​Wound Management Innovation CRC Cements a Legacy by Incorporating Wound Innovations

28 March 2018

The Wound Management Innovation CRC (‘Wound CRC’) has today announced incorporation and registration for one of its legacy vehicles, Wound Innovations. The venture will ensure Australia remains at the leading edge of optimal patient care through the delivery of clinical services, telehealth, education, credentialing and ongoing research.

Through support from the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, the Wound CRC developed the service together with hospitals, aged and community care, and key bodies and organisations. Research from the CRC has shown that for a patient to be successfully treated, a trans-disciplinary team approach is required – no one health professional can treat a chronic wound due to the many underlying chronic health conditions requiring specialist care.

The service is improving access to specialist care for patients with wounds across the country by providing an ambulatory clinic, national telehealth and wound advisory service, keeping patients out of hospital and making advanced wound treatments more accessible.

The Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program was established in 1990 to improve the effectiveness of Australia’s research effort through bringing together researchers in the public and private sectors with the end users. The CRC Program links researchers with industry and government with a focus towards research application. Teams of collaborators undertakes research and development leading to utilitarian outcomes for public good that have positive social and economic impacts.

As an Industry Growth Centre, MTPConnect works with relevant CRCs to align funding and investment to our seven Sector Growth Priorities. These priorities have been identified to seize the opportunities created by our world-leading research into medical technologies, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals (MTP), and maximise the sector’s competitiveness and productivity to achieve more rapid and sustained growth.

CRCs provide a mechanism for realising unanticipated commercial opportunities, i.e. in cases where technologies have applications beyond the interests of the commercial partners, the CRC can pursue these through the creation of spin off companies, such as Wound Innovations.

Dr Charlie Day, CEO of the Office of Innovation and Science Australia, said: “The collaboration between researchers and industry that led to the Wound Management Innovation CRC and now to the incorporation of Wound Innovations demonstrates the fantastic potential of Australia’s innovation system. I welcome this development as demonstrating that Wound Innovations is well placed to continue their leading-edge work of providing exceptional outcomes to Australian patients well into the future.”

Wound CRC Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ian Griffiths, said: “One of the most unique, and challenging, opportunities of a CRC is to translate research into real world output, often within a short funding period. Not all CRCs successfully establish incorporated legacy vehicles to continue beyond their funding term.

“Our CRC revised our research and translation program four years ago, following our Third Year Review, to align with our future vision: a sustainable legacy that combines multiple innovations to address the gaps in the industry that are leading to the multi-billion dollar burden of wounds. I am delighted that the Wound CRC has delivered on this significant output and we are continuing to go from strength to strength with Wound Innovations.

“We have reached the nation through telehealth and clinical services, we have major health economics research studies underway and we have delivered education to thousands of front line professionals through online education, face to face workshops and seminars. We have built, and are about to launch, the nation’s first wound credentialing system that recognises and promotes excellence in wound management.

“By incorporating, we enable the legacies of the CRC – clinical service, education, credentialing and research - to continue its journey objectively and independently, ultimately reducing avoidable hospitalisations and saving patients’ lives and limbs.”

The Wound CRC has been supported by the Commonwealth through the Cooperative Research Centre Program since July 2010. With the CRC winding up operations, the establishment of Wound Innovations as an incorporated company limited by guarantee is both a significant outcome for the CRC and also a measure of confidence in the entity’s future. The Wound CRC provides a great example of the outcomes that can be achieved through the program and effective industry-research collaborations.