CCRM Australia receives funding from MTPConnect’s Project Fund Program
Thursday, 26 October 2017 – Melbourne, Australia:
MTPConnect – the Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals Industry Growth Centre – today announced it will provide a proposed $780,000 provisional funding over two years, with matched funding coming from the sector.
The funding will allow CCRM Australia to implement the first two years of the documented proposed 5 Year Strategy designed to fast-track the commercialisation of Australian regenerative medicine (RM) technologies linking up to a global accelerator network, initiated in Canada.
Many of Australia’s leading researchers, industry, service providers and advocates have come together in the largest national regenerative medicine industry-led consortium to support the creation of CCRM Australia.
The project is led by The Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute and includes Founding Members: CSIRO, St Vincent’s Institute for Medical Research, Cell Therapies P/L, Monash University. Affiliate members include: Australian National NanoFabrication Facility, Bioplatforms Australia, CCRM (Canada), and the Centre for Cell Therapy Manufacturing. CCRM Australia also has a number of Partners that come from industry, government agencies and department, academia and peak bodies.
CCRM Australia is a not for profit established to address bottlenecks in the translation and commercialisation of RM discoveries in Australia and to support a faster path to market for technologies.
CCRM Australia is modelled on the highly successful CCRM in Canada and linked directly to the Canadian initiative – CCRM Canada.
As a member of the Global CCRM network, CCRM Australia is a partner to a leading edge global industry consortium. CCRM Australia is directly facilitating and supporting taking RM from bench to bedside, in an effort to treat and potentially cure some of the most devastating and costly diseases in the world today.
MTPConnect’s Project Fund Program is a competitive, dollar-for-dollar matched funding program investing in big, bold ideas to improve the productivity, competitiveness and innovative capacity of Australia’s medical technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector. MTPConnect is supported by the Australian Government’s Industry Growth Centres Initiative.
This year, MTPConnect has selected 20 national MTP projects to receive $7.385 million in funding over two years with proposed matched funding of $15.2million coming from the sector. Last year, the launch of the program saw 14 projects receive $7.4 million in funding over two years, with matched funding of $15.6 million. Following the success of these projects, this year’s program received significant interest from the sector, with 33 applications from industry, research organisations and universities to share in the funding available, with a proposed $25.8 million of matched funding coming from the sector.
Sue MacLeman, CEO of MTPConnect, said, “MTPConnect is focused on harnessing Australia’s world-class research to seize more commercialisation opportunities and accelerate growth. As part of our mission, we are funding big, bold ideas that will deliver results on a national scale, have sector-wide impact, and are aligned with the Sector Growth Priorities we have identified in our 10-year Sector Competitiveness Plan. By supporting project such as CCRM Australia, we believe we can develop a more vibrant MTP sector ecosystem with more successful companies, and ultimately improve the health and wellbeing of Australia and the world.”
“CCRM Australia is the first in a global network of regenerative medicine commercialisation hubs being established under the leadership of CCRM Canada”, said Mr Silvio Tiziani, Executive Director of CCRM Australia. “The link between Australian regenerative technology researchers and counterparts in Canada has been one that has been in place for some years, but with this funding support and the engagement from so many industry stakeholders in this Australian initiative, we are confident that this accelerated approach to translation will yield far more impactful returns and stronger clinical benefits sooner.”
For more information on MTPConnect’s Project Fund Program and the successful applicants, visit: www.mtpconnect.org.au/2017projects
About MTPConnect
MTPConnect was formed as an industry-led independent not-for-profit organisation in November 2015 as part of the federal government’s Industry Growth Centres Initiative to accelerate the rate of growth of the MTP sector to achieve greater commercialisation and establish Australia as an Asia-Pacific hub for MTP companies.
The MTPConnect Head Office is located at the New Horizons Building at Monash University, co-located with CSIRO and industry. There are also key hubs at the University of Sydney’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology and the Medical Device Research Institute at Flinders University at Tonsley in Adelaide.
Media inquiries:
CCRM Australia
Michelle Gallaher
Communications Director CCRM Australia/ The Social Science
+61 417 784 856
michelle@thesocialscience.com.au
MTPConnect
Zoe Stephenson
Corporate Communications Manager, MTPConnect
+61 417 267 739
zoe.stephenson@mtpconnect.org.au
Background – CCRM Australia Stakeholders
Founding Members CCRM Australia (initial in-kind and financial investment)
Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute
Cell Therapies Pty Ltd
CSIRO
Monash University
St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research
CCRM Canada
Affiliates (funding contribution)
Australian National Nanofabrication Facility (ANNF)
Bioplatforms Australia (BPA)
CRC for Cell Therapy Manufacturing
Partners
National Partners:
AusBiotech
Industry Mentoring Network in STEM (INMIS)
Therapeutic innovations Australia (TIA)
Victorian Partners:
Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Sciences (AIMSS)
Hudson Institute of Medical Research
Monash Institute of Medical Research
Western Australia Partners:
Ear Science Institute
Queensland Partners:
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, QUT
Government Funders:
State Government of Victoria
MTPConnect, Australian Government
Industry Sponsors:
Australian Red Cross Blood Service
Cynata
Regeneus
ReNerve
The Social Science