AusBiotech responds to NSW’s draft Manufacturing Industry Action Plan

The four key responses that AusBiotech members believe should be considered a priority for advanced manufacturing in medical technology in NSW are:

1. AusBiotech supports Recommendation 4 – Addressing the skills shortage faced by the NSW manufacturing industry will strengthen Australia’s entrepreneurial management expertise in the manufacturing of medical technologies.

2. AusBiotech supports Recommendation 5.6 to promote/support establishment and development of industry clusters, including collaboration across supply chains, to achieve greater success in project bids. This would include providing active support for the specific initiatives raised by industry associations to promote and support industry clustering.

   NSW has developed a cluster of excellence in the field of medical technology/advanced manufacturing, and is home to a number of globally recognised companies including Cochlear, ResMed and CathRx to name but a few. Anecdotally, their success is a by-product not just of the entrepreneurship, ingenuity and persistence of the individuals involved directly with those organisations, but of a critical mass of expertise and interest in NSW, sufficient to form the ‘engine room’ of a globally sustainable, growing, competitive medtech industry.

   AusBiotech recommends that support be given to leverage this strength and develop the cluster into one of the top 10 medical technology clusters in the world. With that, goes the international investment, job creation and export earnings of a large, globally-oriented and rapidly-expanding industry segment.

3. Regarding Recommendation 7, AusBiotech supports the enhanced access to finance for SME manufacturers, in particular via the NSW Government’s response to the Health and Medical Research Strategic Review to establish the $5 million seed fund for the development and commercialisation of innovative medical devices. AusBiotech also supports Recommendation 7.1 to support the establishment of a finance insurance scheme to encourage lending to more manufacturers and leverages the seed fund scheme and would welcome the reintroduction of the NSW Government’s successful TechVoucher program.

4. AusBiotech believes that Recommendation 9, to implement a strategic approach to promotion of exports, can be assisted by a collaborative industry-consortium approach to training, preparation, representation and promotion.

The full submission can be found at the AusBiotech website.