It would be a shame if lack of financial imagination on the part of the New Zealand government were to undermine the bold experiment in science funding that has been under way since the early 1990s. The exercise, whatever its successes, has been painful for many of those involved. Signs that government enthusiasm may be waning for the measures needed to take full advantage of the changes will do little to raise morale in the research community (see page 426).

The essence of the experiment involved severing the close links between the government and the research activities for which it had previously been directly responsible. This was achieved by placing the relationship on a ‘purchaser/provider’ basis, and included breaking up the former Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The strategy has not been without its successes. Several of the autonomous ‘Crown research institutes’ that now act as the principal ‘providers’ of government-funded research have achieved healthy surpluses on research contracts negotiated with both government departments and private industry. And the Marsden Fund, set up in 1994 to provide competitive, non-targeted grants, has done much to demonstrate that the country remains committed to some basic research.

But major problems remain. Some are a by-product of the new approach; an increasing reliance on short-term contracts has dented the attractiveness of science as a stable career. Others remain from before. So far, for example, the country's predominantly resource-based industries have shown little enthusiasm for increasing their investment in research. The challenge facing the New Zealand government is how to reap the benefits of the changes without destroying the future strength of its research base through excessive faith in either the effectiveness of market mechanisms or the political appeal of welfare spending. A new burst of imagination is called for; the country — and its researchers — deserve no less.