Medical Innovation Delivers for Australia
Medical manufacturing can help drive a successful, resilient economic future in Australia.
Australians are world-leading innovators in medical manufacturing and medical technologies. Life-changing diagnostic and treatment technologies such as the cochlear implant, greyscale ultrasound imaging and cervical cancer vaccines are all products of Australian ingenuity and research capability.
In our fast-moving, competitive and disrupted global economy, resting on the laurels of world-leading research alone is not an option. Future innovations in medical technology and industry can, and should, be leveraged to advance Australia’s world-economic strategies over the coming years. That means providing the right support for local researchers and developers and encouraging the commercialisation and manufacturing of these innovations at scale, here at home.
Thanks to earlier Labor governments, Australia enjoys the advantage of a world-class system of Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs), providing innovations the time, space and industry linkages they need to succeed. In the field of health and wellbeing, CRCs have facilitated real, meaningful change for patients. Australian CRCs accelerated the adoption of cochlear technology, pioneered breakthrough research into cardiovascular conditions and developed new treatments to improve quality of life for asthmatics.
In April, the Albanese Government announced a new CRC focused on Additive Manufacturing (AMCRC). This CRC, built on a $27.0 million investment from government, private sector and universities in partnership with one another, maximises the benefits of transformative 3D printing technology. For Australia’s medical manufacturing sector, that means great precision and efficacy in the production of medical devices, personal protective equipment, implant technologies and other therapeutic manufactures. In that respect, the AMCRC is a good example of the ambition driving the Albanese Government’s Future Made in Australia agenda. I want Australia to discover, develop, commercialise and adopt new technologies that improve our national resilience. I want to see people in regional and outer-suburban Australia engaged in good, meaningful jobs, manufacturing the tools and technologies that arise from Australian innovation. I want to see Australian medical technology and bioengineering breakthroughs leading directly to improvements in Australian living standards and quality of life.
The Albanese Labor Government is using all of the levers at our disposal to help make that ambition agenda a reality. Public investments under the Industry Growth Program (IGP), for example, are helping worthy recipients to advance and commercialise their innovations, crowding in the private sector capital that the advanced medical technology sector needs.
More than 300 small and medium enterprises working in the medical science field have received zero-cost advisory services under the IGP, and 10 enterprises have received grants to accelerate the commercialisation and adoption of their innovations. For example, medical device innovator Vexev can prepare and detect common oral diseases. EMVision received a $5 million grant for a “First Responder” portable brain scanner that can provide rapid diagnosis of traumatic brain injuries and strokes.
If successful, Australians will benefit from these medical advancements and the manufacturing and service jobs that come with them. And if these projects don’t succeed as intended, our innovation ecosystem’s valuable lessons that help drive successful research and innovation forward.
In our first term, the Albanese Government established the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, which will lead public investment in areas of critical importance to Australia’s domestic industrial and economic capabilities. Medical science manufacturing is listed as one of the Fund’s seven priority areas for investment. This sends clear signals to private investors that Australia wants to enhance its own industrial capabilities in medical manufacturing and biotechnology.
Australia’s economic success over the next few decades will depend on its ability to drive cutting-edge innovations all the way through the R&D pipeline from discovery to commercialisation, and good manufacturing jobs, at scale. Australian researchers are rightly renowned worldwide for their biomedical expertise. The Albanese Government’s policy strategy is designed to translate Australia’s medical research into Australian medical technology and biotechnology manufacturing in the interests of Australian researchers, firms, patients and communities.
Senator Hon Tim Ayres
Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science
This article was originally published in the Australian Manufacturing Technology Magazine, October 2025.
