Call for proposal important changes/adaptions

Registration/General

Words in images: barest minimum, explanatory only and not introduce new information (page 11 and all sections which allow images), this includes words in a table.

This is a better definition than in the previous years and the philosophy I applied since I read this the first time. Essentially, MBEI doesn’t want people to cheat the word limit by including tables, speech bubbles, boxes etc. as images, especially when it is information, which is not described in the main text.

Title can be changed after registration (page 12)

Nice, sometimes while writing the focus sharpens and you want to adjust the title. However, if you entirely change the title it signals to me that it was not well thought trough. I doubt that a good MBIE proposal can come together between the registration and March if the basics are not right.  Take your time to do this right the first time

Investment signals – may instead of are (page 13)

Not sure what that means. We will see at the roadshow.

Eligibility criteria changed as already outlined in the Gazette (page 15)

No Russian state institution/organisation contributing to war, no activities already funded

Smart Ideas Concept

Executive summary mentions explicitly team (page 18)

It was kind of clear it should be always included, so probably just a clean-up by MBIE.

Science Excellence change in specific words and structure (page 19)

Still, the same philosophy applies, but to my interpretation that MBIE tries to help the applicants to better structure the section.

Team (Excellence) sharpened using specific words, shorter bullet point list than last year (page 19)

More concrete examples from MBIE for Māori involvement and team risks. “Partnerships/Collaborations” bullet point out.

Benefit to NZ shorter bullet point list and more specific words than last year (page 19)

Missing bullet points from last year: “How a proposal responds to Investments signals” and “Assumption for Benefits” out.  That makes sense given 280 words and comes back in the full proposal.

Narrative style CVs Template (page 20)

More to come in the Roadshow but it looks and reads like this will help to better accommodate team members with a less academic background, good move by MBIE.

Full proposal (Smart Idea and Research Programme)

Eligibility criteria, Investment signals, Executive, new CV style similar changes as in Smart Idea concept

New sections: Science Risk (page 27), Team Risk (page 27), Benefits to NZ Risk (page 30), Implementation Pathway Risk (page 30)

All will give you an additional 280 words. Read by yourself. This makes all sense to me. Benefits risk section is really about assumptions/evidence for the benefit claims. I am glad that MBIE kept that and put it a bit more prominent.

Science, Team, Benefits, Implementation Pathway – Changes in specific words and structure, longer bullet point list than Concept and slightly different bullet point list than last year (Page 27-32)

Benefits: More bullet points than in the concept but leaning towards investment signals, “Base for the assumptions” is out but now folded in its own category “Benefits to NZ risk”. Research programmes definition of Transform benefits sharpened towards “radical change”.

Team/Science: collaborations/partnership bullet point moves from Team to Science section.

Research Plan – new bullet point (page 33)

New bullet point “Approximate allocation of resources across all research aims.”

Project Budget– more explanations (page 34/35)

Better definition of the different budget items and emphasizing proper allocation of resources for Māori.

Assessment guidelines

Assessment will be passed on the applicants (Page 6/7/10)

Seems that applicants get specific feedback on strengths and weaknesses and not just the summary which is originally intended for the Science board as now. Hopefully, we still get the summary for the Science board too. We will see, any feedback is valuable see here: Article

Much better guidance for Vison Matauranga assessment – read it (page 11)

Specific Points to note “Excellence” – minor word changes (page 12/13)

“Minor impact” changed to “Incremental advance” in Novelty. Shorter paragraph about residual risk assessment.

Science/Team Grid– added bullet point in Science Grid (page 14)

Says now “For example” above all bullet points. Different order and some changed words in the bullet point list. In the Science grid, a bullet point was added asking how well the risk is managed. This makes sense given the additional risk sections.

Specific Points to note for Impact – added bullet point (page 16/17)

Alignment with area of future value, growth or critical need added. Some words changed: “investment, knowledge uptake” instead of “leveraging”.

Transform: “indicative pathway out” “Immediate impact” and “Ultimate impact” changed to “Outcome” and “Impact”

Protect and add value – Benefit/Implementation grid – bullet point out (page 19-22)  

Different order and some changed words in the bullet point list. Bullet point in Benefits grid “Additional value for NZ” out. Implementation pathway grid empathizes credibility.

Transform – Benefit /Implementation grid – bullet point out (page 23-24)

Different order and some changed words in the bullet point list. Bullet point in Benefits grid “Change in status quo” out. Implementation pathway grid empathizes credibility.