tomintz, is inlaid at the top right.]
[Audio: Melanie Tomintz speaks]
Thank you, Gabby. Ko Melanie Tomintz tōku ingoa. My name is Melanie Tomintz and, as Gabby mentioned, I'm their co-lead with her on the Endeavor Fund, and I'm leading the 2025 Investment round, which I will talk you through around the changes this year, including the key dates, as many of you will be aware, the Smart Ideas funding mechanism was re-designed to better meet the policy intent as well as responding to cost and resource savings respectively for applicants, assessors, and MBIE.
[Slide 30: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the 2025 round.]
[Audio: Melanie Tomintz speaks]
So, when focusing on the changes related to the documentation for the Endeavour 2025 round, then you will see that the Endeavour Fund 2025 Gazette Notice got updated, including the introduction of the organizational cap for Smart Ideas, the allocated budget to the funding mechanisms as outlined by Alan early on and the aligned assessment criteria. Also, a new Investment Plan was published outlining the minister's priorities for investment over the next 3 years. We worked really hard to provide the Call for proposals and assessment and scoring guidance ahead of time for you, including registration and proposal templates as well as pdf documents for Smart Ideas and Research Programmes. This was a way for you to get your proposal started without waiting for the portal opening on the 30th of September this year. One of the main changes for the Endeavour 2025 Investment round is the timeline for the Smart Ideas funding mechanism. Specifically, the registration and application deadlines, as well as the announcement of the funding decision, which is planned for June next year. But I will talk in more detail about the key dates later on in the presentation. There are documents that remain the same, such as the National Statement of Science Investment, as well as the Vision Mātauranga. I also want to emphasize that the 2025 Investment round is run as a pilot. And learnings will also feed into the Endeavour 2026 Investment round.
[Slide 31: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the changes for Smart Ideas and Research Programme for 2025.]
[Audio: Melanie Tomintz speaks]
When focusing on the changes for the funding mechanism, then you will see that Smart Ideas got re-designed to function more efficient for applicants, assessors, and MBIE by keeping the high quality of proposals. An organisational cap and the one-stage application process got introduced, and a recording from July 2024 provides an overview of the change. And this recording is available on our Website. If you go to the MBIE Endeavour Fund website. And yeah, you will find it there. And the main change for Research Programmes is the simplification of the impact category by removing the split of Protect and add value and Transform.
[Slide 32: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Investment signals.]
[Audio: Melanie Tomintz speaks]
So, as mentioned early on, the Investment plan, was updated to set the direction for the next 3 years, which is 2025 through to 2027. And the aim of the fund is to support research, science and technology or related activities, that have high potential to positively transform New Zealand's economic, environmental and societal outcomes, give effect to the Vision Mātauranga policy, where applicable, and drive an increasing focus on excellent research and the potential for impact in areas of future value growth or critical need for New Zealand. The Science Board will also look for opportunities to fund proposals that enable wealth creation through developing new knowledge that lifts New Zealand's economic performance, including an uplift in commercialization, supports adaption to climate change, builds a resilient and prosperous society, and supports growth of our base of innovative, high-value exporting technology firms. The full Investment plan is accessible on MBIE's website, and the link is here at the bottom of the slide.
[Slide 33: Next presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand.]
[Audio: Melanie Tomintz speaks]
Now, I will touch base on some points related to both Smart Ideas and Research Programs. So, the first one is the proposal title.
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal]
So, please keep the word limit to 12 words as outlined in the template, and align the title with the nature of your research that you're proposing. The title must be meaningful and understandable for the wider audience as the title gets published on our website if the proposal is successful in receiving funding. If that's not the case, then MBIE will get in touch.
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal, Eligibility criteria]
Then the wording for some of the eligibility criteria in the Gazette Notice got updated. So please make yourself familiar with the eligibility criteria before submitting a proposal As you have seen, earlier for the 2024 round, Gabby had some numbers up around the numbers of proposals that were made ineligible. So please make yourself familiar with the criteria outlined in the 2025 Gazette Notice.
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal, Eligibility criteria, Investment signals]
Also, as mentioned before, the Investment signals are updated in the portal. So, when you submit your registration and application, then please tick one that applies to your proposal.
And otherwise choose “Not applicable” if your proposal doesn't apply to the signals that are outlined in Investment plan.
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal, Eligibility criteria, Investment signals, Team roles, FTEs & CVs]
when it comes to the team roles and FTEs, then we have slightly amended some requirements to smoothen the proposal submission experience for you. So, for submitting a registration only, the PI is required as team member. However, feel free to add as many confirmed team members as you wish, as Pītau will still auto populate that information to their proposal submission phase. Also, what's new is the required FTEs, So, you still need a PI for each year was at least 0.15 FTE. And you also need a key researcher for each of the project year. However, the Key researcher has no minimum FTE requirement anymore, but a good guide is to have 0.15 FTE as well for a Key researcher. We are also aware that some people from the project team are internationals. How can somewhere be really remote at the time of submissions or application process which could make it really difficult for them to sign up in RealMe. Gabby mentioned that before and was the project support role. So, for 2025, we have, therefore, still the option that you can select the role as international. For example, international key researcher. So, when you choose this category, then this will work for that team member. Related to that, I also want to remind around the CVs that are required for PIs and key researchers, key individuals and experts or mentors.
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal, Eligibility criteria, Investment signals, Team roles, FTEs & CVs, Budget lines reduced]
So, important as was mentioned earlier, is the use of the provided templates and to stick to the guidelines provided. We noticed that there was an increase of CVs deviating from guidance. And this is a reminder, MBIE: their proposals can be made ineligible if CVs are not submitted according to the guidelines.
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal, Eligibility criteria, Investment signals, Team roles, FTEs & CVs, Budget lines reduced, Co-funding]
But now let's move on to budgets and co-funding. So, the budget table got simplified, which means, we are now asking for up to 5 categories to fill in into your budget, date and table. So that includes personnel overheads, direct operating expenses, subcontracting, and anything else that will fall under other expenses. And what's new for the 2025 Investment round is the removal of the co-funding category for Smart Ideas due to the intent of Smart Ideas. So, if you have a co-funding arrangement, then please add this to the information in the proposals where you think it is most useful. But acquiring co-funding is not always a need in Endeavour, and especially for early career researchers. Willy-John has also
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal, Eligibility criteria, Investment signals, Team roles, FTEs & CVs, Budget lines reduced, Co-funding, Vision Mātauranga]
already talked you through about the Vision Mātauranga guidance, and I just want to add to that that the registration and proposal templates were updated to align with the Investment plan and Gazette Notice.
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal, Eligibility criteria, Investment signals, Team roles, FTEs & CVs, Budget lines reduced, Co-funding, Vision Mātauranga, Tūhoe service management plan]
Also, to highlight this year is a question in the Smart Ideas and Research Programmes proposals related to the Tūhoe Service management plan due to MBIE’s obligation.
So, the answer provided for this question is not used for proposal assessment.
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal, Eligibility criteria, Investment signals, Team roles, FTEs & CVs, Budget lines reduced, Co-funding, Vision Mātauranga, Tūhoe service management plan, Sensitive Technologies]
Worth noting as well, is that we have obviously listened to your feedback, and we have provided PDFs for you for the Call for proposals and the assessment guidance. So, we're still looking for options how to best serve your needs as well as aligning with the web accessibility standards at our end.
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal, Eligibility criteria, Investment signals, Team roles, FTEs & CVs, Budget lines reduced, Co-funding, Vision Mātauranga, Tūhoe service management plan, Sensitive Technologies, PDFs for CfP and assessment guidance]
And the last point I want to make is working with Pītau, so, as many of you will know if you have submitted a proposal in the previous round, when Pītau was first introduced around a year ago, and the Endeavour Fund 2024 Investment round was the first, (the first) round to operate in Pītau. So, from that we have learned, you know many things, and we are continuously listening to improve the system over time. So, some of those improvements could be implemented and some are still work in progress. So, and therefore please ensure to read the help text and ensure that you fill out, for example, all 3 levels of the SEO and FOR codes. That when, for example, 100% of certain questions that we ask, are required, and that you looked at, your calculations are adding up.
And, for example, that the task descriptions in the Work Programme table are there as well. So please, just really read through the templates that we provide and the help text in the Pītau portal itself.
[Slide 33: Same presentation slide appears titled “Points to highlight” including a picture of round rocks in the sand, with additional information: Title of your proposal, Eligibility criteria, Investment signals, Team roles, FTEs & CVs, Budget lines reduced, Co-funding, Vision Mātauranga, Tūhoe service management plan, Sensitive Technologies, PDFs for CfP and assessment guidance, Working in Pītau]
[Slide 34: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the changes for Smart Ideas proposal structure and template.]
[Audio: Melanie Tomintz speaks]
So, the next slide here is a brief overview of the changes for the Smart Ideas proposal template by focusing on reducing the word counts for certain sections. It shows the difference between the 2024 and the 2025 Investment round. And just to be in line with the policy intent for Smart Ideas, as this mechanism is intended to catalyse and rapidly test promising innovating research ideas with high potential for benefit to New Zealand.
[Slide 35: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Smart Ideas key dates.]
[Audio: Melanie Tomintz speaks]
And on this slide, you can see the key dates for Smart Ideas. Again, please visit our website to see how many registrations, and therefore, proposal submissions your organization can submit for the 2025 Investment rounds for Smart Ideas. So key changes are the early submission of your proposal, which is 12 noon on the 11th of December this year. And given that we moved from a two-stage proposal submission process to a one- stage proposal submission process, this allows us doing assessments in February next year, and the funding decision will be announced in June next year. So, this change will provide your organization time to get ready for Smart Idea submission for the 2026 Investment round. And contracting will start early with contracts themselves starting from 1st of October, 2025. And
[Slide 36: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Research Programmes key dates.]
[Audio: Melanie Tomintz speaks]
last, I want to bring up the key dates for Research Programmes. So, as you can see, the dates are in line with the previous Investment round. But please note that all those dates are subject to change, and that any required changes will get communicated via stakeholder alerts. So therefore, this is a reminder as well for those who didn't sign up yet to the Endeavour stakeholder alert, please visit our website and yeah, just sign up for our alert. And yeah, we're looking forward receiving your registrations and proposals for the 2025 Investment round. And with that I hand back to Alan, who will talk you through some points to consider when designing your application.
[Slide 37: Next presentation slide appears titled “Things for Applicants to Consider”. A picture of the presenter, Alan Coulson, is inlaid at the top right.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Thank you, Melanie. So, this final section is entitled “Things for Applicants to Consider”.
[Slide 38: Next presentation slide appears displaying general information.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
So, in general, the Endeavour Fund is looking to fund ambitious science, which is transforming New Zealand's future. So be ambitious. Risky research is good. We want risky research that may lead to ambitious outcomes. However, where you are describing risky research, be also clear to describe the mitigations to that risk. In general, we suggest that you start your proposal design early and co-design with end users. In fact, I would go almost as far as to say, if you haven't started your proposal design yet and talk to end users, you should probably be targeting the 2026 round rather than the 2025 round. Further reminder that the important documentation is the Gazette Notice the Investment Plan and the assessment and scoring guidance. Please read these continually through your application development process
[Slide 39: Next presentation slide appears displaying information on meeting the Investment Signals.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
In meeting investment signals, please describe the fit to signals where it exists and be very specific. It's not sufficient to simply state boldly that your programme does meet the signals. Describe how? In what way? Where does it meet the Investment Signals? We also suggest, particularly for Research Programmes, to consider the value criterion carefully. We do publish in the Gazette Notice the total amount of funding available, and also the number of Programmes that the research that the Science Board will look to fund. If you do the maths, you can work out approximately what the average value per programme is available. If you are asking for more than that average amount of money, then the Science Board may be in the position of having to consider the value criterion when considering whether or not to fund your programme. Don't game the system. So, there are a number of things that we ask you to meet. But you won't meet all of them. For example, not every programme will address climate change. Please only claim genuine alignment, because that makes the case to describe how you meet that alignment much easier. And I do have to warn you that it is very obvious to assessors and the Science Board, where you do claim alignment, and none genuinely exists.
[Slide 39: Next presentation slide appears displaying information on “Addressing Excellence”.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
In addressing Excellence, recall that Excellence is always assessed first. So, it's important that you describe your science and research clearly. Your audience is expert in research and science, but may not necessarily be experts in exactly your field. Don't talk down to your audience and your application as if they were lay people. But provide enough information that that clearly articulates the underlying and science and research novelty. Highlight where the ambition is in your research. One way of doing this is to use a research hypothesis, if that is appropriate to your type of research. But, as I stated earlier, where you are raising risk in your research for Research Programmes, there is a section in which you can describe the mitigation against these risks. This is less important for Smart Ideas, and with the reduced application form this year we have removed the separate risk section. But you still may want to cover off very, very briefly where you describe the science, risk what the, what, the mitigations against that risk are even for Smart Ideas. Again, consider your audience. Your audience are experts, but not necessarily in the field. And we suggest that you provide sufficient detail. But be concise. Our assessors are very busy people. They can often be reading a significant number of proposals, and, like any other humans, they have a limited attention to detail. So, make sure that you describe everything succinctly. But again, with sufficient detail that everything that you need to describe is well described.
[Slide 40: Next presentation slide appears displaying information on “Addressing Impact”.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
In addressing impact, recall particularly for Research Programmes that impact is 50% of the total score. It shouldn't be something that you do as an afterthought. This is a little bit less important in Smart Ideas, but I'll come back to that in a minute. In the benefit to New Zealand section, consider this as being an economical impact hypothesis. It's not the same thing as a business plan. You don't need to justify exactly what that benefit is. It is a, it is a hypothesis. And describe also which stakeholders will deliver the impact and quantify how they will do that. The pathway to implementation describes how you will work with stakeholders to deliver impact from the research. It's what you do above and beyond the research that transfers that technology or research outcomes to your stakeholder community. So, it is not just a rehash of your science project plan. Your science project plan describes how you will do your research, but not how you will transfer that to your stakeholders. It's important in your pathway to demonstrate stakeholder buy-in and commitment. For Research Programmes you may want to describe the relationship with specific stakeholders, and in which way they are making that commitment to supporting your programme. For Smart Ideas, we recognize that these are fast fail and may not have the same concrete pathway as for Research Programmes. So instead, we suggest that you describe the types of stakeholders and how you will be identifying those. Also take care to ensure that the entire proposal is consistent in demonstrating stakeholder involvement. For example, if your pathway describes a particular stakeholder as being intimately involved in the programme. But your list of the end users does not describe that stakeholder, then assessors may well wonder how committed that stakeholder actually is, and how invested they are in the programme. And as for Excellence, it's important where you describe impact delivery risks or Smart Ideas that you also describe mitigations against those risks. Again, risk is not a bad thing so long as the risks are mitigated and considered.
[Slide 41: Next presentation slide appears displaying information on ANZSRC codes]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
ANZRC codes. These are the Australian New Zealand Research classification codes. These are important to you and to MBIE in the processing of your proposal. Don't make the selection of these codes an afterthought. Put due thought into them.
[Slide 41: Next presentation slide appears displaying more information on ANZSRC codes and why they are needed]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Why do you need them? For the fields of research, or FOR codes, MBIE uses these codes to help assign assessors to your proposals. If your FOR codes are not well aligned to your research subjects, the assessors that are aligned to your programme, will reflect your FOR codes, more than the actual research content. And while our assessor managers do their best, given the information that's presented to them; if the FOR codes are not well aligned, that is a risk that may be difficult for them to mitigate. Also ensure that the codes actually match the programme content that I've just described. But keep them to a minimum. Use no more than three. Again, it's a law of diminishing returns when our assessor aligners are finding assessors, they are looking for assessors which have two or maybe three areas of research expertise. The more FOR codes beyond three, you give, the harder that job is, and the more compromise they will have to make in finding correct assessors. For SEO codes, the socioeconomic output categories, the Science Board uses these to balance the mix of investments in the portfolio balancing approach. So, it's important, again, that the codes accurately match the programme content and its ambition in terms of outcomes and impact. Again, please keep these to a minimum and use no more than three.
[Slide 42: Next presentation slide appears displaying more information on Dual Use and Sensitive Technologies.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Touching once more on dual use and sensitive technologies. I would refer you to the trusted research document, which is available at the website on the slide, for guidance. In the application, please do declare dual use/sensitive technologies in the profiling section, where applicable. (Where it) What this is used for is; MBIE will look at your programme, and we perform an assessment as to whether the dual use/sensitive technologies component does require management according to this trusted research guidance and other guidance. If we think that it does, a contract condition will be applied to require specific monitoring and reporting against the dual use of Sensitive technology requirements. Recall that, dual use and sensitive technologies applies to your programme independently of MBIE. MBIE simply plays a part in the assurance process for dual use and sensitive technologies. Also, to re-emphasize that the dual use/sensitive technology profiling and MBIE’s assessment does not affect the scoring for the proposal nor the funding decision.
[Slide 42: Next presentation slide appears displaying more information on recurring themes.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Some things that we see year after year. In particular at the moment, we are seeing some proposal titles which are not as informative as they could be. Please ensure that proposal titles are informative and accurately reflect the research aims of the programme. And particularly make sure that they bring through what the underpinning science is and the science novelty as best you can within the word limit. For Smart Ideas and PhD students; Our advice is that students should be an input into the programme rather than having the programme being designed around them. They are one resource that you may use to deliver your program, but students are not always the easiest people to get and retain. And we don't want to see programmes that struggle because of student availability. So, make sure that your programme is independent of a particular student's involvement. We do ask you to identify conflicts of interest in your application. Please be selective and specific about this. We're very happy for you to name individuals or even entire organizations as being conflicted. But the more conflicts you identify, particularly of entire organizations, the more difficult it is to find assessors who are appropriate for assessing your particular application. So, this is a trade-off that you need to make when identifying these conflicts, we suggest that you focus on where a particular conflict you consider to be significant rather than any conflict that you can possibly think of. Finally, in this section. Please ensure that your public statement accurately reflects your programme. And the reason for this is, that public statement is the public face of your programme that MBIE releases on its website if you are funded. So please make sure that your public statement both reflects the science stretch and clearly describes that in your programme, and also the program outcomes ensure that these are well described. But of course, because this information is public, we strongly suggest that you do not include confidential information or information which has privacy implications in your public statement.
[Slide 43: Next presentation slide appears displaying some final words.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Lastly. Right size your work programme. For Smart Ideas. I've talked about students. And so, it's particularly important for Smart Ideas that you ensure that you can start work with the existing resources. The principle of Smart Ideas is to be a rapid test of a good idea and fast fail. Having to wait for a year to start a program because the resources that you need to deliver the programme is counter to that principle. For Research Programmes, we suggest that you consider the funding available and adjust the adjust the ambition if necessary. Yes, you need to have a complete work program which delivers the entire package to deliver the outcomes that you need. But it may be necessary to adjust that ambition if the ideal programme size is far more than the funding realistically available. And finally; Where Vision Mātauranga is relevant to your proposal, we do suggest that you ensure that it is appropriately resourced with people with the right skill set. This is one thing that the Science Board looks at in making its determination of how well a programme responds to Vision Mātauranga is the resourcing for that particular aspect of the programme.
[Slide 44: Next presentation slide appears displaying informational resources about the Endeavour Fund.]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
If you wanted to know more about Endeavour, Endeavour Fund and the Endeavour process, please feel free to contact us. We can explain the process, and we can help with the use of Pītau, our Investment Management System. However, we cannot interpret the Call for proposals. That document is definitive. We cannot provide specific advice about your proposal. We can only provide general advice of the type described in this roadshow. And we cannot provide direct help with RealMe for getting into Pītau. Help is available on this 0800 number, or the URL below (https://www.realme.govt.nz/contact-us/(external link))
[Slide 45: Next presentation slide appears displaying the text for the MBIE closing karakia, with Māori karakia and English translation:]
Restrictions are set aside
So, the pathway is clear
To return to everyday duties
Enriched and unified
Greetings to all
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
So, thank you for your time and attention. Today I'd like to close the session with the MBIE closing karakia.
Ka hiki te tapu
Kia wātea ai te ara
Kia turuki ai te ao mārama
Hui ē, Tāiki ē
Thank you everyone.
National Statement of Science Investment 2015-2025 [PDF 1.8MB]