It’s great to see some public recognition of scientists and (by implication) science with thejust announced medals presented to 13 New Zealanders by the
Reading some of the citations and background on the women (with the main gong, the
Of particular note from an innovation point of view, mention should be made of Neville Jordan.
He’s picked up the Thomson Medal awarded “for his contribution to the development andapplication of science and technology to wealth generation through his management of MAS TechnologyLtd, Endeavour Capital Ltd and his role as a director ofnumerous spin-out companies he has supported through the latter.”
As an august body, the Royal Society’s role is to advance science, technology and thehumanities – which it does across many different spheres. Its strapline (on its home webpage) is‘a place for knowledge and excellence’.
This certainly doesn’t preclude wealth creation, and indeed, without the money that wealthprovides, publicly funded science couldn’t be carried out.
Science produces ideas, be it thinking or products or understanding.
In a sense though, ideas are easy.
It is turning them into something that is of value, often measured in monetary returns, that isthe real trick.
Or, put another way, if innovation were easy, everyone would be doing it.
But it is not. It takes hard work, market understanding, good management, sometimes a bit ofluck, and guts.
Jordan’s demonstrated these attributes, and New Zealand’s better off as a result.
Conferring the Thomson Medal on him is a boost to the idea that using our brains to make money isa good thing.
It also demonstrates that science, and its pursuit, is not antithetical to riches.
Overseas, those with a science and engineering background are encouraged to (also) get intobusiness.
In its own small way, Jordan’s winning of the Thomson Medal is another small move for NewZealand down a similar path.