The establishment of the Advanced Technology Institute addresses a significant need for business, says BusinessNZ.

Chief Executive Phil O'Reilly says innovation is now essential for business success, and the ATI's focus - on getting new ideas to market faster - is highly appropriate.

"Bringing business and science closer together and supporting business-led growth in new technologies will be crucial for New Zealand's business competitiveness," Mr O'Reilly said.

"ATI will bring a new way of operating in the science-business area, with much potential for economic growth, and New Zealand business will have much to gain from partnering with the new institution.

"There will be many ways that ATI will be able to work with business - helping build science-business consortiums to develop new products, organising secondments between universities and business, administering R&D grants and more.

"It will be important to focus on achieving more rapid commercialisation of world-class new ideas. It will be important that ATI acts in a highly cooperative fashion with universities, polytechs, CRIs, private research establishments and the business community. And it will be important to focus on achieving the greatest possible flow of information and involvement between science and business.

"The establishment of the ATI is an extremely positive undertaking. It will be up to the business and science communities to get the best out of it, in the interests of a flourishing applied science sector and a growing economy."