New report puts Victoria on top

Victoria has cemented its reputation as Australia's biotechnology and bioscience industry leader, which was initiated with the introduction of the smallpox vaccine 80 years ago, a report has found.

Victorian Biotechnology and Bioscience Based Industry, prepared for the State government by consultancy BioAccent, found the state had more than a third of Australia's dedicated biotech firms.

It found Victoria emerged as the over all industry leader followed by New South Wales with 26 per cent, Queensland with 17 per cent and Western Australia with 11 per cent.

South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania accounted for the remaining 12 per cent. "Victoria's biotechnology and bioscience based sector, long recognised globally for its excellent research base and key contributions from industry for over 80 years, is rapidly developing and strengthening its position as a major global biotechnology centre," wrote report author David Fayle.

Fayle found that Victoria's stock exchange-listed dedicated biotechs accounted for $7 billion of the Australia's total $8 billion market capitalisation of the sector.

But he pointed out the reason was primarily that Australia's largest biotech, CSL, was situated within the state.

The report showed that the Victorian industry growth was demonstrated through more start-up companies, investment flowing into the sector and major initiatives such as the National Synchrotron Project and Biotechnology Centre of Excellence underpinning the state's strengths.

It said Victoria's biotech strengths lay predominantly in the health sector, specifically in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, reproductive technologies, clinical trial management and biomedical, cell and tissue engineering.

It found that one in three dedicated biotechs was involved in research, development or manufacture of drugs and therapeutics, while one in five focused on diagnostics.

The report also revealed that of the state's 86 dedicated biotechs, half had been conceived since 1999.

"Victoria continues to house more biotechnology companies than any other state, and start-up companies are emerging as an accelerated rate," the report says. "They are underpinned by the extraordinary wealth of top-class research that continues to come from Victorian institutes and elsewhere."

It concluded that strategic linkages and access to global markets were increasingly important, and said that the challenge now was to nurture the fledgling start-up companies to achieve a critical mass with global presence.

But despite Victoria's premier position in the Australian biotech scene, the report urges a more collaborative, national approach, rather than interstate rivalry.

"Networks within Australia form a vital basis on which to develop this global industry, and Australia will gain the greatest benefit if the states and territories work together and support and applaud each other's growth and success," Fayle writes.

"Raising the benchmark, as Victoria is doing, will help the whole industry grow."

The report is complemented by a revised edition of the Victorian Biotechnology and Bioscience Company Directory.