Many employers have been concerned about the disestablishment of Callaghan Innovation, and asking us for what we know about the fate of the Business R&D Grants, specifically the Student Experience Grant.

Good news! The Cabinet Paper says that R&D grants (including the R&D Experience Grant) will be delivered by MBIE, and our understanding is that applications will open as usual in July 2025.

MBIE has a web page with more information about the science sector reforms, here. You can subscribe for updates about the reform process and progress. It’s at the bottom of this page.

There are some more detailed notes about the knowable things from MBIE’s perspective discussed at the 11 February GEN NZ Ecosystem Zoom call, Dave Moskovitz shared them on LinkedIn here. There’s obviously a lot more detail to be worked out.

We’ll be letting registered Summer of Tech employers know when we have more details about the timeline and process, but in the meantime, encourage you to assume “business as usual” and start thinking about potential projects for summer interns!

We know that hundreds of Summer of Tech employers have found these grants essential in supporting intern projects, and the outcomes for students, businesses and innovation in Aotearoa have been huge. We’re hoping the individuals who have supported this mahi are doing ok during the changes, and that we’ll continue to enable more paid internships to be undertaken with grant funding to offset some of the risk.