New Zealand has launched a science partnership with a leading UAE university aimed at enhancing the country’s advanced engineering and modelling capabilities. Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti said the collaboration will create high-value jobs, encourage economic growth, and improve climate risk management. By combining New Zealand’s research expertise with the UAE’s strengths in engineering and autonomous technologies, the partnership seeks to develop new tools to understand and predict the impacts of Antarctic climate change on weather, oceans, and coastal communities.
The collaboration will support New Zealand’s Antarctic research goals while strengthening its capabilities in advanced engineering and autonomous systems, technologies that have applications across marine industries, environmental monitoring, and aerospace. It is expected to provide better insights for businesses and decision-makers, enabling smarter planning and resilience strategies. The systems developed, from high-resolution climate models to long-range autonomous underwater vehicles, are projected to generate new commercial opportunities and strengthen national technological capability.
Initially, the partnership will back two Antarctic Science Platform projects focused on improving sea-ice forecasting and deploying advanced autonomous systems to study ice shelf melt and ocean circulation. New Zealand will invest $1 million in these projects under a Memorandum of Arrangement with Khalifa University and Antarctica New Zealand. Research teams will be selected through a targeted contestable process emphasizing scientific excellence and the potential to build capability for both countries.
The first project aims to improve forecasting tools by integrating high-resolution modelling with new observational techniques, enhancing understanding of how storm dynamics affect sea-ice formation. The second project involves developing long-range autonomous underwater vehicles and other remote technologies to measure heat content and water mass exchange on Antarctic ice shelves, expanding New Zealand’s expertise in remote sensing while filling critical data gaps.
This partnership complements the Government’s broader investment of $49 million over seven years in the Antarctic Science Platform, announced in May 2025, and aligns with international collaborations with countries including Japan, Singapore, Australia, and the United States across advanced materials, space science, health technologies, and climate research through the MBIE-administered Catalyst Fund. It represents a strategic effort to drive long-term economic growth through innovation and global scientific cooperation.
