Last week I had the pleasure of attending the book launch of No8 Re-wired, a book chronicling 202 New Zealand innovations written by David Downs and Jon Bridges and published by Penguin Books. Located at the Ignition co-working space in Tauranga’s city centre, Downs presented an interesting and humorous take on the state of NZ’s innovation industry, providing his opinions on the good and bad, while showcasing several Kiwi innovations that even the Locus team were surprised to learn of. However, while mostly light hearted in mood, Downs’ presentation carried a somewhat sombre undertone – that we kiwi innovators are not as good as we think we are.

Downs brought out the big guns with some interesting statistics. His first bombshell was dropped using a chart that plotted NZ against other innovative countries, showing the amount of “Trifecta” patents that were granted to all three major locals (Europe, USA and China) per capita. NZ had a disappointing standing, placed around 20th with the top positions taken by Japan and USA. The country Downs suggested we draw the most conclusions from was Denmark, ranked about 10 places ahead of us, which was our closest match for population size. Downs’ next chart was a direct comparison between NZ and Denmark and showed respective funding in the innovation sector with Denmark’s higher funding reflecting a proportionally higher amount of patents granted. Although not definitive in his statement that lower funding was the reason for NZ’s poor showing on the Trifecta graph, he does point out an interesting statistic.

The most surprising kiwi innovations showcased during the presentation were the early Kiwi advents of disposable plastic syringes, the self-sealing tin lid, and ‘expanded PTFE’ (think Gore-Tex). While these are genius innovations and are widely used in today’s market, Downs accredited poor IP protection for the lack of financial success and/or recognition of the Kiwi inventors. He carried on to suggest that early Kiwis were a little naïve in these matters, and it’s not hard to agree with him.

Whether naïvety, or just plain modesty, I think the majority of early Kiwis, had a natural propensity for innovation, believing that innovation is possible and a normal aspect of any effective design. This belief I think may be lost among the modern masses and is to me the most important influence for the success of anyone in the modern innovation industry.

As for the book, flipping through No8 Re-wired was an interesting and rewarding experience; a must have for the fast approaching summer holidays. I’d like to thank David Downs for coming to Tauranga and providing some valuable dialogue on the current state of NZ’s innovation industry.