R&D Experience Grants

Bring smart, enthusiastic and fresh thinking into your R&D activities with support provided by tertiary students in their summer break.

2019/2020 business applications for R&D Experience Grant open on 1 May. Student eligibility criteria has changed, see ‘Who can apply?’ below for more information.

How can the grant help me?

The R&D Experience Grant is an internship designed as full-time work experience during the student summer break.

The student is expected to help you with an R&D project or activity.

How does it work?

Your business will receive funding of $8,460 (plus GST) for 400 hours of full-time work upon proof of your payment to the student.

Who can apply?

For businesses

To apply for an R&D Experience Grant, your business must be one of the following:

Registered under the Companies Act.
Registered under the Limited Partnerships Act.
A Māori incorporation or trust established under the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act, a trust set up to manage assets as part of a Treaty of Waitangi settlement, a Māori statutory body, or a business controlled by one or more of these entities.

To qualify, your business must also:

Have an active R&D programme i.e. a R&D budget and R&D staff
Meet financial due diligence requirements.

For students

To be eligible for an R&D Experience Grant internship, students must:

Be studying, or have recently completed, an undergraduate or postgraduate degree or qualification at NZQA level 7-10. If study has been completed, the closing date of your final semester should be less than 6 months ago.
Be studying science, technology, engineering, design or business at a New Zealand tertiary education institute.
Be legally permitted to work in New Zealand.
Not have been previously employed at the business unless part-time or temporary.
Not have undertaken more than two Experience Grant internships with the same business.

How do I apply?

For Business

Applications are open from 1 May to 31 August. Talk to us and we’ll help you through the process. Phone Callaghan Innovation on 0800 4 CALLAGHAN (0800 422 552).

Please see the guidance material below.

For Students

Students apply directly to businesses. Businesses will begin advertising their R&D Experience Grant internships from May. Students may find internships through:

University Career Hub
The University of Waikato Cooperative Education Unit
AUT interNZ
University of Auckland's MyCDES Job board
Summer of Tech
Job advertising sites such as Student Job Search, Seek and Trade Me
Tertiary institution research and enterprise offices
Encouraging businesses that you want to work for to apply for a grant
Searching our Grants Recipient tool to find businesses approved for grants this year.

How do I find a student?

Businesses that have been approved for an R&D Experience Grant will need to recruit eligible students. The organisations below can assist you with finding the right student for your R&D project.

Summer of Tech is the premier IT internship programme for New Zealand. Callaghan Innovation R&D Experience Grant customers qualify for a discount on this service with free registration for 2019.
NZUniCareerHub or at info@nzunicareerhub.ac.nz
The University of Waikato Cooperative Education Unit
AUT interNZ
University of Auckland's MyCDES Job board
Job advertising sites such as Student Job Search, Seek and Trade Me 
Tertiary institution research and enterprise offices.

For more detail about these organisations, see our guide 'Experience Grant -  Where to find a student' below.