Call for Proposals: Smart Ideas Investment Round – Endeavour Fund (New Zealand)

Funding Information

• The indicative total annual funding available is $17m (excluding GST). Each individual contract value is between $0.4m and $1m (excluding GST) for a term of 2 or 3 years.
• For the 2025 investment round, the Science Board will aim to fund at least 47 Smart Ideas proposals.

Eligibility Criteria

• For proposals to be eligible under the Endeavour Smart Ideas mechanism, they must:
  • be made by a New Zealand-based Research Organisation or a New Zealand-based legal entity representing a New Zealand-based Research Organisation
  • be designed so that the majority of the public benefits in new knowledge accrue outside of the Research Organisation or legal entity which represents the Research Organisation
  • not be made by a department of the public service as listed in Schedule 2 of the Public Service Act 2020
  • be made under an investment mechanism specified in the Schedules of the 2025 Gazette Notice
  • be for research, science or technology, or related activities, the majority of which are to be undertaken in New Zealand, unless the Science Board considers that there are compelling reasons to consider the proposals, despite the amount of research, science or technology or related activities being proposed to be undertaken overseas
  • not benefit a Russian state institution (including but not limited to support for Russian military or security activity) or an organisation outside government that may be perceived as contributing to the war effort
  • meet any applicable timing, formatting, system or other similar administrative requirements imposed by MBIE in supplying administrative services to the Science Board under section 10(7) of the RS&T Act 2010
  • advise that the proposed funding recipient will, and the Science Board is of the view that it can, adhere to the terms and conditions of funding set out in an investment contract determined by the Science Board
  • not be for activities already funded elsewhere.
• In addition to the above criteria, to be eligible:
  • research proposals can include some out-of-scope research outcomes (health, defence and expanding knowledge) and remain eligible, as long as the sum of these outcomes is 49% or less of the proposal’s outcomes.

Application Requirements

• The application and assessment process includes:
  • Registration – all applicants must register before they can submit a proposal.
  • Applicants submit a proposal.
  • Independent Assessors review and score the proposal against the Excellence and Impact assessment criteria.
  • The Science Board decides if the proposal is eligible.
  • Based on the Assessor reviews and scores, the Science Board makes its investment decisions and may use the portfolio approach described in the Endeavour Fund 2025 Gazette Notice.

For more information, visit Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.