$4m will connect academics with industry

Friday 13 May 2005

$4m will connect academics with industry

The Tertiary Education Commission has announced the third round of Growth Pilots, with $4 million available for tertiary education organisations to build partnerships with industry.

Workshops are being be held around the country later this month to help tertiary education organisations (TEOs) and business participate. TEOs are also being asked to signal their intention to submit proposals.

Initiatives are targeted at building TEO-business connections in the design, information and communications technology (ICT), and biotechnology sectors.

Growth Pilots funding helps TEOs and business develop partnerships that will:

- enhance the relevance of tertiary education and training to the needs of business

- foster, and further develop, a culture of knowledge sharing and entrepreneurship between TEOs and business.

The fund will be allocated through a contestable application process, and all New Zealand tertiary education organisations working in partnership with business in the targeted sectors are welcome to apply.

The total funding for the Growth Pilots is almost $30m over five years for sharing of knowledge and expertise between the education and industry sectors in order to deliver economic benefits. This will be the third funding round.

As the result of the first round, eleven new consortia between TEOs and business are now working on projects worth nearly $4 million over four years.

In addition, the TEC approved nine proposals during the second funding round. Contracts are signed and underway for five of these proposals, and the remainder are being finalised.

Initiatives already funded include:

- establishing Entrepreneurs in Residence and improving business mentoring for ideas developed by academics, researchers and students within the University of Auckland

- identifying and responding to the skill needs of ICT firms in Canterbury (by a consortium of universities, polytechnics and the Electrotechnology Industry Training Organisation)

- a business-university collaboration identifying future design needs for the fashion and textile industries, based at Massey University.

More information is available from the Funding/ Growth and Innovation Pilot Initiatives section of the TEC’s website: www.tec.govt.nz

Attachment: workshops schedule

Workshops with TEOs, business representatives, regional development bodies and government agencies
Region Date Time Venue
Auckland 19 May 2005 1pm to 5pm Crowne Plaza
Wellington 24 May 2005 1pm to 5pm Duxton Hotel
Christchurch 26 May 2005 1pm to 5pm Chateau on the Park
Dunedin
(organised by The University of Otago) 1 June 2005 1pm to 5pm Centre of Innovation Seminar Room, University of Otago

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