Four members of AusBiotech have been included in a list of Australia's most innovative companies.
AbbVie, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson and Planet Innovation, all made it into the 2015 BRW 50 Most Innovative Companies in Australia.
The list measures the drivers of innovation according to Inventium’s best-practice Innovation Framework.
“Innovation is more than a one off good idea, it is about implementing processes and a course of action to test, refine and continuously measure outputs to achieve a true ideas driven status,” said Dr Amantha Imber, founder of Inventium.
Bio-medical and clean-tech company, Planet Innovation, was recognised as the most innovative company, followed by MYOB and Mirvac.
Planet Innovation was recognised for its partnership with Blamey Saunders in the development of a new hearing aid system that incorporates a smartphone app and a Bluetooth-enabled programmer, called Incus.
Incus is a small programmer that sits between the hearing aid and the user's smartphone or computer. By using it, patients do not have to meet face-to-face with a real audiologist in order to adjust their hearing aid.
Biopharmaceutical company AbbVie was also included in the list, for the fourth year in a row, ranked 21 for its innovative approach to ways of working.
AbbVie has over 240 employees in Australia.
“As an industry we could sometimes do a better job of explaining the value of our innovative medicines. Every single thing we do is focused on improving the health outcomes of patients and we should be proud of the positive impact we have,” said General Manager Kirsten O’Doherty.
Ms O’Doherty added, “We are incredibly proud to have achieved a place in the top 50 Most Innovative Companies for the fourth year in a row.
“Over the last four years, we have created a culture and capability across the entire organisation about what innovation means, what it looks like and what people’s roles are to drive that. Innovation goes far beyond product innovation to the support and processes that drive a truly patient centric approach and allow us to have a remarkable impact on patients’ lives.
“It is wonderful to be recognised for this work and we look forward to continuing to innovate to support the most important stakeholder, the patient, in future years.”
Johnson & Johnson was ranked 46, recognised for its innovative approach to employee engagement. Bayer was ranked 39 for innovation in the prevention and early detection of crop diseases.