MedTech: Melbourne’s Growing Sector

At our ‘MedTech: Melbourne’s Growing Sector’ event on Tuesday 5th September 2023, we heard insights into the cutting-edge advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and healthcare technology, and its transformative impact on patient care.

Alison Choy Flannigan, Partner, Health & Community Co-Lead – Hall & Wilcox, spoke about how AI, robotics and digital innovation is transforming clinical practice, and highlighted the need for ethical responsibility and clinical governance to be front of mind within healthcare organisations.

Mark Melvin, CEO at Committee for Melbourne moderated the panel with Alison, George Cozaris, Chief Information Officer, Executive Director, Digital Innovation – Royal Women’s Hospital, Kate Burbury, Executive Director Digital and Healthcare Innovations – Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Tam Nguyen, Deputy Director of Research – St Vincent’s Health Foundation and Shelley Jackson, Director – Australian Medtech Manufacturing Centre, with Mark Sinclair, Director Engagement – Committee for Melbourne and Ben Hamilton, Partner – Hall & Wilcox welcoming attendees.

Conversations centred around how Melbourne can compete on the global stage to be recognised as a healthtech hub by innovating ways of working using technology as support tools, not clinical decision makers. There needs to be privacy policies in place for data confidentiality and to ensure organisations intellectual property isn’t compromised by using AI.

According to our Benchmarking Melbourne 2023 report, Melbourne is in the top half of its peers for the share of start-ups and scale-ups specialising in health tech, biotech and pharmaceuticals. Melbourne’s health sector continues to drive the ecosystem, with four health unicorns emerging since 2017. As technology advances, so must we.

Many organisations are embracing technology. And through accelerated digitalisation during the pandemic, the digital health market is a fast-growing sector. However, Melbourne is behind its peers for how much venture capital investment its start-ups and scale-ups have attracted in biotech. The quality and reputation of Melbourne’s knowledge assets, and access to labs in high potential precincts is a big selling point for advanced companies. But commercialising and scaling more of Melbourne’s many small ventures, and plugging them in to dynamic local ecosystems, is a long-term task.

Thanks to our hosts Hall & Wilcox, panellists, attendees and to the Victorian Government for sponsoring this event as part of the Digital Innovation Futures Victoria.