THE digital revolution is a vehicle for positive change and improvement in many industries - and none moreso than healthcare - but many business leaders are struggling to understand its long term ramifications. That is the emphasis of a special Innovation Series event in Melbourne next Wednesday which features three leaders in the field explaining how digital technologies are already impacting Australia's community and business futures in ways that are not generally understood.

John Sheridan, CEO of Digital Business insights.

The theme, Digital Innovation Enabling Healthcare Solutions, is of particular interest at this time, with healthcare widely cited as being an early beneficiary of the roll-out of the National Broadband Network and other improvements in Australia's connectivity.

Whether the healthcare productivity ‘dividend' that is anticipated from the digital revolution comes about could be more a factor of how the technology is rolled out and accepted by both health care professionals and patients as it is about timeframes and connectivity speeds.

That is a major point Digital Business insights (DBi) CEO John Sheridan will hammer home, tapping into his 12 years of detailed research into the digital revolution - especially his most recent study which maps the digital economy of Melbourne's northern Local Government areas. 

Mr Sheridan paints a compelling picture of what the digital revolutions really is, based on DBi's analysis of more than 50,000 business surveys in Australia. He also points out what it isn't - especially where conventional wisdom and the ‘official' views of the digital revolution vary markedly from what DBi's detailed, long-term research reveals. Mr Sheridan offers surprising insights into what that implies for the future of health care.

At the frontlines of health care, the need for fast, effective, reliable information technology has never been greater. Digital systems are the cornerstone of effective future health care, according to Royal District Nursing Service (RDNS) general manager for Internal Investments, Philip Robinson.

But the digital revolution is doing more than changing methods of health care, it is also changing the relationship between health care frontline staff and their patients - and this is a focus of Mr Robinson's presentation.

RDNS wants to help older Australians to stay in their homes longer, and to reduce hospital admissions via increased use of Telehealth services delivered over high-speed broadband. Mr Robinson will discuss the drivers for increased use of Telehealth and the productivity gains obtained by RDNS as a result of using virtual nursing services via Telehealth.

Mr Robinson has written major submissions for the Digital Regions Initiative (for Stroke Management and Aged Care Assessment), the Broadband Enabled Innovation Program (for Medication Management) and the NBN Telehealth Pilot Program (for Chronic Disease Management).

He has managed a number of strategic projects for RDNS including establishment of an ICT Strategic Plan, Remote Patient Management of Medication Compliance via video-conferencing, establishment of an enterprise Video-Conferencing System and the introduction of smartphone-based mobility solutions for personal care workers.

With economic forecasting predicting that, by 2043, Australia's current model of health service delivery will consume 40 percent of all Australian taxes, and health expenditure by State Governments exceeding their total forecast revenues, the views of CSIRO's specialist in this area, Dr Ian Oppermann, will highlight these ramifications at the Innovation Series event.

Dr Ian Oppermann, CSIRO.

As the director of the CSIRO's Flagship for Digital Productivity, Dr Oppermann is navigating the many digital options that can assist the healthcare sector in combating what he describes as "a changing case mix and an identified productivity gap of around 20 percent".

Digital health information systems and technologies, broadband communications and big data analytics are all areas which Dr Oppermann believes can help provide cost-effective services in Australia's health system, offering better access to the regions, greater efficiency and higher quality health care.

The Innovation Series, now in its ninth year, provides a unique forum convening researchers, industry and government to address and discuss leading developments in sustainability, while also encouraging the exchange of ideas and inviting new collaborations.

The Innovation Series is an initiative of Zernike Australia and is supported nationally by the Australian Institute for Commercialisation and CSIRO, while in Melbourne the sponsors are ANSTO and RMIT university. Business Acumen is the media partner for the Australian Innovation Series.

http://www.innovationseries.com.au/

ends

THE University of Queensland's technology incubator, ilab, has been given the tick of approval by the Queensland Government, with funding granted for the next two years of operations. The incubator has also secured a new seed funding and private investment fund arrangement to assist some of its start-up companies, in alliance with Artesian Venture Partners and UniQuest.

Opengear is one of ilab's long-term success stories. Co-founders are Tony Merenda and Bob Waldie.

Established by the Queensland Government in 2000 - and now operated by The University of Queensland's main commercialisation company, UniQuest -  ilab assists entrepreneurs and early stage high tech companies through the first few years of development.

Financial challenges brought on by the global financial crisis and a change of State Government have in recent years overshadowed ilab's fine record in providing seed funding, team development and mentoring to offer many Queensland start-up technology companies a greater chance of success.  Ilab has incubated more than 100 start-up companies and helped them to raise over $70 million in grant and investment capital, generating close to 400 technology jobs.

Some of their better-known start-ups include Opengear, QRX Pharma. Liquid Animation. Grabba, Fusion Sport, Microwave and Materials Designs, Charm Health, Cleveland Biosensors and Redlflow.

The State Government funding will go towards continued support of ilab's Germinate programs, building on the success it has achieved over the past two years of its operation.

Germinate has invested almost $300,000 across 19 new enterprises and a further 17 companies have been supported by ilab resources and mentors.

The participants in the Germinate program have included Tiger Temple, an online street style clothing store; Veilability, a venue matching service for the bridal industry; and Fizziofit, which delivers exercise, medicine and fitness technology resources for healthcare professionals.

Ilab program director Leigh Angus said the funding approval was a sign of confidence in ilab and results from the successes that have been achieved by ilab in supporting early stage technology enterprises and their founders.

"We are thrilled at the announcement of the next round of funding which will enable us to continue our work to support entrepreneurs and technology start-ups as they develop and grow their ideas," Ms Angus said.

Further good news for ilab this week was the announcement of a private investment fund to be established in conjunction with Artesian Venture Partners and UniQuest.

UniQuest CEO, Dr Dean Moss said that agreement, reached recently with Artesian Venture Partners, will build a $1.5 million ‘Accelerate Investment Fund' which will invest in a subset of graduates from ilab's Germinate Program.

Mr Moss said, "ilab has been achieving excellent results and we are proud to come together with Artesian Venture Partners to build the Accelerate Investment Fund which will offer private investors a vehicle to invest in a number of the early stage start-up businesses coming through ilab," he said.

Artesian Venture Partners has committed to raising a majority of the $1.5 million fund and will be both investing in the fund itself and inviting private investors to participate.

Jeremy Colless, managing principal of Artesian Venture Partners, said the ilab incubator is already producing start-ups that are attractive to private investors and he is looking forward to the results that the collaboration will bring.

"The program and network access that ilab provides to its program participants accelerates and focuses their business development helping create robust, scalable ventures for angel and other early stage investors," Mr Colless said.

"We are looking forward to working with UniQuest in establishing the investment fund, supporting early stage start up businesses and producing successful commercial outcomes from the burgeoning Queensland tech start-up community."

www.ilab.com.au

www.uniquest.com.au

ILAB

UQ Holdings Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of The University of Queensland (UQ), acquired ilab in 2009. With continued funding from the State Government, ilab has become an independent division of another UQ Holdings subsidiary, UniQuest, with its own funding, staffing and management structure.  ilab is supported by the Queensland Government.

UNIQUEST

UniQuest is the main commercialisation company of The University of Queensland (UQ), specialising in the commercialisation of intellectual property, research outcomes and expertise.  UniQuest delivers commercialisation outcomes which are valuable for UQ and profound for business, the environment, global communities and society as a whole. UniQuest's two business offerings - IP Commercialisation and Expertise Commercialisation - are designed to support UQ's global strategy, industry engagement and reputation for excellence.

UniQuest benchmarks in the top 10 percent globally for university-based technology transfer. UniQuest-licensed UQ innovations are now generating annual sales of $3 billion.  UQ superconductor technology, through licensing arrangements, is used in two-thirds of the world's MRIs and more than 79 million doses of the life-saving Gardasil cervical cancer vaccine, patented by UniQuest in 1991, have been distributed throughout 121 countries, including 72 developing countries.

ends

THE Australian Government’s Food Industry Innovation Precinct, which attracted food manufacturing leader Peter Schutz to come out of retirement to chair and form the organisation, will be established initially at La Trobe University’s R&D Park Bundoora campus, in Melbourne’s north.

The Food Industry Innovation Precinct has landed in Melbourne, but it will assist high potential growth farming areas like the Cairns region, too.

The Food Industry Innovation Precinct board accepted an offer from La Trobe University and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) to host the precinct for an interim 12 month period.

The Bundoora campus provides access to key infrastructure such as pilot plant and food preparation and tasting laboratories and is close to food industry partners in sectors such as dairy, confectionary, meat and cereal.

As part of the government’s $504.5 million Industry Innovation Precincts initiative, Minister for Climate Change, Industry and Innovation, Greg Combet, said establishing the precinct at the R&D Park would enable it to start building opportunities for Australia’s food industry and meeting the goals of the National Food Plan.

“The industry is already a major exporter, however the precinct will ensure it is able to develop the capacity and capability to take advantage of export industries in the Asian century,” Mr Combet said.

Peter Schutz

“This industry-led initiative will help to make the food sector more attractive to investment.

“Establishing the precinct at R&D Park for an initial 12 month period will enable all potential hosts to prepare more detailed bids to host the precinct permanently.”

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Joe Ludwig, said the precinct was an important element of implementing the National Food Plan released last month.

“This will help us work towards the National Food Plan goal to increase the value of Australia’s agriculture and food-related exports by 45 percent by 2025,” Mr Ludwig said.

“The Food Industry Innovation Precinct is a national initiative. Supported by the Industry Innovation Network, the precinct will help collaboration right across Australia’s food and beverage industry.

“The new precinct will build more links between researchers, producers and food businesses to accelerate commercially-driven collaboration and innovation.

“An important aim is to support growth in Australia’s market share of processed food exports to existing and new markets.”

The Industry Innovations Precincts Program is a part of the Australian Government’s $1 billion Plan for Australian Jobs.

The other precinct named is for the manufacturing sector and is chaired by former Siemens Australia and Asia Pacific chief, Albert Goller.

It will also be primarily located in Melbourne, with an Adelaide base for Defence manufacturing. Another eight precincts are planned for various industry sectors around Australia, according to Mr Combet.

http://www.aussiejobs.innovation.gov.au/programs/Industry-Innovation-Precincts/Pages/Food-Precinct.aspx

ends