What scientists really think of this year's Budget

The 2026 Budget was announced by the government on Thursday. Photo: RNZ/Liam K. Swiggs

Scientists are lukewarm on this year's Budget with science and tech startups seemingly the sector's main winners.

According to the New Zealand Association of Scientists there was a $30 million bump for science and innovation, but co-president Lucy Stewart said it tracked "slightly below inflation pressures".

Amid major science reforms and off the back of last year's redundancies she said the best thing about Budget 2026 was that it didn't indicate significantly more pain for the sector.

The Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology Penny Simmonds said the Budget reflected the government's shift to a more strategic science system focused on delivering economic growth.

The Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology Penny Simmonds. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii

Chief executive of KiwiNet James Hutchinson was interested in what an additional $37.5m meant for research and commercialisation.

The government-backed company supports turning discoveries into businesses and he noted: "The detail will matter in terms of what this enables on the ground."

The science, innovation and technology vote saw money for founder and startup support programmes increase by $1.4m this year to $4.1m.

Funding for ongoing innovation programmes also rose by $2.3m to $6.9m.

Budget 2026 saw $24m given to the Aspire NZ Seed Fund over four years, changing the funding model from self-funded to Crown-funded.

The fund - administered by NZ Growth Capital Partners (NZGCP) - directly invests in early-stage technology startups from proof of concept to early market expansion, such as zinc recycling company Zincovery.

NZGCP also received a one-off $10m to establish an Emerging Managers' Programme to support first-time fund managers who "invest in startup companies".

Hutchinson said it was clear that research commercialisation mattered, but warned that research didn't turn into products by accident.

"It takes people, funding, institutional capability and networks to help move ideas from the lab into real-world use.

"We also need to acknowledge that parts of the science system remain under pressure. Commercialisation does not replace the need for strong investment in research - it depends on it."

New Zealand Freshwater Sciences Society president Joanne Clapcott said it was encouraging to see more money for innovation and technology development, but said the boost had to be put in perspective.

"Let's not forget that New Zealand has historically underinvested in research and development compared with many OECD countries, sitting at around 1.5 percent of GDP compared with an OECD average closer to 3 percent."

New Zealand Freshwater Sciences Society president Joanne Clapcott. Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal

Stewart said as expected, longstanding funds such as the Endeavour Fund and the Strategic Science Investment Fund were gone, with money reallocated into entirely new funding pools.

The government has split $323m for "high-quality" research across four investment 'pillars' - environment $120m, health $42m, primary industry $96m and technology $66m.

Kyle Higham from Motu Economic and Public Policy Research said the Budget asked scientists to do more with less, then wondered "why they leave".

He said the major change was the restructure of science funding around government priorities, with the Marsden Fund losing another $5m to support it.

As outlined in Budget 2025, the main funder of curiosty-led research would drop from about $79 million to $74 million.

"In short, it appears the powers that be already know where the breakthroughs will come from, and we just need to have some faith in their instincts," Higham said.

Director of the MacDiarmid Institute Nicola Gaston said the demise of Ara Ake was ironic in light of the Middle East-driven fuel crisis.

She said the Taranaki-based energy innovation centre was set up in 2020 to help move the sector towards a sustainable future.

Money from Ara Ake would be redirected to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority to support businesses get off gas.

Gaston said there was nothing to celebrate in Budget 2026 for research and science.

She said the government had ignored advice from the Science System Advisory Group to increase funding for the sector's major reforms.

"It should have simply postponed the scale of change originally proposed, because it was never willing to pay for the cost of those changes.

"To mix my metaphors: we have been left with a dog's breakfast, in need of euthanasia."

MacDiarmid Institute director Nicola Gaston. Photo: Victoria University

The Science Minister said the Budget and science reforms reflected the government's shift to a system that delivered economic growth.

Penny Simmonds said discovery science would be supported through the new 2027 Transition Research Fund, which also strengthened backing for early-career researchers.

She said the Applied Doctorates Scheme announced in 2025 to better connect doctoral students with industry had 25 projects underway and the Tāwhia te Mana Fellowships offered 20 awards to early-career researchers each year (alongside 10 for mid-career researchers and 2 for eminent researchers).

Simmonds said she looked forward to sharing more details about the future of the sector once the signalled Science Investment Plan was made public.

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