19 May 2015

Māori intelligence and innovation on point

“Bring on the smart Māori,” says Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox in response to Māori throughout New Zealand taking up support secured by the party to advance tāngata whenua innovation.

“Innovation is what’ll get our people jobs and it’s awesome to see so many Māori hopping on that waka, applying that same sort of brilliant thinking that got our ancestors across the largest ocean on earth,” says Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox.

The Māori Party has secured funding across a range of research and development areas, all with a view to helping Māori fulfil their aspirations and plan for the future.

“We have marae in Whangarei increasing the literacy of their people in digital technology. And we have another group up north developing broadcasting and livestreaming technology so their people have better access to language learning.

“In the South, we have Rangitāne iwi and Ngāti Apa looking at new ways to fish commercially so stocks, that are in a bad state now, are plentiful for future generations.

“In the Bay of Plenty, Tauranga Moana iwi are trying to find a better way to grow kiwifruit, so to add more value to and more demand for their product.

“And just recently we have secured a foreseeable future for some of the smartest and brightest Māori people in the country to do research that’ll benefit whānau, hapū and iwi.”

Māori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell said while many Māori groups are in the beginning stages of their innovation projects, “the initial results are encouraging.”

“This is only the beginning and I urge all our people who need help to advance their innovation efforts to keep or start tapping into the support we’ve secured for them.”

In last year’s Budget the Māori Party pushed the Government to invest funding to develop the science and innovation potential of Māori people, resources and knowledge. That resulted in a budget of $5 million over two years, known as Te Pūnaha Hihiko Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund and another budget of $20 million over four years to establish a dedicated a Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE). Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga were recently announced as the successful Māori CoRE.

Further to this the Māori Party secured $8 million last year over four years to support Māori economic development, in particular to support Māori innovation and investment readiness. 41 Maori collectives were recently announced as the successful recipients of Te Punaha Hiringa (Māori Innovation Fund). Some of the groups will partner up with commercial advisors that will mentor and support them to identify further development opportunities while others will access training in governance, management and other business skills.

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