UNIVERSITY ROUNDTABLE

The second Research Australia University Roundtable for 2023 was held on Wednesday 31 May at the Australian Catholic University, at its Fitzroy Melbourne campus. The Roundtable was hosted by Australian Catholic University at its Fitzroy Melbourne campus. For those who attended in person, a tour of the ACU Health Precinct and lunch were provided prior to the formal proceedings.

The Roundtable was held as hybrid meeting, which was attended by 29 representatives from 25 universities, seven in person. The Roundtable was also attended by Associate Professor Annette Schmiede, CEO of the Digital Health CRC in her capacity as Chair of Research Australia; and Professor Greg Kaplan, COO of the Woolcock Institute, in his capacity as Director of Research Australia. Lucy Clynes, General Manager, deputised for Research Australia CEO, Nadia Levin who was on leave. The Roundtable is chaired by Professor Russell Gruen.

The focus of this roundtable was on engagement with industry.

CSL Incubator - The first presenter was Metani Rooms, who discussed the CSL Incubator as she is the CSL Incubator Establishment Lead. Metani explained the Incubator was being delivered in partnership with the University of Melbourne, WEHI, and Breakthrough Victoria (Vic Government) but that it was accepting startups from all over Australia.

The Incubator will occupy two floors in CSL’s new global headquarters in Melbourne, providing laboratory and other working spaces for up to 40 start-ups at any one time. There is no requirement for the start-ups to be aligned to CSL’s own research or commercial interests. It is due to open in late 2023.

Metani also presented the CSL Research Acceleration Initiative, which focuses on early-stage projects that are in specific areas alignment with CSL’s therapeutic areas. It aims to build relationships with entrepreneurial researchers and fast track discovery of innovative medicines that address unmet needs. Successful applicants receive financial support as well as practical support by CSL champions to provide expert, industry guidance. The program will open in January 2024.

Melbourne BioDesign Program was presented by Professor David B. Grayden, who is based at the University of Melbourne. He leads the Biodesign Innovation program in collaboration with the Melbourne Business School.

The program works with teams of students from the Master of Engineering and Master of Business Administration students to utilise their individual expertise to come together and solve problems in a health and medical research environment.

The program has provided many practical solutions for a range of clinical problems, which has resulted generated many startup companies, who are now progressing towards having products available in the market.

This program is very successful, and Professor Grayden with other institutions who wish to replicate the program but also with students who aspire to become inventors and entrepreneurs.

The next University Roundtable will be held on 30 August at the University of the Sunshine Coast. This roundtable will focus on researchers engaging with Government.