Science Minister, Wayne Mapp says that a new applied powder metallurgy centre at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic will turn into the innovative nucleus of New Zealand's up-and-coming titanium industry.

The Government has spent in the project almost $8 million in the titanium industry and the powder metallurgy centre was seen as considerable boost to the national advantage in the sector, Dr. Mapp said.

While opening the centre in Tauranga today, he forecasted that the titanium applications industry may possibly be valued $700 million every year to New Zealand by the year 2020.

The centre was a key portion of infrastructure for the titanium industry, said Dr. Mapp.

This facility is exceptional in New Zealand. It is a combination of traditional and high-tech engineering, he said. Firms can make use of it to turn ideas and technology into leading-edge products.

The Titanium Industry Development Association location are in an engineering block at the polytechnic's Windermere site and will work with a number of New Zealand firms that will develop ground-breaking titanium alloy products for the international marketplace.

A Tauranga-based company, Titanox, is manufacturing and offering near-pure alloy powders from titanium dioxide and raw aluminium after the research from Waikato University's Professor, Deliang Zhang to produce titanium separation technology.