A $6 million Joint Innovation Fund will allocate contestable funding to projects in three separate categories: Signature Projects for major productions of interest to a broad audience; Growth Audiences with content for Māori, Pacifica , regional and younger audiences; and Diverse Journalism for news, current affairs and factual content.

Initial requests for proposals (RFP) will be published in September and October with an expectation that the first projects will be in production by the end of the year.

In seeking the best creative ideas, funding decisions will be made jointly by NZ On Air and RNZ with the large majority of the allocation being committed to projects sought from and delivered by independent content creators. RNZ will be the primary delivery platform for all projects.

NZ On Air will manage the contestable RFP and application process through its online application portal and funding decisions will be made public by NZ On Air in the usual way and presented in its Annual Report.

Read the Joint Innovation Fund memorandum of Understabding and FAQ here