A successful NERI'09 conference
The National Energy Research Institute’s second energy research conference, NERI09, was held on 16th April 2009. By all accounts, this was a successful day.
The day was framed by two outstanding keynote addresses which highlighted the substantial economic benefits New Zealand can realise through effective research, development and innovation. Dr Ray Thompson opened the conference outlining the story of Wellington Drive Technologies, a NZ-based company which, over the last 20 years, has developed and commercialised a world-leading brushless motor. This motor is now bringing substantial improvements in energy efficiencies in applications such as commercial refrigeration. Dr Thompson outlined frankly the challenges of commercialising basic research, but demonstrated the very real results that arise from perseverance and vision.
Prof Paul Callaghan concluded the conference by challenging the scientific community to realise their role in leading New Zealand toward higher prosperity. By drawing on real evidence of NZ’s science and technology strengths, and also its strengths as a modern society, Prof Callaghan highlighted a future path for New Zealand which would see it return to the top half of the OECD – not only through well targeted investment by businesses and government in R&D, but by supporting companies that are developing technologies which can be exported to the world.
Over the day, attendees heard presentations on research into the socioeconomic issues of residential heating, new technologies, legal frameworks for carbon capture and storage, and interim results from one of the biggest time-of-use electricity pricing trials in the world, being undertaken in New Zealand. Presentations from Transpower and the NZ Wind Energy Association highlighted the complexity of electricity provision in New Zealand, and a genuine desire to engage the research community in dealing with current and future challenges.
A vibrant panel discussion between senior researchers and industry representatives tackled the issue of improving connections between industry and the research community. The researchers outlined the difficulties they face in undertaking industry-relevant research, but expressed a strong desire to partner with industry despite the obstacles.
Prof Callaghan’s closing address was an appropriate way to end this excellent day – throwing down the gauntlet not only to government and business, but also to individuals in the research sector to step up to the important role they play in generating prosperity for our country.
In due course, NERI will be aiming to update our website to include presentation and video footage from the day. Subscribe to the RSS feed to find out when the new site addition is live.
