Health Horizon has launched an online collection of hundreds of Australian health innovations to unlock the possibility of collaboration on a national scale.
The platform is the first milestone of a project funded by MTPConnect, the Australian government's Medical Technology and Pharmaceutical Industry Growth Centre.
The project is providing a ‘living’ showcase of health innovations in Australia, identifying, cataloguing and tracking in real time as they develop.
The Australian Health Innovation Showcase, which is open to investors, health practitioners and the public, is a place people can learn about and lend support to the diverse and rapidly evolving national health innovation ecosystem.
“We often get glimpses of incredible advances in health on the news, but too often never hear about them again,” said Marcus Dawe, CEO of Health Horizon. “This project will make the progress of health innovations under development in Australia easily searchable and trackable, changing how Australians interact with what’s coming in health and improving future outcomes.”
The showcase creation is a culmination of effort from a consortium of national organisations and industry and academic innovation leaders, including the Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA), Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA), Medical Software Industry of Australia (MSIA), ANDHealth, Hospital and Health Services IP Ltd, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Australia, Queensland University of Technology and University of Newcastle.
According to Bronwyn Le Grice, managing director of ANDHealth, the Australian National Digital Health Initiative said: “We are delighted to have partnered with Health Horizon on this initiative. Digital Health is a sector which is growing at a pace that means that traditional directories are often out of date before they are published. The Health Horizon initiative will provide a living database of health innovations creating a foundation for increasing collaboration, partnering and investment both domestically and with international partners.”
“The emerging heath start-up ecosystem in Australia is very supportive and we enjoy sharing what we have learnt with others,” said Dr Raghav Murali-Ganesh, CancerAid co-founder who has mentored over 20 health technology startups. “The [Australian Health Innovation] Showcase will allow us to share our successes with the broader community, opening up avenues for collaboration and growth."