The company, which has salmon farms in Twizel and Tekapo, is among 13 businesses to receive a research and development growth grant this year, the grants worth a total of $25.5 million over the next three years.
Callaghan Innovation is a government agency which was set up to support hi-tech businesses by increasing investment in research and development to support long-term economic growth.
To be eligible for funding, Mt Cook Alpine Salmon had committed to spending at least $300,000 a year on research and development, 20% of which will be reimbursed to the company by Callaghan Innovation.
The company was ''thrilled'' to receive the grant as research and development was an integral part of its business, chief operating officer Janine Tulloch said.
''We're developing a culture of continuous improvement and are keen not to simply adopt best practice but to be setting the new benchmarks. Increasingly, our high-end overseas customers are demanding it,'' she said in a statement.
As part of the funding application, Mt Cook Alpine Salmon outlined a research and development programme that would be a focus over the next three years.
The programme included new product and operational equipment development, as well as overall site development and improvement and measures to reduce quality ''defects''.
The company, whose head office is in Queenstown, employs more than 80 staff, most of who are based in the central South Island. The salmon is processed in a $6 million factory in Washdyke, which opened in late 2013, and the majority of product goes to export markets around the world, from the Far East to the United States.
