Strategy overview
The Biotechnology Skills Formation Strategy was formed to lead the development of Queensland's Biotechnology and Medical Devices industry through collective action and engagement with key opinion leaders and industry associations.
The Queensland biotechnology industry consists of companies, usually small to medium enterprises that seek to develop advances in knowledge in the area of Life Sciences. This knowledge is garnered to create new products to advance human health and wellbeing and support efficient and sustainable industrial, agricultural and animal production.
At the commencement of the strategy the small biotechnology industry lacked the capacity and cohesiveness to address their industry wide issues including skill retention.
Outcomes
- An industry leaders group has been formed, the Biotechnology and Medical Devices Industry Forum (BMDIF). This forum is chaired by an industry representative.
- Queensland Life Sciences: Gearing Up Going Forward.
This was a roundtable discussion on the Pros and Cons of mergers and acquisitions. The forum identified mergers and acquisitions as an important topic for the industry.
The event attracted sponsorship from Ausbiotech and Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA). This event brought both the large organisations associated with MTAA together with the small organisations associated with Ausbiotech. Guest speakers included a senior representative from CSL (Ione of the top 20 biotechnology companies in the world). - Research Industry Collaboration Group (RICoG) has been established, consisting of 15 stakeholders including representatives from the Wesley Research Institute, QUT tissue bank, Tetra Q, Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), Ausonex and Hope Island Insurance. Internationally, good research and corporate governance are becoming increasingly important indicators for the ability to attract grants and research contracts. For Queensland to stay competitive, Queensland organisations need to establish and set high industry benchmarks that will allow for Queensland organisations to compete for European contracts. RICoG has taken on this challenge through collaboration to raise the bar in research governance. Long term the group would like to establish a modular research and corporate governance package that small companies can use depending on their needs.
This page was last updated at 30-July-2010