MTPConnect Goes to Canberra

05 December 2018

Pictured: MTPConnect Chair Sue MacLeman with Minister for Industry, Science and Technology the Hon. Karen Andrews MP, Anne-Maree Englund and Professor Lyn Griffiths from The Bridge Program / BridgeTech Program and MTPConnect Director Major Projects Elizabeth Stares.

Industry and government came together this week for the first Growth Centre Showcase at Parliament House in Canberra.

MTPConnect joined the five other Industry growth Centres, covering Advanced Manufacturing, Cyber Security, Food and Agribusiness, Mining Equipment, Technology and Services and Oil, Gas and Energy Resources, to promote our projects directly to parliamentarians and policymakers.

The Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Hon Karen Andrews MP, was on hand to open proceedings. She was able to engage with our Project Fund Program partners Professor Lyn Griffiths and Anne-Maree Englund from the Bridge and BridgeTech programs, Roslyn Ristuccia from ClinTrial Refer and ANDHealth’s Bronwyn Le Grice together with Planet Innovation's Stuart Elliott.

We were also delighted to have John and Anthea Sutherland join us at the Showcase. John's life was changed by a haematologist who used the ClinTrial Refer app to find a clinical trial for his condition. He was happy to share his experience with all those in attendance as a great example of how our projects can have a direct impact on the health and wellbeing of Australians.

In discussing the successes of the Industry Growth Centres initiative, Minister Andrews used her speech to announce an extension of funding for MTPConnect and the other Growth Centres for a further two years, through until 2021.

MTPConnect CEO Dr Dan Grant, who attended the event with our Chair, Sue MacLeman, says the Showcase provided a wonderful opportunity to highlight the work of all our project partners and the renewed funding was welcome recognition of our collaborative successes.

“In the nearly three years since our establishment, MTPConnect has been helping to accelerate the growth of the medtech and pharma sector by forging stronger connections between research and industry and maximising opportunities for the translation and commercialisation of our discoveries,” Dr Grants says.

“This renewed funding from the Federal Government allows us to continue making an important contribution to the sector’s growth.”

Through the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science’s Project Fund Program, MTPConnect has invested $15.6 million across 37 collaborative projects, engaging over 160 consortium members and leveraging $22 million of matched cash funding from industry and a further $3.7 million in in-kind support.

MTPConnect also administers the BioMedTech Horizons program for the Department of Health which supported 11 projects in 2018 and attracted $13.3 million in contributions from industry.

MTPConnect-supported projects have seen 79 new technologies invented or progressed, 37 new patents/trademark applications and licenses, 11 new start-up companies, 45 direct jobs being created and more than $6 million of investment flowing into incubator companies.

The Chair of the Growth Centre’s Advisory Committee, John Grill, was also in attendance to engage with industry and its partners.

Thanks to MTPConnect’s Director of Major Projects, Elizabeth Stares, for coordinating the event on behalf of all the Growth Centres.