Healthcare and the potential it presents the region's companies to enter an emerging, opportunity-rich industry sector has become a stronger focus for the Hunter Central Coast.
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The combined region has a distinguished manufacturing history. Shipbuilding and steelmaking have previously underpinned its economic strength and now it's food manufacturing and the multibillion-dollar resources and defence sectors that continue to call on the region's high-performing SMEs to produce crucial equipment, technology and products.
Our traditional, regulated industries have produced a workforce with skills at both technical and trade levels that deliver smart, technically sophisticated solutions. This, coupled with a track record for adaptability in the face of economic shocks, increases the ease with which our companies apply transferrable skills and knowledge into new, high-tech industry sectors, such as healthtech.
The region is fortunate to have a strong health sector managed by forward-thinking, collaborative executives who are actively seeking to engage with the local industry base and work together to solve health's problems - locally if they can.
Formal systems and processes are being developed by the region's enabling organisations in partnership with industry to ensure that companies can work side-by-side with clinicians, researchers, educators and scientists to contribute to solving health challenges.
The Hunter Central Coast health and medtech industry base is burgeoning. Compared with our mining, logistics, wine-making, food manufacturing and equine industries, it's small and diverse, but it's motivated. There's a shared ambition to expand, build capability and capacity, and be part of a local supply chain solution. We have the chance to help local companies uncover and seize opportunities in a new and profitable sector.
RDA Hunter through its Health and Medtech Industry Cluster is one of the enabling organisations that's helping to make it happen.
The Health and Medtech Industry Cluster (HMIC) was established by RDA Hunter in 2020. Its stakeholder base is, like the region's wider economy, large and varied. Companies with technical expertise in health and medtech, advanced manufacturing and engineering, local health districts, clinicians, allied health providers, healthtech-focused professional services companies, researchers, educators, government and industry peak bodies are represented.
HMIC is working with its 125 stakeholder companies towards the collective aim of regional growth through new partnerships that result in commercial projects that solve clinical and process problems. Our vision is to see the region's clinicians, advanced manufacturers, health providers, technology developers, researchers, engineers, project managers, design thinkers, CROs, enablers and government representatives uniting to produce and commercialise world-first innovations.
We're excited to be facilitating engagement between the John Hunter Health Innovation Precinct, its foundation partners and the region's health and medtech-focused industry base to explore how we can turn this ambition into reality.
Awareness of the Hunter Central Coast as a genuine contributor in Australia's healthtech sector is growing. To this end, today we've released awareness raising materials that highlight the region's strengths as a location for healthtech and insights about its existing health and medtech companies. Together with a new video, Region Ready: HealthTech produced in partnership with Out of the Square Media, our HealthTech Investment Prospectus outlines a strong case for the Hunter Central Coast having all the elements needed to contribute to advancements in health.
Here's some of what our latest capability survey found.
The region has a spread of large and small, mature and start-up health and medtech companies representing medtech, digital health, wellness, biotech, service and health providers. Interestingly, 17 per cent have been operating for more than 25 years.
Collaboration is a differentiator: 76 per cent collaborate with universities, 60 per cent with hospitals/health and 54 per cent with other industries. Importantly, 94 per cent want to build more collaborations with hospitals and universities to develop solutions to health problems.
Currently, 510 clinical trials are active, 43 per cent sponsored by industry - often global pharmaceuticals companies.
Most important is that regional sentiment is positive. In the next 12 months, 82 per cent of HMIC companies are planning to expand their teams, 46 per cent are planning to invest in R&D and 57 per cent are planning to invest in new products.
Visit hmic.org.au for more information.
Kate O'Mara is the director of HMIC
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