Wrapping up 2023 – a message from MTPConnect’s CEO Stuart Dignam
Wrapping up 2023, I am delighted to mark MTPConnect’s eight years of operation, having firmly established itself as Australia’s life sciences innovation accelerator.
As detailed in our 2023 Annual Report out today, the MTPConnect team’s work during FY2023 has contributed to outstanding outcomes for the growth of the medical technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector.
To date, MTPConnect has injected $153 million into the sector, supporting 196 innovation projects across Australia with proven accelerator and sector support initiatives. This investment has had a profound knock-on effect, leveraging more than $1 billion in additional industry contributions and flow-on external investment, allowing SMEs to scale-up and create new jobs.
Across all our programs and initiatives, the overall economic impact of MTPConnect’s activities shows a total attributable return of around $6.5 billion.
A focus on research commercialisation is delivering results, as exemplified by the outcomes of the BioMedTech Horizons program which was completed this year. Across the program’s 49 projects, 114 technologies were progressed, 11 products released to market, 159 new patents, trademarks and licences secured and 364 jobs created. There was also an influx of private capital with $590 million of external investment secured.
We’re getting similar outcomes with our other accelerator programs, the Targeted Translation Research Accelerator and Clinical Translation and Commercialisation – Medtech program, clearly showing what can be achieved by backing start-ups, entrepreneurs and SMEs to bring new medical products from research labs to the market.
Speaking of TTRA, we’re proud of our achievements in delivering a funding round focused on diabetes and cardiovascular disease-related unmet health and medical needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in rural, remote, regional and urban Australia. Doing it right meant centring the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in all aspects of the process and we were delighted to announce funding of $6 million for six projects in the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria – all of which are underway.
A key barrier to the growth of medical science SMEs is access to skilled staff and tackling skills gaps has been a key focus for FY23. Through our highly successful workforce skills program, the REDI initiative, we’ve provided industry experiences though sought-after fellowships and skills development in critical growth areas such as biologic drug manufacturing including mRNA. We’ve made real progress in building an industry-ready workforce and the sector’s feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, but there’s more to do if we’re to keep pace with a rapidly changing sector.
As the year draws to a close, it is hard to ignore the momentum building around our sector. We have Moderna and BioNTech establishing in Victoria, Sanofi’s Translational Science Hub in Queensland and the RNA facility at Macquarie University in Sydney, among others. They’ll support R&D and boost manufacturing from clinical to population scale. And they’re creating new opportunities for SMEs, improvement in supply chain resilience, scope for more clinical trials and demand for more home-grown GMP and QMS skills.
At the same time, the Australian Government’s National Reconstruction Fund and Industry Growth Program initiatives are coming online and there are state government programs like WA’s Future Health Research Innovation Fund, SA’s Economic Recovery Fund, Breakthrough Victoria, the Biological Sciences and Medical Devices funds in NSW and Queensland’s Industry Partnership Program. They all provide opportunities for funding and support for SMEs to scale.
As a not-for-profit organisation which does not operate a membership model, and with ‘public purpose’ embedded at the heart of our operations, we look forward to continuing our work supporting you and your company to scale-up and turn your innovations into home-grown and life-saving new medical products.
From our Chair, The Hon. Jaala Pulford, the board and all our brilliant team members across Australia, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season. And we thank you for your support throughout the year and look forward to connecting again in 2024.
Finally, instead of a book recommendation for the break, can I suggest you check out the MTPConnect Podcast series. We published 26 episodes this year featuring 122 guests, all sharing stories of life science innovation so there’s plenty to tap into and enjoy.
We will be back in January 2024, after a short break.
Stuart Dignam
Chief Executive Officer, MTPConnect
