Adept's Award Seeks Humanitarian Innovation

Adept's Award Seeks Humanitarian Innovation

Auckland plastics and medical device manufacturer Adept Ltd wants to unleash the ideas of clever New Zealanders to help humanity, and is offering a $50,000 prize for the winning innovation.

The company hopes its 'Designs for Life' award will encourage people to come up with new ideas that will improve the quality of life, whether in first or third world countries.

Adept's Managing Director, Murray Fenton said the company's 30 year expertise in plastics design, tooling and manufacturing was an ideal fit with some of the innovative ideas in the medical and public health sector.

"We're traditionally a nation full of good ideas and better ways to do things. New Zealanders have a long history of innovation in the medical field, from involvement in unravelling the DNA sequence through to the Kiwi invention of the disposable syringe.

"Our theory is that there are many people working in the healthcare field who intuitively know there could be a better way of doing something. They could be a medical professional, a university student, researcher or work in a hospital. That's the sort of person we want to attract."

Adept will help the winning entry to take the idea from concept to commercial product using its product development and design expertise.

Murray Fenton said all the IP would remain the property of the entrant, not Adept, and stresses it needs to use Adept's expertise in design and manufacturing.

The award lines up neatly with Adept's background in philanthropic works, which include working with the Fred Hollows organisation as well as donating Adept-produced ear grommets, produced by sister company Adept Medical, to the Pacific Islands.

"We are looking at ways to make life better for people, using our expertise to get life-changing ideas into commercial format," he said. "We are donating our time and money and there are no strings attached; it's an exercise in philanthropy which fits with the philosophy of Adept, in doing work that improves the quality of life."

Mr Fenton said the company was keen to attract as many entries as possible and has made the initial application as simple as possible.

"The sort of people who have the smart ideas we want to work alongside are, in the majority of times, extremely busy people. We have been constantly amazed by the wealth of great ideas people have, particularly in the medical field, which could make a significant difference to life. What they lack is the time or ability to take it to the next step, and that's where we can help."

Entries are via the Adept website, www.adept.co.nz, with the initial application requiring only brief expressions of interest. Entries close Monday May 25.

ENDS

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