A message to the Māori research community

A message to the Māori research community about SfTI’s 2020 Vision Māutauranga projects from Associate Professor Te Taka Keegan, Kaihautū – Kāhui Māori, Science for Technological Innovation (SfTI) 

24 June 2020

Tēnā tātou e te iwi e ngākaunui ana ki te mahi rangahau,

As the Kaihautū of SfTI’s Kāhui Māori, it is really heartening to see the passion in the discussion regarding the announcement of the Vision Mātauranga (VM) seed projects that were recently funded. It highlights the interest and importance that the technology sector has for Māori, it is certainly a passion shared by the Kāhui Māori of SfTI.

The process that SfTI uses to decide on which Seed projects to fund is stringent. Applications must have a high degree of innovative science, be high risk, and have the potential to be high impact. For a project to be considered in the VM pool these criteria must still be met but the high impact must be for Māori. We then further consider these VM applications against seven criteria, we examine the proposals to determine if the research:

• Incorporates Māori principles or practices
• Applies Māori knowledge of history or resources
• Extends Māori knowledge
• Has Māori participation in conception or development of the research
• Involves Māori in research execution
• Increases Māori capacity
• Provides High Impact for Māori/High Priority for Māori

All applications were reviewed for VM by a team of highly competent Māori Science experts. This group has considerable experience not just in the technology sector, but also Te Ao Māori, and Māori communities. I am subsequently very confident that the VM proposals that were selected were the ones that met the highest of standards against the above criteria.

I do want to acknowledge that the publicity released about the selection of seed projects has not done justice to the Māori involvement in the VM seeds that were selected. We will work harder in the future to highlight that involvement.

A primary goal of the Kāhui Māori of SfTI is to enable the growing of Māori capacity in technology, and the capacity of the technology system to deliver for Māori. We feel we have made some important strides in some of our mission-lead spearheads, Māori-led spearheads and previously funded VM seed projects. We encourage all Māori who are interested in technology research for Māori to apply for future rounds of funding.

Tēnā, kua takoto te manuka, mā koutou e hiki ake, ake, ake, ake atu!

Nāku iti noa, nā

Te Taka Keegan,

Kaihautū – Kāhui Māori, SfTI