Science for Life: An Evaluation of New Zealand’s Health Research Investment System based on International Benchmarks

Science for Life: An Evaluation of New Zealand’s H…
01 Jan 2004
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The New Zealand Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) is committed to the evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of its contributions to the New Zealand research system. As part of this commitment MoRST has commissioned an evaluation of the Health Research Output Class, which is invested by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC). The evaluation, reported here, relates to the appropriateness of the New Zealand Government’s strategic investment in and management of health research generally (in all its aspects).

The body of this report presents the findings of the AEGIS study. The objective of the evaluation was to contribute to a better understanding of the management of Health Research Output Class investments, and health research investment more broadly, in order to better inform future policy interventions. Analysis of the New Zealand system and international comparisons are used to identify areas in the current system where improvement can be usefully pursued. A benchmark of ‘appropriateness’ (both for level of investment and management models) is taken as ‘comparable OECD countries’. The main countries selected for international benchmarks are Australia, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States.

The report is organised in three parts:

Current status of and environment for health research investment in New Zealand: Chapters 1 and 2 provide an overview of the international environment for health research and the New Zealand health research policy and investment framework;

International benchmarks: Chapters 3 and 4 review the health research systems in six other OECD countries and analyse international levels of health research investment, while Chapter 6 discusses New Zealand’s specific commitment to developing Māori health research capability by comparison with health research programmes for aboriginal populations elsewhere; and

The future vision for health research investment: Chapters 5, 7 and 8 discuss a number of issues that flow from the local and international experience in planning and managing health research investments and present recommendations for consideration and action. The report concludes with an estimate of the cost implications arising from the recommendations and a possible implementation timeline.

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