Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson today announced a major partnership between Texas Medical Center (TMC) and Biodesign Australia, aimed at advancing health and medical life sciences innovation and entrepreneurship.
Biodesign Australia is a network administered by the University of Western Australia (UWA), allowing Biodesign programs in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane to share resources, speakers and best practice to provide a quality experience for participants and innovations for patients.
TMC and Biodesign Australia will work collaboratively to facilitate opportunities between TMC Biodesign and programs within the Biodesign Australia network.
Founders and entrepreneurs will be provided with access to talent, clinical trial activity, expanded funding opportunities and market access. This announcement builds on the TMC/Australian BioBridge, which was launched in 2018.
The Australian Biodesign programs are experiential in nature, focus on biomedical entrepreneurship, are designed for the Australian biomedical environment, and thrive on support from industry, the healthcare system, academic organisations and professionals.
The global partnership comes as the McGowan Government has recently announced $8.65 million in funding to implement the State's first ever Health and Medical Life Sciences Industry Strategy.
The strategy, which was launched last year, provides a blueprint to develop and grow the sector and diversify WA's economy.
The strategy outlined the growth potential of health and medical life sciences to create highly skilled jobs and improve patient outcomes, building on WA's many strengths as an investment, research and manufacturing hub.
As stated by Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson:
"The McGowan Government is thrilled to see international partnerships being developed that will further strengthen WA's health and medical life sciences sector through commercialisation, innovation and research.
"It is inspiring that entities such as Perth Biodesign are training the next generation of biomedical entrepreneurs.
"Vital partnerships like this will allow for major collaboration between both Biodesign Australia and Texas Medical Center, and will help improve the health and wellbeing of all Western Australians.
"We look forward to hosting TMC here in Perth during the October AusBiotech 2022 conference."
As stated by Science Minister Roger Cook:
"The McGowan Government is committed to diversifying the WA economy to attract investment and create local jobs for Western Australians.
"The health and life science industry is an integral part of this plan and that's why we have invested $8.65 million into our strategy, so we see more exciting partnerships like this happen here in WA."
As stated by UWA Biomedical Innovation Director Professor Kevin Pfleger:
"Collectively, the Biodesign Australia programs have trained hundreds of budding entrepreneurs through MedTech and digital health courses.
"These programs bring together multidisciplinary teams of people who want to make a difference in healthcare and build the connection between industry, academia, health services, and specialised service providers to create a compelling healthcare innovation opportunity.
"By uniting the programming, talent and expertise found at Biodesign Australia and Texas Medical Center, we are creating a dynamic ecosystem that will help to shape the future of healthcare."
Medical Research Minister's office - 6552 5800
