Bring smart, enthusiastic and fresh thinking into your R&D activities with support provided by tertiary students in their summer break.
Applications expected to open in August 2022
Applications and the waitlist are now closed for 2021/22 R&D Experience Grants as current applications have reached this year's total funding limit. We expect the next round of Experience grants to be available from August 2022.
About R&D Experience Grants
How can the grant help me?
Fresh talent can help you supercharge your Research & Development (R&D) projects. Through R&D Experience Grants, Callaghan Innovation funds tertiary-level students with relevant skills into real world R&D work experience.
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 $8,840 (plus GST) for 400 hours of full-time work upon proof of your payment to the student. Public holidays and statutory holidays are included within this funding.
Who can apply?
For businesses
To apply for an R&D Experience Grant, your business must be an eligible business entity:
- Incorporated in New Zealand and 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.
Businesses can apply for a maximum of 10 students. Please see our guide for student/R&D personnel ratio: 
Experience Grants - Number of Grants per Business Guide
The student must be employed by the business and payslips will be required at claiming. Businesses must pay interns a minimum of $22.10 an hour.
Public holidays and statutory holidays are supported within the funding.
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 12 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?
Applications and the waitlist are now closed for 2021/22 R&D Experience Grants as current applications have reached this year's total funding limit. Applications for 2022/2023 are expected to open in August 2022.
For Business
Talk to us and we’ll help you through the process. Phone Callaghan Innovation on 0800 4 CALLAGHAN (0800 422 552).
Please also see the R&D Experience Grant guides below.
For Students
Students apply directly to businesses. Businesses will begin advertising their R&D Experience Grant internships at a date yet to be determined. Students may find internships through:
- University jobs boards
- Summer of Tech is an IT internship programme
- MyWIL - Work-Integrated Learning at Waikato
- AUT interNZ
- University of Auckland's MyCDES Job board
- Industry Ready (Engineering)
- 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 an IT internship programme
- Industry Ready helps companies find the best skilled engineering students
- NZUniCareerHub or at info@nzunicareerhub.ac.nz
- The University of Waikato: Work-Integrated Learning
- 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.
R&D Experience Grant guides
Experience Grant - Application Guidelines and Template
Experience Grant - Funding Agreement Example
Experience Grant - Number of Student Grants per Business
Experience Grant – Student Eligibility Requirements Guidelines
Experience Grant - Post Approval Checklist
Experience Grant - Information for Students
Is there a limit to the grants funding?
R&D Experience Grants have been one of our most successful and popular initiatives. However, there is a limit on the total amount of funding available for these grants and a waitlist is now in place. See above for more information.
Further information
Answers to frequently asked questions about Experience Grants can be found at Student Grant FAQs.
For more information, contact your Callaghan Innovation manager or Regional Business Partner. If you do not have a Callaghan Innovation manager, phone 0800 422 552 or email info@callaghaninnovation.govt.nz.
Updated: 8 April 2022