In Case You Missed It: Here's What The MTPConnect Team Has Been Up To in July

05 August 2020

Pictured (L-R): Platypus Technical's Principal & Director Dr Lee Walsh, MTPConnect's Managing Director & CEO Dr Dan Grant, Catapult Sports' Chief Technology Officer Rick Wingfield, MTPConnect's former Director Stakeholder Engagement WA Dr Kate Brooks and UWA's A/Prof Jacqueline Alderson online in the July webinar.

New Funding for the MTP Sector

In July, MTPConnect released two major announcements of funding as we continue to support the growth of early stage health and medical research. The Minister for Health, Hon. Greg Hunt MP announced that 21 new promising medical technology research projects received funding of $18.8 million through Round 3 of our BioMedTech Horizons program. By leveraging an additional $21.3 million in contributions from industry, a total of $40.1 million is flowing into our healthtech sector. You can find more details of the projects, by visiting the BMTH page. We are pleased to be backing innovation and technological advancements in areas such as digital health solutions, medical devices, precision and regenerative medicine supported by advanced manufacturing and clinical trials with a vision of better health outcomes globally.

In another major boost for Australian medical research, the Minister for Health joined with Hon Karen Andrews MP, the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology to announce that MTPConnect will operate the new $47 million Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) initiative for diabetes and cardiovascular disease over four years. The Accelerator, funded through the Medical Research Future Fund, will accelerate research into preventing, diagnosing and treating these conditions which affect the lives of millions of Australians through chronic illness and premature death. MTPConnect is uniquely placed to deliver this important initiative, and as the TTRA commences, we are delighted to be working with an independent Board of experts, Co-Chaired by Professor John Shine AC and Professor Ian Frazer AC as we seek to bring new drugs and devices to the market to help Australians, as well as exporting our innovations to the rest of the world.

In Case You Missed It: MTPConnect’s July Webinar

This month, we held another of our ‘Seminar Series’ webinars, ‘Frontiers of Biomechanics and Human Movement’ featuring fascinating panellists from around Australia including Catapult Sports, Platypus Technical and UWA discussing the latest developments and challenges with wearable sensors, big data and digital innovations for rehabilitation, injury prevention and sporting performance. It’s an area identified as an emerging Knowledge Priority in our 2020 Sector Competitiveness Plan. If you missed the webinar, check out the episode in our MTPConnect podcast series.

Sector Supported Events

We continue to support collaboration throughout the sector with various sponsorships and virtual events to keep you connected. We partnered with Life Sciences Queensland and the Queensland Government’s Department of State Development, Tourism and Innovation for a regulatory webinar on 21 July, where our Director Stakeholder Engagement QLD Andrew Bowksill presented. We also partnered with the Australian Research Council for a medical research policy seminar on 20 July, where our Director Stakeholder Engagement NSW Dr Duncan Macinnis presented. PRAXIS Australia continued its ‘Building Resilence in Times of COVID-19’ with two webinars in July.

Australian Stories Showcased Through Our Podcast

Our podcast keeps you connected to the people behind the science and research in our sector and this month we produced some great episodes. We published the recap of our June global webinar, looking at how to commercialise a health innovation, spoke with ANDHealth’s CEO & Founder Bronwyn Le Grice about their new report, ‘Digital Health: The Sleeping Giant of Australia’s Health Technology Industry, we brought you our first REDI podcast chatting with ATSE’s CEO Kylie Walker and IMNIS program Executive Director Dr Marguerite Evans-Galea about how industry mentoring is creating a culture shift in STEM career paths and improving workforce skills in our sector. We also profiled South Australia’s Chief Scientist, Professor Caroline McMillen and just before the month ended, we published an episode featuring our July Seminar webinar, on exploring the frontiers of human movement and biomechanics.

We Shared a Blog about the Path to Drug Discovery

Our Director Stakeholder Engagement NSW Dr Duncan Macinnis shared his insights in a blog about his partnership with the University of Sydney, in developing its Drug Discovery Initiative. Read more about it here.

Staff Changes

At the end of the month, we said farewell Dr Kate Brooks in WA who has made a tremendous contribution to our WA Hub and the MTP sector there and we wish her all the best for her new role. We will soon be announcing a new Director for Stakeholder Engagement in WA.