It has been in my personal experience that medical innovation begins within the day-to-day problem-solving environment of the clinical setting. Individuals involved with patient care often come up with unique solutions to clinical problems. The first motivation is often to improve and facilitate this care. Once a new process or diagnostic method is imagined, the commercial possibilities often become apparent. However, the realisation of these possibilities is far from easy.

Area Health Boards focused on fund distribution, not on entrepreneurship. This was unfortunate, since many opportunities for boards to become partially self-funded occurred yet the possibility of capitalising on them was lost. Ignorance of intellectual property rights and the lack of commercial expertise were the main reasons. Without a policy in place for developing intellectual property or a structure to realise the financial possibilities, "Windfall Intellectual Properties" were lost.

Before the advent of the new company structure in Health, I was able to help the Canterbury Area Health Board put in place policy on intellectual property. This policy would have enabled individuals who have made discoveries and inventions to take advantage of them - with the Board enjoying royalties. This partnership of innovator, employer, department, and local business would have enabled enterprises to develop for the benefit of all concerned: the patient, the innovator, the Board, and the community.

Unfortunately all the advances made with this initiative were lost with the development of Canterbury Health Limited. Innovation has stagnated and the intellectual capital of the company has leaked away.

Number Eight Enterprises managed to salvage some of this capital but has largely abandoned its initial altruistic aims.Currently, we are focusing on a wide range of other projects. However, our mission is still to facilitate inventions, especially in health.

The structure of the company is that of a network. ®

Its main function is to act as an independent agent in helping individuals transform their "Windfall Intellectual Property" into projects which can become successful financial ventures.

In addition, the Number Eight Enterprises network draws on a pool of scientists, clinicians, technicians, managers, and educators. Number Eight Enterprises also provides a pool of expertise to act as consultants.

It is hoped that a percentage of the profits will be channelled into the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation and act with this organisation to help realise our common goals.

Kevin B. Scally

"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploration will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." T.S. Elliot.

The symbol "8" is a Mobius strip. The surface represents a road.

This road is not only about a real or metaphysical journey: it is a description of learning, research, development, creativity and inventiveness. It is about going forward and returning, re-crossing the starting place from a different direction, only to return again, wiser, stronger and prospering.

Number eight is the metaphor for Kiwi ingenuity and enterprise: the ability to achieve or build anything out of a piece of number eight wire.

For New Zealanders, number eight embodies the "Number 8 Forward" in a rugby scrum. Those individuals who put their heads down, get on with it, galvanise the efforts of those around them, pushing them to achieve their goals.

On its side the number eight becomes the symbol for infinity ¥: the limitless imagination of the creator. The number eight also represents material rewards in numerology: the successful union of innovation and enterprise.

Number Eight Enterprises' logo symbolises our belief in a Kiwi's ability to succeed and to lead the way. Something all New Zealanders know to be true.

New Zealand is renowned as a country with highly creative and inventive people. Overseas earnings from innovative ventures are becoming increasingly important as a source of national wealth.

The implementation of innovative ideas is a task which often meets with unforseen obstacles.

It was with the intention of overcoming these impediments and of facilitating of New Zealand inventiveness that Number Eight Enterprises was established as a project development company.

To realise the full potential of an innovation requires the cooperation and goodwill of all parties: those with the ideas and skills, the business community, investors, local bodies and funding agencies.