Over the past three decades, many nations have accelerated their efforts to develop academic research commercialization to help drive their innovation and productivity goals. Despite failure to achieve the desired results, surprisingly very few studies have examined how research commercialization initiatives are designed at the government level. This study reviews the historical role of the government and the interplay between significant shifts in research direction, funding and accounting that contributed to the development of academic research commercialization in New Zealand. The paper concludes that funding pressures combined with the government’s lack of early recognition and formal endorsement of research commercialization as a vital activity contributed to previous low levels of academic research commercialization. The important lessons to be learnt from the New Zealand case are that academic research commercialization requires a coherent long-term national strategy that is responsive, promises results and has funding incentives.