AI Summit: Accelerating AI research and innovation

Science, Innovation and Technology

Good morning, everyone

Thank you for your warm introduction. I would also like to extend my thanks to the AI Forum's Executive Council for their kind invitation to come and speak at today's Summit.

The theme for this year's Summit, "Putting Intelligence in Our Hands," reflects our deepening understanding of how AI as a technology can spark innovation, drive productivity, and unlock new opportunities across all sectors of our economy.

This theme is fully aligned with the Government's priorities and reflects the intent behind New Zealand's inaugural AI Strategy, which I launched in July.

We want to raise awareness of AI's potential to boost business performance and create high-value jobs, and to empower more New Zealanders to adopt and leverage AI as a catalyst for sustainable growth, national competitiveness, and long-term prosperity.

AI is a digital evolution and an important element of this Government's wider Going for Growth approach to turbo-charge the New Zealand economy.

As our economy evolves, we recognise that future value creation will be driven by knowledge-intensive industries, and that technology and innovation will play a crucial role in building a more prosperous nation.

This is why we made innovation, technology, and science one of the pillars of Going for Growth, with a raft of initiatives under it to support our researchers, innovators, and businesses to produce real value for New Zealanders.

Technology-driven innovation enhances efficiency, lowers costs, and unlocks new avenues for sustainable growth.

As global markets shift and competition intensifies, our ability to lift productivity, grow exports, and achieve long-term economic sustainability depends on accelerating the adoption and effective use of advanced technologies - particularly AI.

The risk of doing nothing is simply too great, and the choice is stark.

Act now and develop a competitive advantage, or risk falling further behind.

There are generally three parts to a major policy setting, the people, the parts and the policy. I will start with the policy first.

The first national AI Strategy that I announced earlier this year outlined the broad approach the Government will take. It was never an investment plan or a business case, but rather describing the regulatory settings as light touch, risk proportionate, industry-led and grounded in the five OECD principles.

New Zealand's AI Strategy signals a commitment to harnessing AI's opportunities through a balanced, agile, and internationally informed regulatory approach. The Strategy supports using our existing legislation-such as privacy, consumer protection, and competition laws-to provide clarity and confidence for businesses and the public as AI technologies evolve.

Rather than imposing speculative restrictions that could stifle innovation, the New Zealand Strategy focuses on enabling responsible AI use. Recent activities demonstrate how the government will continue to update existing regulations to make sure they are fit for purpose.

These include the Privacy Commissioner's Biometric Privacy Code 2025, which ensures safe application of biometric technologies, and clarifying that existing prohibitions under the Commerce Act apply to businesses using AI for pricing, holding firms accountable for algorithmic behaviour.

Of course, AI is a global technology, requiring global solutions.

That means we will continue to work with our international partners on global norms on AI, which is why we are a signatory to the OECD AI Principles, and the Bletchley, Seoul and Paris Statements and Declarations.

International alignment on key AI policies is also important for trade.

Greater trans-Tasman alignment is a priority of both current Australian and New Zealand governments. As part of this, Standards New Zealand, established a committee of subject matter experts from both private and public sectors to review 47 international standards relating to AI, Cyber Security and Risk, Biometrics, and Cloud Computing that have now been adopted.

I would like to commend the work of the AI Forum Executive Council and others, who have contributed to this harmonisation work.

Trust is a core objective: research shows New Zealanders are wary of AI, so the National AI Strategy and Responsible AI Guidance for Business documents aim to foster responsible practice and public confidence. I am mindful of the importance of social licence and as organisations demonstrate the benefits of AI, broader social acceptance is expected to grow.

I want to further acknowledge the work of the AI Forum, and the organisations represented here today, in leading the way - giving New Zealanders more opportunities to engage with AI, experience its benefits firsthand, and develop a clearer understanding of what responsible AI looks like.

Beside the policy settings we also need the physical infrastructure to support uptake of AI.

We rank highly in some international AI indices for our digital connectivity which is critical. We currently have 56 data centres in New Zealand with as many as 20 more planned.

We can look at other Asia-Pacific jurisdictions for how our data centre infrastructure compares across 4 domains of political stability, temperature (noting cooler climates being more suitable for cooling data centres), renewable energy and business electricity cost.

Across these four areas we are top or close to the top for political stability, temperature and renewable energy, and in the bottom half for electricity cost.

Maintaining New Zealand's competitive advantage in renewable energy is important. I recently announced a $10 million science project to explore the science of supercritical energy in the Taupo Volcanic Zone with a grant from the Endeavour Fund. This is alongside $60 million from Minister Jones and the Regional Investment Fund.

A few weeks ago, I enabled one of the fastest supercomputers in the Southern Hemisphere, a $20 million supercomputer, hosted by Earth Sciences New Zealand to service weather and the science sector. The specifications for this supercomputer also take into account AI functionality.

I have covered the policy and the infrastructure parts, which leads into the most important component - the people.

Through Budget 2025, as the Minister for Universities, I announced a $64 million increase in funding specifically for STEM subjects - a clear signal the Government wants universities to strengthen and expand their STEM courses. The Minister of Education has announced a similar change to the primary and high school curriculum to strengthen STEM subjects and explore courses specifically in AI.

We must build a workforce that's skilled in the use and development of AI, and this Government is focused on forging the education pathways to do that.

These efforts are of course in addition to industries providing training and looking at how they can upskill staff to adopt AI, and I want to thank you for your endeavours.

New Zealand has a developing expertise in AI R&D, and we are committed to making the most of this by actively investing in AI, and positioning science to play a central role in future innovation and national prosperity.

As part of the science system reforms, we are establishing a new public research organisation: the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology.

As the name suggests, the Institute will focus on frontier technologies - such as AI, quantum, and synthetic biology, with a central hub which funds a series of research platforms. It will play a critical role in driving world-leading technology research with strong industry relevance and economic potential, to help lift New Zealand's economic growth and productivity.

The Advanced Technology hub will be headquartered in Auckland. I announced the Institute's first platform earlier in the year, which is a $71 million investment over seven years, hosted by the Robinson Research Institute. This funding will build on the Institute's world-leading expertise in cryogenic superconductors, magnetics, and advanced materials, positioning New Zealand at the forefront of global innovation.

Effectively the Institute's research platforms are centres of excellence with a focus on advanced and emerging technologies.

I am delighted then to announce today that I have accepted advice from the Prime Minister's Science Innovation and Technology Advisory Council, including from our newest member Grant Wright the Group Executive of Artificial Intelligence at SEEK, and that the second investment from the Institute of Advanced Technology, will be a platform in artificial intelligence.

With the funding reprioritised from Callaghan Innovation and contestable funds to form the Institute of Advanced Technology, the Government will be more than doubling its contestable AI R&D funding, by dedicating up to $70 million to AI over 7 years, through the Institute for Advanced Technology, with the specific objective to strengthen New Zealand's research capability and commercialisation in AI to build enduring competitive advantage.

Implementation will be a two-phase process to identify the investment, where a handful of ambitious consortia will receive seed funding, and then the second phase where the platform is finalised.

This funding sits alongside $49 million over 7-years of current science funding in AI through the Strategic Science Investment Fund, Data Science Platform, including:

• $13 million to support artificial intelligence for advanced open environmental science.
• $16 million in a data science driven evolution of aquaculture for building the blue economy, with fundamental research in data science and AI.
• $10 million for explanatory and transparent data science to improve conducting and reporting research, such as developing digital twins and the relationship between genomics and disease.

One of the 5 OECD AI principles that we have signed up to includes international collaboration. This collaboration currently involves:

• $12 million in AI in health with Singapore.
• $6 million across multiple countries, again AI for health.
• $1 million with Canada around AI abundance intelligence.

I am also pleased to announce another international collaboration between the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and the Oden Institute at the University of Texas, developing virtual models of the human body using AI.

Many, if not all, of the 19 projects recently awarded part of the $183 million Endeavour Fund, described the use of AI.

In announcing this new $70 million AI platform, direct Government funding in AI is now well over $100 million which as a proportion of Government funded R&D is over 10%.

I have seen reports from other advanced economies with similar levels of AI Investment. For context, the United States recently announced $100 million of funding that they have made available to 5 AI Centres of Excellence.

A final metric assessing the current AI R&D environment in New Zealand derives from analysis of the Research and Development Tax Incentive, for AI related industry-led research expenditure. I am informed that for the tax year 2025, AI related R&D expenditure is up 37% at $228 million.

Further details on the $70 million AI platform will follow shortly but let me issue a challenge now: as a sector how might we forge a strategic partnership between research and industry to conduct world-leading AI research and in an area where New Zealand holds a competitive advantage? Would such an investment be weighted towards foundational or applied technologies? Would we seek to leverage our existing science strengths in primary industries or carve more new ground in say pharmaceuticals?

Officials tell me that the United States National Science Fund are interested in collaborating in AI applications where they perceive New Zealand has particular strengths which they identify as biotechnologies and geosciences.

Overall then this new platform is your opportunity to push boundaries and help New Zealand realise its advanced tech AI potential, by helping to create novel intellectual property and capabilities that translates into frontier businesses, drive better integration into global value chains, and achieve stronger economic performance.

Together, the AI Strategy, the Guidance, and the Advanced Technology Institute represent a forward-looking vision. They reflect our belief that science, innovation, and technology are not optional extras.

They are essential tools for solving our biggest challenges, seizing our greatest opportunities, and enabling economic growth.

In closing, I have described the future AI landscape in terms of the people or human capital, the parts or infrastructure, and the policy settings, including doubling current contestable funding in AI with a new $70 million AI investment platform.

Our collective task is to both increase and support the safe and responsible citizen use of AI, while at the same time developing domain specific AI expertise that we can lead the world on, and that supports economic growth.

I look forward to working with you on this.

Thank you again for the invitation.

Kia ora mai tātou.