Digital Health – Opportunities For Overseas Participants

With significant government assistance, Australia is developing a wide array of digital health initiatives and is looking for overseas organisations to participate.

Our healthcare system is already in good shape – it delivers long life expectancy at half the cost of the US - and our health innovations are known worldwide – Cochlear implants, spray-on skin, the cervical cancer vaccine and a cure for peptic ulcers – to name a few. About 90% of Australian residents are signed up to My Health Record, an electronic health record.

One of Australia’s challenges is to deliver world-class healthcare across our vast and sparsely populated regional and rural areas where healthcare services are hard to deliver. Many places in remote locations rely on Australia’s Flying Doctor service when emergencies arise and rural towns have problems finding sufficient qualified staff.

Digital Health initiatives are part of the solution.

Government investment in health infrastructure includes a National Digital Health Strategy 2018 – 2022, which encourages collaboration between stakeholders. Opportunities for international involvement have been identified in five areas – management of chronic illness, support for babies and young children, advanced care planning, better information sharing for urgent & emergency care and widening access to telehealth services.

Australia also has

• a A$20bn Medical Research Future Fund,

• a Biomedical Translation Fund (A$500m) to co-invest in emerging Australian biomedical companies with licenced Australian venture capital firms

• a National Health and Medical Industry Growth Plan to fund and underpin Australian genomic research

• a R&D tax rebate scheme.

Foreign investment partners are welcomed to participate in these initiatives.

Australia is an attractive location to trial health solutions or grow businesses and leverage Australia’s international regulatory compatibility to enter global markets. Overseas businesses including Johnson and Johnson has taken advantage of these schemes to establish a presence in Australia.

If your company is interested, Global Alliance Partners can provide more details and assist in the process of obtaining TGA approvals, if required, to undertake a business venture in Australia.