The Government has appointed Meat Industry Association chair Bill Falconer to head the investment advisor panel for its new Primary Growth Partnership fund.
Mr Falconer was also going to head the previous Government's "fast forward" research funding plan, until it was scrapped and replaced by the PGP fund.
The Primary Growth Partnership fund initially gets $190 million over four years. Top-ups after that will expand it to $2 billion over 15 years.
The previous Government anticipated its $700 million "fast forward" investment would also have grown to about $2 billion over its 15 year lifespan, with interest earnings and financial contributions from the commercial sector
Despite those similarities, Mr Falconer says the structures are quite different. He expects the Primary Growth Partnership to be up and running by August or September.
