Overseas earnings from innovative ventures are becoming increasingly important as a source of national wealth.
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.