Innovation fund for health and medical research

The Rudd government has announced a policy commitment to grow investment in the health and medical research sector, as outlined in its McKeon Research Package.

At the heart of this initial response to the McKeon Review of Health and Medical Research is the Medical Research Innovation Fund, which will include $125 million of government funds matched with an equivalent amount from the private sector.

Research Australia Managing Director Elizabeth Foley acknowledged the government’s support and said that investments such as the Medical Research Innovation Fund are critical to the growth and development of the sector.

“Venture capital for the biological sciences virtually dried up following the global financial crisis. The Medical Research Innovation Fund is the type of needed to attract private sector venture capital,” Foley said.

Research Australia also welcomed the government’s recognition that the time required for investment in biotech and biomedical research can be long, by allowing a 15-year duration for the fund.

“We believe that the tenure of this fund will also help to attract the support of new private capital such as superannuation funds, which need to find long-term investments of greater than 10 years,” Foley continued.

The McKeon Research Package is the government’s initial response to the recommendations of the McKeon Review, a strategic review of health and medical research that was commissioned and conducted across Australia last year.

The McKeon Research Package also addresses other recommendations such as the provision of seed funding for four Integrated Health Research Networks, plans to establish 19 Centres for Research Excellence on priority topics and streamlining the competitive grants application process.