[Slide 1: Presentation opens with MBIE branded presentation title screen entitled “He Ara Whakahihiko Capability Fund Webinar and Q&A”. A picture of the presenter, Willy-John Martin, is inlaid at the top right.]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Tēnā koutou [Delivers a formal greeting, welcomes attendees, and signals the purpose of the kaupapa]. Now, I'm just going to give you a couple more seconds to make sure everybody is in the room, because sometimes our tech can slow people down as they're trying to join, and then we will get this show on the road.
But in the meantime, Welcome. We're really pleased that you're with us today, and we're really excited to be able to share this round of He Ara Whakahihiko Capability Fund info with you, which is now the second time we've run this fund.
Before we get on our way, let us start with the MBIE karakia here that outlines the values that we're hoping to uphold in the work that we do here in this fund and across our kaupapa as a whole.
[Slide 2: Next presentation slide appears displaying the text for the MBIE opening karakia, with Te Reo and English translation]
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. Tīhei mauri ora.
[Giving a Mihi acknowledging everyone].
Again, really pleased that you could be here with us today. My name is Willy-John Martin [Introduces self and acknowledges whakapapa]. In this particular kaupapa, I'm the Director of Māori Science, Innovation and Technology here at MBIE.
I'm joined today by three friends who are going to be helping explain some of the fund today and be coming in and out through this presentation. So, I'm going to pass some time to Alan, Kate, and Maikio to introduce themselves. Kia ora Alan.
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Kia ora Willy-John. Tēnā koutou katoa, ko Alan Coulson taku ingoa, I'm the Manager of Contestable Investments, and the Fund Manager for the He Ara Whakahihiko Capability Fund, which means that I'm responsible for the money. Good to know, in Willy-John’s eye’s, I have graduated from colleague to friend. So, kia ora Willy-John
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Kia ora, everyone. I'm Kate Sloane. I am a Senior Investment Manager in the Contestable Team, and the fund lead for this fund. Over to you, Maikio.
[Audio: Maikio McGrath speaks]
Tēnā tātou [Introduces self and acknowledges whakapapa]. I am the Managing Director for Moko Kauri.
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Kia ora. Thank you very much team and friends.
[Slide 3: Next presentation slide appears displaying key details about the webinar session]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Very good. So, let me just take us through some housekeeping. So, towards the end of the session today, we'll be holding the Q&A session, so please use the Q&A function to ask any questions, and they'll come through to us later on in the session.
Also, just be aware that this webinar will be recorded, so if you miss some of it, please do, once it's posted, have a look again. And if you know anyone who… any of your colleagues or friends who are also interested in applying, or might be are eligible for this funding, please do share it with them. So very good. Kia ora.
[Slide 4: Next presentation slide appears displaying the outline of the presentation]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
All right. So, the structure of this presentation will first go over the purpose of the fund, what's it about? It's the overview of it. Then, we'll step through how you apply, and what the application process, the assessment process looks like. When you're going through the application process, you need to upload it somewhere, and Pitāu is where it would be uploaded.
And so, we'll step through with you the type of, what you need to take account of for accessing and uploading to Pitāu, and the role that Moko Kauri can help with that, as well as the general advice to applicants.
Which Moko Kauri and us, we at MBIE, can also help to view that as well, as well as some advice from last year's panel that can perhaps put you in a good position, a stronger position for this year's application. So, ka pai!
[Slide 5: Next presentation slide appears displaying the title of the Overview of the Fund]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
So, moving to the overview of the fund.
[Slide 6: Next presentation slide appears displaying the information about the Fund’s aim]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
This fund has two main purposes. So, the first is to increase the understanding of how research, scientific research, can contribute to realizing the potential of the Māori economy and deliver benefit for New Zealand. So, there is a key focus here on promoting economic growth. And doing that through implementation or through impact or through our partnership as well.
So, the second fund - aim of the fund- is to strengthen the capability, capacity, and skills and networks between Māori and the science, innovation, and technology system. So, there's two ends to this.
So, one is to understand how to bring the science, science and the Māori economy together for a science-based economic growth agenda, and then really what sits behind this is that we're trying to, from a national point of view, from a government point of view, grow the skills and capabilities so that these projects would be the beginning of partnerships, not the end of them. Great - to the next slide.
[Slide 7: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the two fund schemes]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
We do this in two ways in the scheme. Excuse me.
The first scheme is called Ara Whaihua, or Impact Pathways for Research. So, this is really about trying to take scientific research that's already done, or ready to be implemented. And then invest in some further work to progress it to the next stage towards commercialisation, or the next stage in promoting economic growth. So, these funds are really about how do you transfer existing ideas into reality.
The second one, Rangapū Rangahau, is about research partnerships. Now, this one really is about research and science. It funds partnerships between research organisations and Māori through Māori-facing organisations to undertake science innovation and technology-related research that has an economic focus and develop the idea through science, whatever that may be. So, there are areas such as environment, innovation and so on, we'll get into that later as part of the policy work, but the key here is that this part is about research partnerships and building the capability to undertake research in those partnerships.
[Slide 8: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the funding available under the two fund schemes]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
At this stage, I'll pass over to Alan to describe some of the details of each of those funds. Kia ora Alan.
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Ngā mihi Willy-John. So, I'm the money man, and I get to talk about the money. In total, within the fund, there's approximately $8.6 million per year that we invest through new projects. And then in the two mechanisms, Ara Whaihua, the projects are aimed at rapid delivery, so they are one year and $100,000 per project. There's approximately $2.1 million allocation total to this mechanism, and so if you do the maths, we aim to fund about 21 Ara Whaihua Impact Pathway projects.
Rangapū Rangahau is longer in duration because it's about building partnerships as well as completing research. So, the projects under Rangapū Rangahau are 2 years, and they are $350,000 per project, with a total allocation of $6.5 million. And I can't do the maths in my head, but it's a similar number of projects overall.
[Slide 9: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the key changes to the 2027 He Ara Whakahihiko Investment Round]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
So for the 2027 round we have some changes from the 2026 round, which was the first year that He Ara Whakahihiko was run. The changes are relatively minor, but the major change is that of decision maker. So, we have a new decision maker. Previously for, He Ara Whakahihiko and predecessor funds, including the Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund, MBIE was the decision maker. And if you wouldn't mind indulging me in an analogy, in delivering this fund, MBIE is a car. So, we're probably a Toyota Corolla, we're very reliable. We get from A to B, we don't break down very often, but we're not all that flashy. We just do the job. But we've had a driver who has been our Deputy Chief Executive, who has been the decision maker. So, in 2027, the car is the same, but we have a new driver. The driver is Research Funding New Zealand. And so even for the Rangapū Rangahau investment, where the primary investment recommendation is made by our panel, which is published on our website, ultimately, Research Funding New Zealand will make the investment decision.
So that's a big change, and then a couple of, smaller changes that I'd like to highlight, or three, actually. So one is that we've tidied up our definitions last year of what a Māori-facing organisation is, and with apologies to all applicants from last year who went to different places in the investment plan and call for proposals, and its all slightly different definitions.
So, we've taken that on board, we've come up with a single definition of a Māori-facing organisation, which you will see there. Now, key part of this definition is that a Māori-faced organisation is any organisation that has a clearly identified Māori individual or group, so far so good. And that person must play a central role in shaping, guiding, or delivering the proposed work. So, if you're a small company, and you have a Māori director, but they haven't even seen the proposal. That doesn't make you a Māori-facing organisation. You need to have one or more, Māori on your team who have played that central role in shaping, guiding, and hopefully delivering the proposed work.
The second minor tweak is we have, been a lot more deliberate about explaining that the fund purpose, apart from being a capability fund, is to deliver economic outcomes. So, in this fund and its predecessors, it has always funded environmental proposals, but we are clarifying that under the going for growth strategy, environmentally focused proposals still must explain a clear economic pathway and benefit.
Now, this doesn't have to be through a new product. If it's environmental, it could be about preserving a natural environment which has a clear economic value, which you can clearly articulate.
And then the final thing I was going to emphasize which isn't written on the slide, which is why my colleague jumped the gun, is that last year we saw a number of applicants who thought, this is a capability fund, let's develop a training curricula. So, it is a capability fund, it's about building capability through delivering a project. It is not a training fund; it is not an education fund. So, if you're wanting to develop an educational curricula, or support a student, a high school student, or a university student, this is not the fund for you. This is about delivering economic outcomes, through either a translational path to impact from research, or developing research capability through a partnership between a Māori-facing organisation and a research organisation.
[Slide 10: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about alignment to Priority Pillars]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
So, the other change, which isn't… wasn't on the previous slide, is that you will see at the very bottom of this year's investment plan a reference to the Science Investment Plan. Now, the Science Investment Plan is the whole-of-system strategy that MBIE has produced under the guidance of the Prime Minister's Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council which describes four pillars, which are priority areas for investment over the next 10 years. So, I would encourage you to look at the Science Investment Plan. The four pillars are shown here.
Although this is a capability fund, and it doesn't necessarily need to respond to opportunities and pillars. We will ask you to suggest an alignment to one of these four pillars so that we can track our investments across all of our portfolio and inform Research Funding New Zealand of where this funding is going against this pillar framework
[Slide 11: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Ara Whaihua Eligiblity criteria]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
So, eligibility criteria. There are quite a few of them. I'm not going to read them all, because they are mostly the same as they have always been, and they are slightly different for Ara Whaihua and Rangapū Rangahau. So, firstly, for Ara Whaihua, I'll highlight a few that are on the next slide.
[Slide 12: Next presentation slide appears highlighting key eligibility criteria for Ara Whaihua scheme]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
So, to be eligible for Ara Whaihua, you have to demonstrate that you are a Māori-facing organisation or a Māori research organisation, and the difference between the two is, a Māori research organisation is simply a Māori-facing organisation that can demonstrate internal research capability. So that's the first key eligibility criteria for Ara Whaihua.
The second key one, which distinguishes this mechanism for Rangapū Rangahau, is that your proposal must be for application/activities relating to the translation of existing or new science to address a known problem, or to identify a route to market for that science that you think has potential. So, this is about translation of research into impact, and primarily an economic outcome.
Thirdly, the activities must clearly align with the fund purpose and the requirements of the scheme as outlined in the investment plan. So, I would encourage you to read the investment plan so that you're able to demonstrate clearly, that your proposal aligns with the purpose of the fund. As an example, the purpose of the fund is not training or for developing education curricula.
And finally, your proposal must address one or more of the Vision Matauranga themes: Taiao, Indigenous Innovation, and/or Mātauranga. Willy-John will speak to those in a minute after the next couple of slides. So that's Ara Whaihua.
[Slide 13: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Rangapū Rangahau Eligiblity criteria]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
For Rangapū Rangahau. Next slide, thank you. There's also a large number of eligibility criteria. Most of them are the same. But those that distinguish Ara Whaihua and Rangapū Rangahau are on the next slide, so I'll focus on these.
[Slide 14: Next presentation slide appears highlighting key eligibility criteria for Rangapū Rangahau scheme]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
So, for Rangapū Rangahau to be eligible, your application must include both a research organisation and a Māori-facing organisation. A Māori Research Organisation can be a research organisation, but to be able to qualify, you must also be able to demonstrate internal research capability, and you still must demonstrate a partnership with a Māori-facing organisation.
Which brings me to the second point. To be eligible for Rangapū Rangahau, the proposal must be co-developed between the research organisation and the Māori-facing organisation, and you must support evidence of this through a supporting co-development letter that is signed by both parties.
As with Ara Whaihua your application must be for activities which clearly align with the funding purpose and the requirements of the scheme, as outlined in the investment plan, noting, of course, that the funding purpose is slightly different for Rangapū Rangahau and Ara Whaihua, so make sure you read the right part of the investment plan when you address that. And as with Ara Whaihua, your application must address one or more of the Vision Mātauranga themes. And I'll hand over to Willy-John, who will take you through those themes.
[Slide 15: Next presentation slide appears displaying the Vision Mātauranga Policy Themes supporting the He Ara Whakahihiko Capability Funds]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Kia ora, this fund supports the Vision Mātauranga Policy which has these four themes. So, Alan has mentioned these already Indigenous Innovation, Taiao, Mātauranga, and there's a fourth one, Hauora/Oranga. We don't support that… that last bit in our fund, because the Health Research Council has, takes care of this on our behalf. So, all the other three, Indigenous Innovation, Taiao, Mātauranga, they are all in for this particular fund. And the key there is to think Indigenous innovation plus economic whatever that may be. Taiao plus economic. Mātauranga plus economic, so it goes across all of those.
You might also see that earlier on, there are the new four pillars that Alan, mentioned, and these align quite nicely to those pillars. So, when you're selecting the pillar it relates to this part of it will really help you as well, whether it fits in the Mātauranga, Taiao or Indigenous Innovation theme. So, choose the one that most aligns to… that your project most aligns to.Kapai!
[Slide 16: Next presentation slide appears displaying the text for Application and Assessment Process]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Now, we'll head into some of the nuts and bolts of the application and assessment process. I'll hand over to Kate.
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Kia ora everyone. Before I start, can I please ask people not to raise their hands and to put your questions into the chat? And once the presentation, sorry, is over, we will then respond to your questions. Thank you.
[Slide 17: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the key documents for both fund schemes]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Okay, on to application and assessment process. First off, the key documents you need to become really familiar with. You will find these documents on the He Ara Whakahihiko Capability Fund webpage.
You will see the investment plan and the gazette notice there for the fund, as well as the Call for Proposals, the Proposal templates, Reporting templates, Contract templates, and Assessment and Scoring guidance for the two schemes.
[Slide 18: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the application and assessment timeline for Ara Whaihua]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
First off, Ara Whaihua application and assessment process. Now, this slide shows the timeline of the process. The call will open on the 15th of July, and submissions are due by 12 noon on the 2nd of September. After submissions are received, we will do eligibility checks and assess eligible proposals for fundability in September and October. And if required, depending on how many eligible and fundable proposals we receive, we will hold a ballot in November.
Investment decisions will be announced in December, and contracts are expected to start the 1st of February 2027.
[Slide 19: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the assessment criteria for Ara Whaihua]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Now, the four assessment criteria for this scheme. Each have different weightings, so you'll see there's 15% towards Leveraging Excellent Science, 35% towards Ability to Deliver, 25% towards outcomes from Science, Innovation, and Technology translation, and 25% towards Science Innovation and Technology benefits and Vision Mātauranga.
[Slide 20: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the contracting and payment process for Ara Whaihua]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
The contracting and payments process. So, as mentioned earlier, funding decisions will be announced in December, and that is when we will start contracting. You must sign and return your contract, within one month of receipt and send it back to MBIE, and you are to start your work programs on the 1st of February 2027.
The payment schedule for this scheme is you receive 50% of the funding at the start of the work program, and another 50% at the midpoint after approval of a satisfactory progress report.
[Slide 21: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the application and assessment process timeline for Rangapū Rangahau]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Now on to the other scheme, Rangapū Rangahau application and assessment process. So similar to Ara Whaihua, the call opens on the 15th of July. But submissions are due by 12 noon on the 26th of August. Following submissions, there will be eligibility and fundability checks, and depending on the number of eligible and fundable proposals that we receive, a ballot may be held, if required, in September. All of those, proposals that go through ballot will go to assessment by an assessment panel, which will, convene in January to discuss those proposals.
In March, investment decisions will be announced, and contracts are to begin the 1st of June 2027.
[Slide 22: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Assessment Criteria for Rangapū Rangahau]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Now, the assessment criteria for this scheme, these have equal weightings. There is 25% towards Development of People, Partnerships, and Skills, 25% towards Ability to Deliver, 25% towards Science, Innovation, and Technology outcomes, and 25% towards Science, Innovation, and Technology benefits and Vision Mātauranga.
[Slide 23: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Contracting and Payment process for Rangapū Rangahau]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
The contracting and payments process is quite similar to Ara Whaihua. Investment decisions are announced in March, contracting will begin in April, and again, you must return your signed contract to MBIE within one month or receipt. All proposals that go through to assessment will receive feedback, but they won't get that feedback until results are notified in March. And proposals and successful contracts are to begin 1st of June 2027.
Exactly like Ara Whaihua, the payment schedule is 50% of funding at the start of the program, and 50% at the midpoint, after approval of a satisfactory progress report.
[Slide 24: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the Assessment panel for Rangapū Rangahau]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Now, with Rangapū Rangahau , there is an external assessment panel, which will be appointed to assess the proposals. We will publish the names of these panel members on the MBIE website by mid-July 2026.
And the panel will assess all of the eligible and fundable proposals, up to a maximum of 70 proposals.
[Slide 25: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the eligibility and fundability for the two fund schemes]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Now, what does eligibility and fundability mean? So, eligible proposals are those that meet all of the listed eligibility criteria. You'll see those eligibility criteria at the beginning of these slides, and they're listed in the Gazette Notice, so you need to become familiar with them.
Fundable proposals are those that meet the minimum funding threshold, which are different for each scheme. For Ara Whaihua, proposals must score a 4 or more out of 7 on the scoring grid, and for Rangapū Rangahau proposals, they must score a 3 or higher out of 7 on the scoring grid to proceed.
[Slide 26: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about using a selection ballot]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Now, why are we using a selection ballot? So, a ballot may be used, depending on how many eligible and fundable proposals that we receive. The ballot helps us to manage operational costs and is a transparent method which treats all proposals that meet the funding threshold fairly and does not discriminate against any applicants.
For Ara Whaihua, if we receive 22 or more eligible and fundable proposals, we will then use a ballot system to reduce that number to 21.
For Rangapū Rangahau, if we receive 71 or more eligible and fundable proposals, we will use the ballot system to reduce that number to 70.
[Slide 27: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about Moko Kauri Ltd - the capability support for the He Ara Whakahihiko Capability Fund]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
I will now pass over to Maikio to talk about Moko Kauri Support.
[Audio: Maikio McGrath speaks]
Tēna no tātou [Giving a Mihi acknowledging everyone]. Dr. Jennifer Martin and Dr. Fiona McGrath and the wider Moko Kauri team are available for one-on-one Wānanga sessions. These are to kōrero through your ideas, answer any questions, and help unpack the intents of the funds. Whether you're seeking clarification or refining your kaupapa, we're here to help you put your best foot forward. So, feel free to email us, info@mokokauri.co.nz. Ka kite anō.
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Thank you, Maikio.
[Slide 28: Next presentation slide appears titled Accessing Pītau]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Now, on to accessing Pītau.
[Slide 29: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about accessing Pītau]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Now, Pītau is MBIE's investment management system. All applications need to be submitted via Pītau to us. If you don't already have a login, you need to request one by going and completing the Request for Access form that you'll find on the Pītau Portal webpage, and then you need to email that form to imissupport@mbie.govt.nz, and they'll get you going in there. We strongly suggest you apply as early as possible, as there's no guarantee that we can process any requests leading up to submission, so please get onto that as soon as possible.
[Slide 30: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about the roles within Pītau and the level of access for these roles]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
With accessing Pītau, we will initially set up one organisation administrator for your organisation, and this person will be able to then add additional users. So, there's two levels of access. There's the organisation administrator, who can create and submit applications, and they manage access to Pītau for their organisation.
And then there's organisation member, who can create and work on those applications on behalf of the organisation. When you are signing up, please use your organisation's legal name, the one that you would be contracted under.
[Slide 31: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about practical tips for using Pītau]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Some helpful hints for Pītau. Logging in to Pītau does require two-factor authentication. You can use Microsoft or Google, or there is Realme, but Realme does not need to be verified.
Please allow as much time as possible to work in Pītau. Complete your form early, as I said earlier. Complete your form earlier and give yourself time to set everything up.
Another key tip is when you're adding key personnel to an application, can you please search for their full name or their preferred name first before you create a new contact. This then reduces any duplicates and minimizes problems that are caused when those people are logging into Pītau.
And, another one is, if you can, add an extra organisation administrator. Those are the ones that are able to add users, and submit proposals for your organisation, just in case there is unforeseen circumstances and you're unable to submit your application yourself.
[Slide 32: Next presentation slide appears titled Advice to Applicants]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
Now, some advice to applicants.
[Slide 33: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about specific advice for Ara Whaihua]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
MBIE’s advice for Ara Whaihua. Please clearly describe the underpinning science of your proposal. Describe the pathway to commercialisation and economic growth from excellent science. Highlight future outputs and outcomes of the project. And do scale your activity to fit the step.
[Slide 34: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about specific advice for Rangapū Rangahau]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
For Rangapū Rangahau proposals. Clearly describe how your project is co-developed and co-designed. Describe how you would disseminate project findings. Emphasise new partnerships that are going beyond business as usual. Highlight science outputs and outcomes of the project. And explain how the project aligns with economic growth, or delivers environmental outcomes with economic benefits.
[Slide 35: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about general application advice]
[Audio: Kate Sloane speaks]
I will now pass back over to Alan.
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Thanks, Kate. So, this is our overall advice for all applicants. So, number one, please do read all the provided documentation. Yes, there is a lot of it, there are a lot of words, and apologies for that, but within that, there is a lot of good advice and instruction, and so please ensure that you take the time to download or read online all of the documentation that's provided. Particularly in the case, before you decide whether or not to apply, read the Gazette Notice and Investment Plan so that you can be reasonably confident that your proposal is right for this fund.
Now I'm going to wag my finger a little bit on this one, which is please do not leave the preparation of your application to the last minute. One of the most thankless tasks that I have every year as fund manager is to receive a call from somebody an hour or two after the closing to say, I wasn't able to finish my application in Pītau, can I please have an extension of an hour a day or a week?
Often, when asked, they will say, oh, I started this morning at 9 o'clock, or I started yesterday at 3 o'clock. Now, Kate's clearly, given you the deadlines. You know those in advance. Please do not underestimate the amount of time it takes to go through all of the things you need to do to get lined up in Pītau, get into the application, make sure that everything checks out okay, fill in all the appropriate sections, go through the QA process. You won't do it on the morning that the applications close. Please start a lot earlier.
I will have succeeded in this message if I don't have to tell anybody in August or September that, no, I'm sorry, we can't accept your late application.
Please ensure that all relevant information is provided in the sections where we ask, and that it accurately represents the project. This makes the assessor and panel job a lot easier.
Please ensure that any acronyms are defined, you might know what they mean, and MBIE is also guilty of this, of course, but you can't necessarily assume that the people reading your proposal understand your applicants.
For the title and the public statement, these will be published if you are successful. So please craft those with that in mind. With the knowledge that these will be read by multiple audiences. So, they will be read by MBIE staff, they will be read by assessors, they will be read by panellists, they will be read by ministers, they will be read by members of the general public, they will be read by research colleagues, and your colleagues across the Māori community. So, please ensure that both the title and the public statement are crafted in a way that they are accessible to all of those audiences, not simply aimed at one of those subsets.
When you're preparing your proposal, you have a choice of curriculum vitae, or CV, templates. We offer a standard, what we call a standard Research Science and Technology CV template, which was largely developed and crafted for academic use in mind. There's also a narrative CV template, and this is often useful for people who have not had academic careers, or have had career breaks, have had career changes, or simply aren't from the research community. So, have a look at both templates and decide for each of the participants in your program which is the most appropriate CV, which allows you to describe your experiences and background relevant to the application in its best way.
The application will require you to select what we call ANZSRC codes, which stand for Australia and New Zealand Science Research Classification. We use these for, to be able to monitor what, technology and science areas that we fund. These are mandatory. You do need to fill them in. Please do read carefully what the instructions behind selecting these ANZSRC codes are. We value good quality data. Bad quality data will lead us to making bad quality decisions.
And just re-emphasizing Kate's point from earlier, please apply under the organisation name or legal entity name you wish to be contracted under. It will delay the contracting process if the name that you apply under and the name that you need to contract under are different.
[Slide 36: Next presentation slide appears displaying information about Panel Feedback from Rangapū Rangahau 2026 Investment Round]
[Audio: Alan Coulson speaks]
Now, I'll hand over to Willy-John, who's going to provide you some very sage advice that came from the Rangapū Rangahau panel earlier this year.
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
Kia ora. Ka pai!
So you'll hear some of the same themes coming through. This is a list that I affectionately the laundry list! This is what our assessors have said they really saw coming through as some limitations for some of the proposals that they looked over, and following some of this advice would be really helpful for applications in this round. So take note.
So, the first was to follow the guidelines for each section. What the assessors had said to us is that, for each of the section, people had answered something, but not necessarily the question, or what the section was wanting to hear. So instead, at times, they felt like you may have told them, or the applicant may have told them a lot about, their business or something more generally but did not answer the main part of the question. So, the point there is, know what each section is asking for, and answer those questions primarily. So that's the first one.
The second is to understand the assessment criteria. So, it's similar to the first one, but it really is about understanding those four areas of criteria, and speaking to each of them in a manner that makes it easy for the assessors to judge whether you are building capability, number one, whether your project is feasible, number two, whether you understand what the outcomes are.
Number three, and then four, whether it's clear to you what the longer-term benefits are. Each one of those four things is really important for you to answer as clearly as possible for a group of assessors. Remember, it might make sense to you, but your main audience is your peers, those who are on that panel, those who may have PhDs or run businesses of their own, you're trying to convince them that you know what you're doing, what you're proposing to do. So, part of this fund is to kind of give people an opportunity to practice grantsmanship. So, when you're writing your grant, please do make sure, if you've got the ability to ask other people to have a look at it who aren't in your company, or maybe a new company, but look a bit further. If it's obvious to them, then it will probably be obvious to the applicants, though I realize there will be some competitive issues there for some of you who want to keep your good ideas to yourselves. Nevertheless, it's the whakaaro.
So, one thing, this third point, is that our panel said that it was sometimes hard to see what part of the science or the research that was being discussed was truly novel or new. So, we're kind of in an era and age now, that, everybody has tools available, that they can use to search the internet, to use AI, to see if what you propose is novel actually is. It's very easy to find, information now that if you've written part of your project, but it's not actually new, it's been done somewhere else, or it's done by you before that's going to be a problem. So, make sure you really communicate what part of your work is novel. And why and how is it novel? That'll make it easier for the, for the, well, for you, to be assessed, but also for the assessors themselves to make to support you.
Next. Be precise about roles, contributions, and funding. So, particularly for the research partnerships, Rangapū Rangahau, what our assessors really found hard is understanding what proportion of the work and funding is supporting the research organisation. What proportion of the research funding and personnel are supporting the Māori-facing organisation in a partnered way? So, they were quite frustrated at times not being able to tell. Is there capability here on both sides that are being built? And, based on the roles of the people has that been attributed to budget well enough? What the panel's really sensitive about is, is if something looks like it's been tick-boxed. So, for instance, you might have a name on there that has some Māori expertise in the Māori-facing organisation, but hasn't really got a significant role in the partnership. They're really sensitive about that. And if there's some science that isn't funded properly, they're sensitive about that as well, because that hits the feasibility. So, when you're writing your application, be precise about the roles, the contributions of each of the two organisations, and the funding that underpins those, because that's what they'll be zooming into.
[Slide 37: Next presentation slide appears displaying continuation of the Slide 36 - Panel Feedback from Rangapū Rangahau 2026 Investment Round]
[Audio: Willy-John Martin speaks]
And to keep on going. Really, focus on what matters. And what some people believe is that if you list every person that you've got a connection to, organisation in the world, or in the country, and you may have those relationships, and that's really awesome. If they're not directly involved in the project itself, or the science activities itself, it really will cloud your application. The panellists will the way the panellists will view it is that the applicant cannot zero in to the parts of the project that are relevant. So, the more that you kind of fatten up some of your application with other organisations, the more they will believe that you may not be able to focus on delivering the core project. So, focus on the core project and then making sure that that is well designed.
Another thing that they saw is that some of the projects really wanted to instil confidence by saying, if we do this project, this amazing million-dollar avenue will be opened, then we'll make millions of dollars. I'm sort of going overboard here a little bit but what they found is that if applicants over-promised that undermine their confidence in the applicant's ability to understand how to use their resources appropriately for the goal that you're aimed for in your application. So, make sure that what you promise is realistic and proportionate. And really avoid trying to oversell. Because what your peers will say is I'll be the judge of that and that's what they do, because they're the experts, as well as you are. So, make sure that it's well planned and well proportioned.
Another thing that our panellist’s saw, or believe that they saw, is that some people in the applications sort of relied on their reputation in the field to carry through the, the ability of the project to be successful. And you very well may be one of those people who can, has the track record and strength to carry it to completion. However, it's the responsibility of the panellists to judge exactly what you have on the paper. Not what you've done in the past as a surrogate for your current plan. So, you have to write your application as if you're going to be assessed by people that don't know you at all. Those who know you really well will already be conflicted and will not be able to assess your application, because they will either have a relationship with you or a very strong view of you, positive or negative. And you kind of want to make sure that you're free of that kind of bias. So, ensure that you have written for an audience that don't know you, but are expert and know how programs run. So, don't rely on your reputation alone.
And finally, and this is super important. Be sure to frame your work in terms of economic impact. Something that we saw last year, and in fact, it was really hard for the panellist’s themselves to judge is the economic focus of an application. So an economic… you know, all of our funds are really about trying to grow the economy in the end. Now, there are a number of ways you can do this. It doesn't have to be only by being commercial. It can also be about better management of resources, whether they be land or data resources, so that they're ready and available for an eventual use which you understand is the case, but, you know, you can see the avenue there. You may not get there with this project because the project itself is one step on a long pathway, and that is fine, but you have to know where you're going and you have to be able to frame it from an economic point of view, and there are many ways to look at it. So, resilience, you know, resilience is one. Cost savings, because you've developed an approach that saves money. That's economic. Something that's efficient, something that takes less people to do, something that gets to people faster or allows adoption of practices that ultimately are economic. All of those things are in scope.
So, have some careful consideration about how you can think about your application in an economic framework. And when I say have, you know, be careful about it, is if you've only done it on the surface, written your application how you want it, and then, oh, how to make this economic, and then go on and try to change it post hoc, it really comes through. It comes through that, it's kind of come through as a veneer. And so, make sure that you give some good thought to how you would frame this in that particular way, and that'll put you in great stead.
All right, so that's the end of the laundry list. Some of this laundry list stuff, including economic framing will be with Moko Kauri, Maikio and her team, and they'll be able to help as well. Now, they can't frame it for you and they can't write the applications for you, that's for you to do, it's your capability to build, but they can be there to help, sort of guide you and give you some advice.
So, ka pai.
He Ara Whakahihiko Fund 2027 webinar presentation slides [PDF 1.2MB]