Investing in an advanced national research and education network will deliver at least $4 of economic benefits for every tax dollar spent by 2015, a recent study suggests.

The study, undertaken by high-end investment consultancy Temple: Capital Investment Specialists, assessed the value of REANNZ (Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand) to the New Zealand economy.

REANNZ is a crown-owned company that operates KAREN (Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network), a high capacity, high-speed communication network linking New Zealand’s tertiary institutions, research organisations, libraries, schools and museums.

The government is pouring $51 million a year into REANNZ, which commissioned the study in order to show that this investment, which includes a KAREN network upgrade and connections for schools, is worth the money.

Three areas of potential economic benefit were assessed in detail: experimental and advanced research, teaching and training, and wider community spillover benefits.

The study suggests that economic benefits from the investment will rise steadily, reaching $200 million a year by 2015.

It estimates upgrading the KAREN network will increase research productivity by $28 million per year, while the use of video conferencing in classrooms will save a minimum of $27 million in labour costs.

But while REANNZ members such as universities and schools will benefit from the spend, the study suggests the biggest economic benefit will come from accelerated ICT uptake among consumers and businesses, which is predicted to add between $140 million and $160 million to the New Zealand economy by 2015.

Dr Paul Winton of Temple says the biggest impact from an advanced network is the dissemination of skills from the people it touches.

“What surprised us as we did the value study was that the real benefit comes from the people touching an advanced network taking it back to their communities and driving up demand for advanced applications and systems,” he says.

“One example in Australia shows that kids who were exposed to leading edge technology were one of the biggest drivers of adoption in the home – essentially the kids demanded at home the tools they used every day at school.

“If the government ever wanted to make sure it was getting the most out of broadband investment in New Zealand then they could do a lot worse than committing a small amount of investment in advanced networks and the infrastructure to use it in schools and research organisations around the country.”