Rosa Studholme writes in the Oamaru Mail about a local scientist who feels Prime Minister John Key’s research, science and technology budget should have had a larger proportion of funding going directly to scientists, not business.
He says that many of the country’s scientists are operating on a shoe string, and could boost the technology sector if given more money to buy more equipment.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“Oamaru scientist Zim Sherman, who owns manufacturing company Scienterra, said he was in two minds about the announcement.
“Mr Sherman, who formerly worked for United States government department the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration where he built and designed instrumentation, started the Oamaru-based company with his wife Gail three years ago.
…
“”Out of $321 million, only one-fifth will go towards science…the rest goes to entrepreneurs, businesses, and commercialisation.
“”In my opinion, this is upside-down. The whole point of a technology business is to produce a product and sell it at a profit. Why should it get tax dollars to do that?”