The University of Otago and Dunedin will benefit
significantly from a $326 million boost for science,
innovation and research announced in the Budget, university
sciences pro-chancellor Prof Keith Hunter says.
The accounts of medical diagnostic company Pacific Edge
remain in the red but chairman Chris Swann said it was on the
verge of a commercial breakthrough.
Two United States-based theme leaders at the Dunedin
Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit have
won a $1.3 million international prize, further boosting the
unit's overseas reputation.
A Dunedin environmental scientist and two colleagues have won
a top international science prize for developing a simple
test which measures arsenic levels in drinking water.
Some of the phrases from the distant past were stirred in
memories by the Government's announcement of extra funding
for science and technology research.
New Zealand businesses and the Government have under-invested
in research and development and need to change the trend now,
the Prime Minister's chief science adviser, Sir Peter
Gluckman, says.
