Tasmanian feature: Wired island

Tasmania's Intelligent Island program has a central focus on bioinformatics, with a proposal to build an R&D centre of excellence that will attract world class researchers to Tasmania, generate IP and spin off commercial companies.

The multi-million dollar Intelligent Island initiative is backed by Federal funding to stimulate economic activity in Tasmania's information and communications technology sector.

With the entire spectrum of new technologies to choose from, the board governing Intelligent Island considers bioinformatics the most promising area on which to base the $10 million-plus centre of excellence.

The activities of any centre of excellence are meant to address a large potential market, present scope for commercial partnerships and strategic alliances and generate globally significant intellectual property.

Intelligent Island planners have judged that in the context of Tasmania, those criteria are best met by bioinformatics. In addition, bioinformatics meshes well with the strengths of a recognised Tasmanian player on the global biomedical scene, the Hobart-based Menzies Centre.

It is gaining an international reputation for its epidemiological research into prevention of diseases such as glaucoma and cancer. It has also been designated by the World Health Organisation as a key research body for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Bioinformatics fits the profile of a technology linked to the health sector which would draw on the global recognition of the Menzies Centre and its work on population health issues.

The result was a report to the board last December which stated a bioinformatics centre of excellence would leverage existing Tasmanian activity in medical and biological research, comprehensive population diagnostics and data capture and advanced health care systems.

It concluded that putting the right framework in place would allow Tasmania to attract world-class researchers to staff the facility.

The Intelligent Island board is currently probing the extent of interest in a bioinformatics centre of excellence among potential research and commercial partners. It is also developing a preliminary business plan plus guidelines to ensure the centre's work is based on defined bioethical standards.