Industrial Research Limited (IRL) was a
Crown Research Institute
In New Zealand, Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are corporatised Crown entities charged with conducting scientific research.
Crown Research Institutes date from 1992, with most formed out of parts of the former Department of Scientific and Indus ...
of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
that was established in 1992 and merged into
Callaghan Innovation
Callaghan Innovation, a Crown entity of New Zealand, has the task of making New Zealand business more innovative. It was established in February 2013 and Industrial Research Limited, a Crown Research Institute, was merged into it. The institute t ...
, a new
Crown entity
A Crown entity (from the Commonwealth term ''Crown'') is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's state sector established under the Crown Entities Act 2004, a unique umbrella governance and accountability statute. The Crown Entities Act i ...
, on 1 February 2013. IRL provided research, development and commercialisation services aimed at fostering industry development, economic growth and business expansion. It was established when the
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development.
* Department of Scientific and Industria ...
was disbanded and its staff and assets redistributed to form the research institutes in 1992.
Like many New Zealand entities, its logo incorporated a
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
identity, in this case ''"Te Tauihu Pūtaiao"'', where ''Te Tauihu'' is the prow or leading edge of a waka (
Māori war canoe) and ''Pūtaiao'' means science. The phrase is a metaphor for the way science and technology can open up new opportunities for New Zealand businesses.
IRL was based at
Gracefield in
Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area.
It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...
, and had offices in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
and
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
.
After 10 years of operation, IRL commissioned a book, ''The Littlest Clue'',
[Parker, Selwyn. ''The Littlest Clue: The Resurgence of New Zealand Science and Technology'', Industrial Research Limited, 2002. ] which followed the history of several scientists and their projects as they took their ideas from the lab to the market place.
In 2009, IRL ran a competition ''What's Your Problem New Zealand?'' to win up to $1 million of research and development services, receiving over 100 entries.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Crown Research Institutes of New Zealand
1992 establishments in New Zealand
2013 disestablishments in New Zealand