The BridgeTech Program has announced the official consortium of partners and the selection of its first cohort.
The program is a new professional development program for commercialising medical devices.
Applications for the program have been running over the past few months and over 120 expressions of interest were lodged from researchers, business development professionals, entrepreneurs and medical professionals.
The program is convened and administered by QUT and involves a consortium of partners who are delivering a program to train researchers and entrepreneurs on the scientific, legal, financial, clinical, regulatory and reimbursement disciplines related to taking medical technology to market.
This selective program is now enrolling 77 participants from around Australia.
The program has also announced the 20 consortium partners who will be contributing to the design and networking opportunities of the program. The partners include medical technology companies, universities and industry associations.
The partners are Agilent Technologies; IDE Group; Stryker; AusBiotech; Life Sciences Queensland; The Actuator; Cochlear; Macquarie University; University of Melbourne; Deakin University; Magnetica; University of New South Wales; Flinders University; MTAA; University of Newcastle; Gadens; Queensland University of Technology; University of Western Australia; Hydrix; and, Siemens Healthcare.
The BridgeTech Program is also supported by MTPConnect – the Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals Industry Growth Centre – which is providing industry matched funding to run the program.
Speaking on the importance of the partners, Professor Lyn Griffiths, executive director of QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) and Director of The BridgeTech Program, said: “Through its consortium of partners, the BridgeTech Program is unique in its ability to incorporate industry expertise, create key collaboration opportunities and draw on the breadth of knowledge needed to design an effective course.”
The program's first event was held this week in Brisbane at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation QUT.
This seminar is the first in a series of talks to be held in different cities around Australia for the 2018 cohort. Following this, BridgeTech participants will attend a three-day face-to-face training session in November.
“Developing this important educational initiative in partnership with industry means that participants will be provided with relevant and specific commercialisation training, advice and networks to better assist the commercialisation of medical technology and medical devices in Australia,” said Professor Griffiths.