Smart Ideas Call for Proposals 2025 investment round – Endeavour Fund

The funding available

The indicative total annual funding available is $17m (excluding GST). Each individual contract value is between $0.4m and $1m (excluding GST) for a term of 2 or 3 years. 

For the 2025 investment round, the Science Board will aim to fund at least 47 Smart Ideas proposals.

Who can apply

For proposals to be eligible under the Endeavour Smart Ideas mechanism, they must:

• be made by a New Zealand-based Research Organisation or a New Zealand-based legal entity representing a New Zealand-based Research Organisation
• be designed so that the majority of the public benefits in new knowledge accrue outside of the Research Organisation or legal entity which represents the Research Organisation
• not be made by a department of the public service as listed in Schedule 2 of the Public Service Act 2020
• be made under an investment mechanism specified in the Schedules of the 2025 Gazette Notice
• be for research, science or technology, or related activities, the majority of which are to be undertaken in New Zealand, unless the Science Board considers that there are compelling reasons to consider the proposals, despite the amount of research, science or technology or related activities being proposed to be undertaken overseas
• not benefit a Russian state institution (including but not limited to support for Russian military or security activity) or an organisation outside government that may be perceived as contributing to the war effort
• meet any applicable timing, formatting, system or other similar administrative requirements imposed by MBIE in supplying administrative services to the Science Board under section 10(7) of the RS&T Act 2010
• advise that the proposed funding recipient will, and the Science Board is of the view that it can, adhere to the terms and conditions of funding set out in an investment contract determined by the Science Board
• not be for activities already funded elsewhere.

 In addition to the above criteria, to be eligible:

• research proposals can include some out-of-scope research outcomes (health, defence and expanding knowledge) and remain eligible, as long as the sum of these outcomes is 49% or less of the proposal’s outcomes.

All organisations are subject to a cap or maximum number of applications they can register and submit

The cap or maximum applies to all organisations. You can see how this cap applies to your organisation on the Endeavour web page(external link).

Application and assessment information

The application and assessment process includes:

1. Registration - all applicants must register before they can submit a proposal.
2. Applicants submit a proposal.
3. Independent Assessors review and score the proposal against the Excellence and Impact assessment criteria.
4. The Science Board decides if the proposal is eligible.
5. Based on the Assessor reviews and scores, the Science Board makes its investment decisions and may use the portfolio approach described in the Endeavour Fund 2025 Gazette Notice

Completing your registration and submitting proposals

Applicants are required to complete their registration and submit proposals in Pītau, our Investment Management System - a secure online portal. To help you prepare your registration and proposals we have provided two templates:

• Smart Ideas Registration template
• Smart Ideas Proposal template

These templates are in the key documents section below.

Key dates

Dates are subject to change. If they change, we’ll let you know by email or by stakeholder alert.

You can also subscribe to our Alert e-newsletter.

Subscribe here(external link)

Endeavour Fund Roadshows: 2025 Investment Round

Join us for the virtual Endeavour Fund Roadshows for the 2025 Investment Round on 2, 3, and 7 October 2024. This is an opportunity for the research community to engage with the Endeavour Team.

At the roadshows, we will provide everything you need to know about the 2025 Investment Round for both the Smart Ideas and Research Programmes funding mechanisms.

The Roadshow webinars are scheduled for two hours. The first hour is a webinar presentation given by MBIE, followed by an hour for Q&A. Register using one of the registration links below to secure your place.

The webinar presentation will be published on this page before the end of October 2024.

Contact endeavour.roadshow@mbie.govt.nz

Roadshow registrations

Roadshow 1. Wednesday 2 October 2024, 9:30am-11:30am

Register for Endeavour Fund 2025 Roadshow 1(external link) – zoom.us

Roadshow 2. Thursday 3 October 2024, 9:00am-11:00am

Register for Endeavour Fund 2025 Roadshow 2(external link) – zoom.us

Roadshow 3. Monday 7 October 2024, 12:30pm-2:30pm

Register for Endeavour Fund 2025 Roadshow 3(external link) – zoom.us

Key documents

When developing your proposal, we encourage you to consult the following key reference documents:

Endeavour Fund Investment Plan 2025-2027(external link)

Endeavour Fund 2025 Investment Round Gazette Notice(external link)

Endeavour Fund webpages(external link)

Assessment and scoring guidance - Smart Ideas 2025 investment round – Endeavour Fund

The assessment criteria

Assessors will assess proposals on each of the criteria (below) and score them from 1 (low quality) to 7 (high quality).

See the assessment and scoring guidance pages.

Excellence

Excellence: Science Criterion (50% weighting)

Research should be well-designed, involve risk and/or novelty, and leverage additional value from wider research. Assessment must have particular regard to whether the proposed research, science or technology or related activities:

• progress and disseminate new knowledge
• have a well-designed research plan and a credible approach to risk management
• are ambitious in terms of scientific risk, technical risk, novelty and/or innovative approaches
• are well-positioned in the domestic and international research context
• if applicable to the proposal, recognises the distinctive research, science and innovation contributions of Māori people, knowledge and resources, including Mātauranga Māori.

Excellence: Team Criterion (15% weighting)

The proposed team should have the mix of complementary skills, knowledge, and resources to deliver the proposed research, science or technology or related activities, and to manage risk. Assessment must have particular regard as to whether:

• the mix of skills is appropriate for the research
• the team has the skills, knowledge and resources which give confidence in their ability to deliver the research
• if applicable, the team has the appropriate Māori expertise for the project.

Impact

Impact: Benefit to New Zealand (25% weighting)

Research should have direct and indirect benefits or effect on individuals, communities or society as a whole, including broad benefits to New Zealand’s economy, environment or society. Assessment must have particular regard to:

• the scale and extent of potential benefits from the proposed research, science or technology, or related activities
• the extent of alignment with one or more areas of future additional value, growth, or critical need for New Zealand
• where relevant, the extent to which the project has identified and evaluated the potential impacts for Māori.

Impact: Implementation Pathway(s) (10% weighting)

Research should have an indicative implementation pathway(s) to deliver public benefit to New Zealand that is not limited to a single firm or end-user, and an understanding of the barriers to impact. Assessment must have particular regard to:

• the degree to which the proposal demonstrates an understanding of the enablers and barriers in potential implementation pathway(s) to deliver public benefits to New Zealand
• identification of the indicative end or next-users, beneficiaries, and stakeholders
• for those projects with mātauranga Māori, assess whether there is sufficient input from Māori at the appropriate stage(s) of the project, that are adequately resourced, to ensure effective implementation

Vision Mātauranga Assessment

Where applicable, proposals must consider the relevancy of the Vision Mātauranga Policy. We expect that the Vision Mātauranga Policy will not be relevant to all proposals. Proposals that give effect to the Policy should demonstrate the relevance and use of a fit-for-purpose approach.

Related to Vision Mātauranga, Assessors will be asked - in their opinion, is the Vision Mātauranga policy relevant to this proposal? (Yes / No)

If the assessor answers ‘Yes’ they will then be asked:

• In their opinion, how well will the project give effect to the Vision Mātauranga Policy (i.e., realise the potential of Māori people, knowledge and resources), and reflect genuine, fit-for-purpose approaches?
• To consider the specific activities, outputs, and outcomes described, and whether they will create impact for Māori.

Assessors will select from the following to best describe their opinion: Exceptional / Very Well / Well / Not Well / Absent.

Conflicts of interest

We will publish the membership of the College of Assessors on our College of Assessors webpage(external link). If you identify that an Assessor has an actual, potential, or perceived direct or indirect conflict of interest, declare this in the Conflicts of Interest section of your application. If you discover a potential conflict of interest after proposal submission, you must notify us immediately by emailing endeavour@mbie.govt.nz with details of the conflict. Conflicts of interest may occur on two different levels:

1. A direct conflict of interest, where an Assessor is:
   • directly involved with a proposal (as a participant, manager, mentor, or partner) or has a close personal relationship with the applicant, for example, family members, or
   • a collaborator or in some other way involved with an applicant’s proposal.
2. An indirect conflict of interest, where an Assessor:
   • is employed by an organisation involved in a proposal but is not part of the applicant’s proposal
   • has a personal and/or professional relationship with one of the applicants, e.g., an acquaintance
   • is assessing a proposal under discussion that may compete with their business interests.

Funding decisions

The Science Board decides on eligibility and makes the investment decisions in accordance with the Endeavour Fund 2025 Investment Round Gazette Notice. In making their decision, the Science Board:

• will consider independent Assessor reviews and scores
• may consider portfolio balancing, investment signals and targets in the Endeavour Fund Investment Plan 2025-2027.

The Science Board may decide to invest less than the total funding indicated in the Gazette Notice.

Contracting, payment, reporting and monitoring

Contracting (variation process)

If the Science Board decides to invest in your proposal, MBIE will enter into a Science Investment Contract and an associated Work Programme Agreement with your organisation (subject to any pre-contract conditions being met). A sample contract is available in our Key Documents section.

The Science Board may:

• set pre-contract conditions that must be met before MBIE and the applicant organisation can enter into a Science Investment Contract or any Work Programme Agreement
• set special contract conditions, and/or
• vary the amount of funding allocated from that requested.

Payments

For successful applicants, the total funding over the term of the contract will be split into equal monthly payments and paid in advance.

Reporting and monitoring

Successful applicants will be required to report once a year in Pītau – our online portal. Reporting guidance and reporting templates are published annually.

Annual Report

We will require an annual report. Reporting information required includes, deliverables and tasks identified in the work programme, details of any emerging risks, and what is being done to address them. See the Annual Reporting Template in the Key Documents section.

Final Report

Required at the end of the project and will include commentary on the overall project outcomes, including key achievements, the steps taken and, where applicable, the changes made to your approach. See the Final Reporting Template in the Key Documents section.