“Budget 2026 pushes the science system into a quiet purgatory, with zero announcements from the Minister’s office since 1 April,” laments New Zealand Association of Scientists (NZAS) Co-President Troy Baisden. “The only real story for science is the long-running decline in the foundations of our research and tertiary education system.”

“Despite repeated warnings, every year for decades governments have invested less and less in our science system and therefore our future. In this Budget, the two key measures of research and tertiary education as a proportion of GDP continue to decline. It has already undermined our economy, most notably the skills and innovation that lift productivity - at a time when we desperately need new sources of economic growth.”

“Foundational public investment in research must be at least 0.6% of GDP to provide agile support for business and government as opportunities and shocks arrive on our doorstep. It provides the foundation upon which businesses and government can quickly and efficiently fund the outcomes they need. Currently we are trending towards 0.3% of GDP, half the needed level.”

“The silence on science and research in Budget 2026 suggests that what have been claimed as the biggest reforms to the system in a generation are failing. There are no new initiatives or announcements in this Budget which might give researchers confidence that they can fund a good future in New Zealand, compared to almost any other nation. Furthermore, new funding structures in this year’s Budget lack adequate explanation.” 

Co-President Lucy Stewart notes, “The only winner this year has been the newly-founded New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology (NZIAT), receiving $39.7m, but with changing ideas since it was announced, we will have to see what this actually supports.”    

This amount demonstrates the swings and roundabouts within NZIAT, which was announced as a future Public Research Organisation in January 2025 and has now seemingly been downgraded to a funding provider. It is notable that its purpose is 'to undertake research on advanced technology priorities and provide innovation and science services', not very different to the purposes of Callaghan Innovation, which is still undergoing disestablishment to the tune of a further $28 million of funding in 2026/7, even though its initial closure date of 30 June 2026 is rapidly approaching.

“It is evident that support for most researchers in PROs and universities has already been cut to the bone, while trying to match future funding to opportunities and work that needs to get done is becoming harder and harder.”

Baisden concludes, “Scientists will make the most of whatever funding and stability they can find. But the structure of science funding has indeed been completely revised, and after crunching all the new codes, the overall downward trajectory remains. Worse, uncertainty seems to have returned in terms of whether budget allocations are even going to be spent, as some funding mechanisms are yet to be designed. This is completely counter to the advice provided by the government’s own Science System Advisory Group, which appears to have been received and almost as quickly discarded.”

“Our economy and productivity continues to lag because our past investment in research and tertiary education has been too low. The best way to fix our future is to reverse that.”

See our Releases page for a PDF version of this release.

About the charts:

We track the lines that indicate whether budgets were spent as projected. The budget announced for each year is the “Main Estimate”, the year nearly finished on Budget Day is “Estimated Actual” and previous years have “Actuals.” Some funding, including multi-year appropriations has suffered from never spending the allocated funding.^[1]

GDP is derived from the RBNZ’s Expenditure Based series compiled in June years using seasonally adjusted data.

Our Foundational Investment in Public Research is meant to track budget lines, identified by App IDs, that correspond to recommendation of the SSAG that this measure should comprise approximately 0.6% of GDP. It includes contestable and strategic funding to PROs and NZIAT, and bridging funding to business (such as via Callaghan Innovation) but not Business R&D, Gaming and Digital.^[2]

^[1] See for example, https://theconversation.com/how-new-zealands-well-being-budget-delivers-for-the-environment-118109

^[2] AppIDs included from 2017 are 10105, 10111, 11907, 10660, 11826, 11828, 11827, 14122, 9652, 12065, 11859, 11858, 13062, 12857, 13167, 11820, 11824, 748, 745, 12500, 10991, 11823, 11929, 11815, 11814, 13092, 11810, 11809, 11811, 11812, 13268, 13690, 12303, 13505, 14078, 10825, 14201, 13650, 13651, 13652, 13738, 14054, 13509, 13794, 14195, 14244, 14245, 14246, 14340, 14341, 14342, 14343, 14346, 14347, 14348, 14349, 14350, 13756, 13757, 14351, 14123