MBIE projects

Explore Waikato's contributions to business and environmental research. Discover a range of MBIE-funded projects making a positive impact.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) funds mission-led research to address issues of economic, environmental and/or social importance to New Zealand.

MBIE contracts often involve end-users such as industry partners, government agencies and local authorities. Many projects support postgraduate students, providing invaluable experience for the students while increasing the pool of future research leaders.

Current major contracts with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Contract Name Duration Project Leader Contract Value
Restoring Urban Nature 2021-2026 Prof Bruce Clarkson $10,069,140
Quantifying past rainfall and climate extremes in New Zealand 2021-2024 A/Prof Adam Hartland $1,000,000
An ecosystem modelling platform to assist New Zealand lake management 2021-2024 A/Prof Deniz Ozkundakci $999,999
Ahuora: Delivering sustainable industry through smart process heat decarbonisation 2020-2027 Prof Michael Walmsley $12,499,224
Reducing flood inundation hazard and risk across Aotearoa New Zealand 2020-2025 Prof Iain White (Subcontract) $3,000,000
Amiomio Aotearoa – A circular economy for the wellbeing of New Zealand 2020-2025 Prof Kim Pickering $10,939,795
Working to End Racial Oppression 2020-2025 Dr Waikaremoana Waitoki $10,030,790
Tikanga in Technology: Indigenous approaches to transforming data ecosystems 2020-2024

A/Prof Māui Hudson

$6,007,259
Cyber Security Research Programme - Artificial intelligence for Human-Centric Security 2020-2023 Dr Vimal Kumar $2,050,669
Public Housing and Urban Regeneration 2020- 2023 Prof Mark Apperley (Subcontract)  $122,053
He Kainga Pai Rawa: Building Community Research Capacity for Housing 2020-2022 Prof John Oetzel $99,948
Time-Evolving Data Science / Artificial Intelligence for Advanced Open Environmental Science (TAIAO.ai) Data Science Platform 2019-2026 Prof Albert Bifet $13,000,000
Turning the tide on prison violence 2019-2024 Dr Armon Tamatea $3,916,045
Halving rural and Maori community wastewater treatment costs: Mainstreaming novel eco-cultural technologies 2019-2024 Dr Mark Lay (Subcontract) $500,000
A new method for measurements of muddy suspended sediments in aquatic environments 2019-2023 A/Prof Julia Mullarney $1,000,000
Evaluating earthquake risk using liquefied volcanic-ash layers in lakes 2019-2023 Prof David Lowe $1,000,000
User-friendly deep learning 2019-2022 Prof Geoffrey Holmes $1,000,000
Decision automation for orchards and vineyards 2018-2023 Prof Mike Duke (Subcontract) $3,076,372
Identifying solutions for using personal monitoring to support workers in hazardous industries 2018-2022 Dr Judith Bowen $999,993
Omnidirectional earthquake isolation system 2018-2022 Prof Sinniah Ilanko $993,612
Harnessing marine invasive allelochemistry to fast track bioactive applications 2018-2022 Prof Chris Battershill $999,993
New approaches to detect invasive fish 2018-2021 Dr Clare Browne $1,000,000
Eye on lakes: national monitoring of cyanobacterial blooms 2018-2021 Prof Ian Hawes $1,000,00
    Total (excl. GST) $84,304,892