Industrial Research Limited (IRL) is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. IRL provides research, development and commercialisation services aim at fostering industry development, economic growth and business expansion. It was established in 1992 when the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research

Several countries have organizations called the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR.-United Kingdom:...

 was disbanded and its staff and assets redistributed to form the research institutes.

Like many New Zealand entities, its logo incorporates a Māori identity "Te Tauihu Pūtaiao", where Te Tauihu is the prow or leading edge of a waka (Māori war canoe

Waka (canoe)

Waka are Māori watercraft, usually canoes ranging in size from small, unornamented canoes used for fishing and river travel, to large decorated war canoes up to long...

) and Pūtaiao means science. The phrase is a metaphor for the way science and technology can open up new opportunities for New Zealand businesses.

IRL is based at Gracefield

Gracefield, New Zealand

Gracefield is an industrial suburb of Lower Hutt City, located at the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand.Up until the 1980s, Gracefield and neighbouring Petone were home to woollen mills, railway workshops, car assembly and meat processing plants...

 in Lower Hutt

Lower Hutt

Lower Hutt is a city in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Its council has adopted the name Hutt City Council, but neither the New Zealand Geographic Board nor the Local Government Act recognise the name Hutt City. This alternative name can lead to confusion, as there are two cities in the...

, and has offices in Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 and Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

.

After 10 years of operation, IRL commissioned a book which follows the history of several scientists and their projects as they take their ideas from the lab to the market place.

In 2009, IRL ran a competition What's Your Problem New Zealand? to win up to $1 million of research and development services, receiving over 100 entries.