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This month, the MDPP Victoria team celebrated their first birthday, and we want to thank all of our supporters and collaborators who have helped make the first year such a success.
During this first year they have hit the ground running and have:
- Established an expert team
- Leveraged the expertise of our Victorian Steering Committee of industry leaders from the sector
- Consulted on over 80 ideas for new medical technologies
- Held 25 workshops, bringing together industry and research experts to provide input on these innovations
- Approved funding for nine projects
We could not have done any of this without the valued support of many.
First we’d like to thank LaunchVic, Victoria’s startup agency, for their support to deliver the Program in Victoria.
Our Victorian partners who have contributed expertise, facilities and guidance: Swinburne University, St. Vincent's Hospital, University of Melbourne, RMIT University, Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, Monash University, La Trobe University, Baker Institute, CSIRO, Bionics Institute and BioMedVic.
Our National MDPP Sponsors: Design + Industry, FB Rice, Madderns, Motherson Innovations and Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick for their support to help build the med-tech industry in Australia.
And to the many, many organisations and individuals who have provided their time and expertise during workshops and client consultations.
We look forward to making an even greater impact during 2020, supporting more ideas for medical or assistive devices. So if you have an idea for a new medical technology and need R&D assistance, connect with us today. Or if you know of someone who may benefit from MDPP assistance, please refer them to our website: www.mdpp.org.au.
Again, thank you to everyone who has supported us in our vision for Australia to lead the world in med-tech innovation and drive solutions to advance healthcare globally.
12 December 2019
Acting Health Minister Alan Tudge announced $5.9 million will be provided to fund 8 early stage projects through round 1 of the MRFF’s Biomedical Translation Bridge (BTB) Program.
Dr Dan Grant, Managing Director and CEO of MTPConnect, said the successful projects will cover new medical technologies and novel therapies to address unmet clinical needs.
“We believe these research projects could eventually play a vital role in tackling a number of major challenges for our health sector and contribute towards delivering improved health outcomes for Australians of all ages,” said Dr Grant.
The Biomedical Translation Bridge (BTB) program aims to help Australia move more cutting-edge ideas and breakthrough discoveries swiftly towards proof-of-concept and commercialisation, while stimulating collaboration between the research, industry and technology sectors to maximise entrepreneurship and idea potential.
[Image courtesy of Swinburne: The Swinburne and Medical Connect team (L to R): Matthew Blythman, Andrew Heath, Linda Heath, Dr Boris Eisenbart, Matt Richardson, Dr Benedikt Lux]
Medical Connect co-founder, Mr Andrew Heath says the assistance of the MDPP, combined with the input of Swinburne’s expert researchers, provided the best chance to develop and commercialise the project.
“What we liked most about the MDPP opportunity was partnering with Swinburne and researchers from its Centre for Design Innovation who have significant industry experience and technical knowledge.
“They could help us to test assumptions and provide technical knowledge to convert our idea into a physical prototype that we can take to industry and the market.”
Click here to read the full story by the Swinburne media team.
MDPP Victoria supported by
South Australia’s position as a leader in medical technology innovation has been cemented thanks to $1.5 million in State Government funding.
Launched in South Australia in 2008, the Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP) was founded by Flinders University and is based in the laboratory facilities at the Tonsley Innovation District. Since its inception, the MDPP has played a critical role in driving early stage development and manufacturing of innovative medical and assistive technologies.
Minister for Industry and Skills David Pisoni said the funding will boost the state’s growing medical technology sector and encourage greater collaboration between industry and researchers to help turn ideas into investable technologies for global markets.
“Our $1.5 million investment confirms South Australia is home to the national Medical Device Partnering Program and highlights our state’s position as a national leader in medical technology development and commercialisation,” said Minister Pisoni.
“Over the next five years, the program will support approximately 30 projects, creating up to 15 medical technology start-ups and knowledge-based employment opportunities in South Australia.
“We want to grow the state’s medical technology pipeline to help existing companies and start-ups leverage and connect with research and commercial expertise, clinical and health professionals and manufacturers to rapidly develop ideas and bring them to market.
“The medical technology sector is thriving and we want to give South Australian businesses and manufacturers every opportunity to develop new capabilities to tap into these opportunities.”
Read the full story here.
The Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP) will expand its operations beyond South Australia into Victoria, thanks to support from LaunchVic, the state government agency charged with growing the Victorian startup ecosystem.
Announced officially this afternoon by the Hon. Philip Dalidakis MP, Victorian Minister for Trade & Investment, Innovation & the Digital Economy, Small Business, and Dr Kate Cornick, CEO of LaunchVic, the MDPP will receive $2 million funding over two years to deliver the program in Victoria.
The Victorian MDPP partnership is led by Swinburne University of Technology and brings together CSIRO, The University of Melbourne, Monash University, RMIT University, Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) and BioMedical Research Victoria. It leverages the proven model and processes developed and implemented by Flinders University across 10 years.
National MDPP Director and Founder, Professor Karen Reynolds, says this first important step in national expansion will deliver significant benefits not only to South Australia and Victoria, but will add impetus to medical technology research in Australia as a whole.
A post-operative device that monitors a patient’s rehabilitation progress is now set for clinical trial, thanks to funding from the South Australian Government and Flinders University’s Medical Device Partnering Program (MDPP).
Maxm Skate, is a simple yet highly sophisticated device supplemented with an e- health software solution which empowers patients suffering lower leg knee injuries or undergoing lower limb surgery including total, partial or revision knee replacement surgery to undertake rehabilitation exercises to strengthen their lower limb muscles and enables them to monitor their own rehabilitation program.
Flinders University is pleased to be a consortium partner of the inaugural BridgeTech Program.
In an event held by the Medical Device Partnering Program on 30th April at the Tonsley Innovation Precinct, Professor Lyn Griffiths of Queensland University of Technology formally opened the program for applications.
This year QUT, in collaboration with MTPConnect and 15 university and industry partners and organisations in the medical-biotechnology sector, will deliver an exciting, new and innovative education program that will provide the necessary training to enable the successful commercialisation of Australian medical technology research.