The nation will be promoting awareness of innovation and entrepreneurship during the Australian Innovation Festival being held May 2-15. This year’s theme, “Innovation and You”, is about celebrating and encouraging creative practical solutions and innovative approaches to everyday problems.
Needlesleeve syringe
Ritract fits this mould perfectly, especially with its latest product, the Needlesleeve syringe, developed by WA inventors. The device addresses the problem of needle stick injuries among healthcare professionals and will continue to provide a royalty stream back to WA. The invention was recently awarded a 2005 Frost and Sullivan Award for Technology, Innovation and Leadership of the Year, an international accolade. “As we understand it, the judges thought the Needlesleeve technology was not only very innovative but had strong commercial potential,” Ritract’s Managing Director Rupert Northcott said. “They told us they really appreciated the approach we are taking, which is to try and address the whole problem of needle stick injuries as a total solution, rather than being individual product focused.” Mr Northcott believes the award has “put a small Aussie company right on the map as far as a number of US corporations and others are concerned”. “We do expect it will open doors for us in all sorts of places that would normally be quite hard to access,” he said. Ritract originated in Western Australia 18 months ago and was started with venture capital. “Health Tec Growth Partners, based in Nedlands, have listed a number of health initiatives (from WA) in the last couple of years,” Mr Northcott said. “I think Western Australia has a good track record in coming up with original ideas and your really excellent lifestyle encourages creative things to happen.” The company has gone on to list on the Australian Stock Exchange, set up an office in Sydney and one in Canada. “We knew from the outset that the core part of the company’s success would depend on how well we tackled the US market and there is no doubt about it, being there is the only way to feel your way forward,” Mr Northcott said. “Canada gives us unrestricted access to the US market, it is far cheaper to run an office in Canada than it is in the US, yet there are no real disadvantages to being based in Canada.” He said the next step would be the release of their first commercial product, the first Australian automatically retractable safety syringe. “We believe we have the best product available, not only in Australia but in the world,” he said. . “It has all become very real in a relatively short period of time.”
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