Prime Minister John Key launched the Food Innovation New Zealand (FINZ) initiative in Palmerston North today - and a special beer was made for his visit.

FINZ, a collaboration between Massey University, AgResearch, Plant and Food Research, Fonterra, the Bio Commerce Centre and the Riddet Institute, was created to support the agri-food industry to perform better in domestic and international markets.

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Resene will be awarded up to $1 million in IRL R&D services to develop waterborne paints based on resins made from up to 80 per cent sustainable ingredients, breaking the long term reliance on gas and oil for high performance paints.

Resene Managing Director Nick Nightingale says “This competition presented an amazing opportunity for Resene to team its commercial experience with world leading science and revolutionise an industry. We’re committed to sustainable developments and we took a bold idea to the judges and showed them how it can be realised with IRL to ensure the financial benefits continue to flow to New Zealand.”

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The chance to fly a Kiwi-invented jetpack will be available in New Zealand early next year.

Almost a year to the day after it first got worldwide attention, the Martin Jetpack is back on show at the United States' annual EAA air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Christchurch's Martin Aircraft Company is also announcing plans to allow the public to try out a "low, slow" version.

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Media Release from NZ Association of Scientists

Science for New Zealand – let’s get science moving progressively and scientists better able to work for national good

Science should be a great career choice and scientists have much to contribute to New Zealand’s future prosperity – pity about the low morale, resulting from past promotion of aggressive competition between research providers, and the instability of scientist career structures! But the future looks brighter, with the National government offering potential leadership for science in the form of the position of Chief Science Advisor. Prof. Peter Gluckman’s new role (albeit only part-time) demonstrates that the government wants quality, evidence-based, scientific advice for its economic, social and environmental management of this country – not from a single individual but from Prof. Gluckman’s leadership position amongst the science community. At last there appears to be the long-requested point of engagement between New Zealand science and government decision-making, led by a highly respected and consultative science researcher.

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