Today in Auckland the US NZ Partnership Forum gathers for the sixth time. The event brings together a number of senior representatives from Government, business and academia from both New Zealand and the United States. Our American guests include Assistant Secretary of State Danny Russel and Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-Minnesota). Significant progress has been made since the first Partnership Forum was …

Pengxin International executive Terry Lee has confirmed the company will seek an extension to its funding lines for the Lochinver farm acquisition. The funding lines were due to expire today. But late yesterday the company had still not received any feedback from the Overseas Investment Office since Pengxin’s application went to Cabinet Ministers Paula Bennett and Louise Upston just before …

Research out today shows that while getting a government research and development grant almost doubles the likelihood a company will introduce a world-first innovation, there’s also evidence Kiwi firms are not good at commercialising their clever ideas. The government’s Business Growth Agenda targets increasing business expenditure on R&D, which is low by OECD standards, to 1 percent of gross domestic product by …