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 |