The Actuator releases Discussion Paper for Australian medtech sector
23 November 2017
The Actuator, Australian National MedTech Accelerator, has released ‘ When Australia innovates, the world of healthcare changes’, a new MedTech Discussion Paper today with recommendations for the Australian medtech sector to thrive globally.
The paper, launched by the Minister for Innovation Matt Kean (pictured above), and authored by Dr Buzz Palmer and Dr Vishaal Kishore of The Actuator, highlights the opportunity for Australia to address barriers and enhance innovation in the local healthcare environment.
Minister Kean said there are more than 500 MedTech companies in Australia who employ almost 20,000 workers, and have a combined annual turnover of more than $10 billion.
“Innovation-led growth in every sector of the NSW economy is in the hands of businesses, non-government organisations, research institutions, citizens, and government,” he said.
“This MedTech Discussion Paper is a wonderful contribution to the innovation ecosystem that brings so many benefits to both our economy and our citizens.”
Key themes from the paper include:
- Investment in deep technology;
- Alignment and collaboration;
- Time-to-market and value capture;
- Ecosystem investment; and
- Regulatory frameworks.
“As a nation, Australia is amongst the global best in terms of research capability and capacity to explore and create early-innovative healthcare solutions. To capitalise on this, Australia needs to collectively pull together resources, consolidate expertise across borders and de-silo the system to enable the country to truly benefit from its – relatively untapped but outstanding – potential in MedTech,” said Dr Buzz Palmer, CEO of The Actuator.
The paper is supported by the Medical Technology Association of Australia, BioMelbourne Network, MTPConnect, and Medtronic.