New funding strengthens research collaboration with Japan
Tuesday 27 September 2011, 1:08PM
By Wayne Mapp
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Two research projects awarded a total of $1 million in funding will strengthen collaborative research relationships between New Zealand and Japan, Science and Innovation Minister Wayne Mapp announced today.
“These research projects have strong commercial potential, including through the Japanese market, and so have the potential to benefit our economy,” said Dr Mapp.
“The Government is committed to building and strengthening research relationships with other countries that will achieve world-class scientific results and lead to new innovative technologies.”
The two projects awarded funding under Ministry of Science and Innovation’s Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) funding round focus on functional foods.
One project will be led in New Zealand by Massey University and will use the combined science of New Zealand and Japanese researchers in collaboration with selected New Zealand food companies to create and develop a functional food with specific health enhancing effects for menopausal New Zealand women.
The other project will be led in New Zealand by Plant & Food Research. The collaborative research team will develop a ‘metabolic atlas’ of the chemical composition of allium vegetables (e.g. onions and garlic) using mass spectrometry methods. These methods will then be made available to the horticultural industry to develop and market new food products with health benefits.
The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) funding round is administered by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MSI) as part of MSI’s Bilateral Partnerships Strategy. MSI and Japan each fund half the cost of each research project awarded funding; MSI’s total contribution is $500,000.