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Filed Under: BUSINESS, HEALTH, INVEST, TECHNOLOGY Tagged With: ADaPT, BiVACOR, Blockchain, Cohort, Griffith Mechanobiology Lab, Griffith University, medical devices, Medtech, Precise Light Surgical, Tymlez

International tech companies move into Precinct

Mayor Tom Tate, with Griffith Vice-Chancellor Prof Carolyn Evans and researchers views the BiVACOR artificial heart

A US-based company behind the world’ first rotary artificial heart (BiVACOR), and another developing a novel surgical laser technology in Silicon Valley (Precise Light Surgical), have been joined by a Netherlands blockchain technology company (TYMLEZ) to base operations in the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct (GCHKP).

Investment attraction incentives endorsed by City of Gold Coast, together with strong research collaboration opportunities at Griffith University and the opportunity to link with the Precinct’s clinicians, helped attract the companies to join a growing cluster of medical, health and digital technology businesses.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate joined Griffith University Vice-Chancellor Professor Carolyn Evans to welcome the companies into the Precinct, touring the university’s world-class mechanobiology lab to view the BiVACOR artificial heart being tested for optimum blood-flow, before visiting Cohort Innovation Space, where two of the businesses will be based.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate with a 3D printed anotomical wrist model and biodegradable artificial implant

Mayor Tate, who also viewed Griffith-developed artificial wrist technology being tested on a specialised orthopaedic robot, says the GCHKP provides the perfect place for innovative companies to scale-up and grow knowledge-based jobs for the city.

“These companies are in the growth industries of the future and will build the ecosystem of innovation that is developing in the Precinct alongside Griffith University and the hospitals,” Mayor Tate says.

“Our incentives are aimed at supporting their early growth phases so that they can expand highly-skilled jobs here and undertake collaborative research locally to commercialise these exciting new technologies.”

BiVACOR, founded in Brisbane by biomedical engineer and CEO Daniel Timms and headquartered in Houston Texas, has based its international office and software, electronic hardware, and blood compatibility R&D in the Precinct as it continues collaboration with Griffith University’s world-class Mechanobiology Research Laboratory, and prepares its durable total artificial heart for use in the first patients.

Precise Light Surgical (PLS) will base its CEO, Australian R&D and commercial team in the Precinct and plans to roll-out Australian manufacture of its patented Optical Scalpel (O-Pel™) system that precisely removes selected tissue while sparing surrounding anatomy such as nerves and blood vessels. PLS has approval in Australia, the US, and Europe for more than 80 different surgical indications, across eight specialties.

ASX-listed TYMLEZ, founded in the Netherlands and also operating in Germany, offers enterprise-grade blockchain solutions with a focus on supporting clean energy sustainability, along with other opportunities to develop healthcare products that rely on secure, trackable and traceable data transfer.

Griffith University Vice-Chancellor Prof Carolyn Evans tests the BiVACOR artificial heart

Griffith University Vice Chancellor Professor Carolyn Evans, who joined Mayor Tate on the visit to the university’s mechanobiology lab , said industry co-location was critical to taking research out of the lab and providing jobs for graduates.

“There is an increasing focus on linking university research with industry for commercial outcomes and social impact,” Professor Evans said.

“Working with these co-located companies, our researchers will be able to directly contribute to translating improved healthcare and initiatives for a sustainable future, while our students will have access to internship and training opportunities, and our graduates will have great local job opportunities.”

BiVACOR CEO Daniel Timms said the company, which has recently raised a further $22milion to develop its device as a viable alternative to transplantation for end-stage heart failure, was confident in the opportunity on the Gold Coast for successful research translation, and a smooth pathway to bringing the technology to the first Australian patients, as part of a consortium of universities and hospitals.

“After coming back from the US where we work very closely with the world-renowned Texas Heart Institute, to see the expansion of this area was really attractive for us to bring our technology back to work with a world-leading laboratory at Griffith, which didn’t exist when we started almost 20 years ago,” Mr Timms said.

“Central to our device is one spinning disk that pumps the blood, and we use magnetic levitation technology so that it is suspended in the blood and there is no mechanical wear, which has been the limitation of artificial hearts to date, with pulsing sacs that will eventually wear out and break.

We’re going to be able to have a situation where the heart device is unlikely to fail, and the patient is able to rely on their implanted artificial heart to pump the blood they need for the rest of their life.”

Prof Carolyn Evans with Precise Light Surgical CEO Richard Nash and Mayor Tate

Precise Light Surgical CEO Richard Nash, an experienced medical technology executive with more than 10 years in management with industry giant Medtronic, said support from City of Gold Coast added to the attractiveness of the Medtech ecosystem in Southeast Queensland as an Asia Pacific base, working alongside their global headquarters in Silicon Valley.

“The Gold Coast has much more to offer than just lifestyle. We see it as the icing on the cake,” Mr Nash says.

“The GCHKP offers a unique opportunity for medical device companies, in having major hospitals and a reputable university. Combined with all resources within Southeast Queensland, the region provides everything required to establish and commercially scale a technology company.

There is significant opportunity for future market validation clinical trials, with an initial company focus on robotic urology procedures in Australia. PLS has also entered discussions with Gold Coast Health and Gold Coast Private Hospital about undertaking local real-world Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) clinical registries.

In 5 years, we hope to have built a successful international HQ on the Gold Coast, with local APAC manufacture and significant employment.”

TYMLEZ CEO Daniel O’Holloran speaks to media at the announcement

TYMLEZ CEO Daniel O’Halloran, said local connections and support, together with its growing Australian investment base, were key factors in the decision to shift the Rotterdam-based company’s global headquarters down-under, where they can combine their European expertise with local talent.

“Our software is designed to create enterprise-grade solutions that can build and manage blockchain-based ecosystems as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible, replacing traditional databases with decentralised records that can’t be disputed,” Mr O’Halloran said.

We are focusing our product development on disruptive applications to enhance sustainable green energy through smart buildings and smart cities, while also enabling exploration of major healthcare opportunities for our platform software.”

The three new companies join Belgian-based global 3D printing pioneer Materialise, who located key Australian staff onto the Griffith campus in 2018 to work alongside experts at the university’s Advanced Design and Prototyping Technologies facility and grow opportunities for medical additive manufacturing.

Kyle Shapland from Materialise with Griffith Researchers and the 3D printed artifical wrist model and implant being tested on an orthopaedic robot

The Health and Knowledge Precinct, with Griffith University on the Gold Coast is the place we chose to be, and we believe that for medical device companies in Australia and globally it is the place to be for the future

Kyle Shapland, Materialise Australia Business Manager

Left - BiVACOR artifical heart, Top - PLS Optical Scalpel, Bottom middle - Materialise 3D printed heart models, Bottom Right - Griffith 3D printed artificial wrist and implant

The COVID-19 pandemic has also seen increasing interstate interest in the GCHKP, with Melbourne-based artificial intelligence (AI) company Silverpond recently locating a Queensland team to service its energy and utilities clients, and to collaborate with an emerging cluster of AI in healthcare businesses, led by local data-driven technology company Datarwe, which has developed an acute care medical research data platform.

PLS is setting up an office and lab space at Griffith University, while BiVACOR and Tymlez are based at the Cohort Innovation hub, within the Queensland Government’s Lumina commercial cluster in the Precinct.

Filed Under: TECHNOLOGY, Uncategorised

LuminaX accelerates technology for patients and healthcare workers

As COVID-19 accelerates the digital health revolution, the inaugural LuminaX health tech accelerator program, delivered by Cohort Innovation Space to support 15 ambitious founders with 10 start-up businesses, could not have been better timed to ride a wave of health and tech sector interest and growing consumer demand.

Running an intensive in-person program over 14 weeks during a pandemic, was no mean feat in itself!

Patients and hard-working healthcare workers were front and centre, as the 10 LuminaX teams made their passionate pitches to solve health problems and potentially save lives during an upbeat demo-day event, with hearing impaired founder Elliot Miller taking out top prize for his gamified auditory training program that has the potential to assist 430 million hearing-impaired people worldwide.

Drawing on his own experience after receiving a Cochlear hearing implant, Elliot realised that this amazing device and Australian innovation success, was just the start of his hearing journey – he needed to train his brain to adapt to an auditory world, and existing training programs were simply inadequate. Hearoes was born.

“Receiving the implant was like being given a car, but without ever having driven a car before, let alone having a driver’s license,” Elliot told the audience.

With a Bachelor’s degree in Games Design and the support of clinicians, Elliot has brought a fellow designer onboard and their initial gamified and modular product has already attracted 1,000 active consumer users in a month, while almost 50 clinical users have also signed on. Queensland Health has supported the proof-of-concept, purchasing 25 program licenses for $92,000, ahead of a $500,000 seed funding round.

Health and economic costs from hearing loss are estimated at $41b per annum in Australia alone and the program is proving to be a universal solution that cuts across languages and can help people with different types of hearing loss. The two-pronged (B2C and B2B) business model targets both end-users and the healthcare industry, with a combined annual revenue forecast of $101m by 2026.

“We’re already building a world where people with hearing loss can achieve their full potential,” Elliott enthused.

Cohort and CoSpaces CEO Ben Howe said the accelerator’s success was built on the wealth of expertise they were able to bring together from across the Precinct to assist the start-ups with 400 hours of coaching, with the 30 mentors representing the brightest industry and clinical minds, including eight clinicians from Gold Coast Health.

Health is a hard industry in which to innovate, so it is has been great to see teams who are not only motivated to solve big problems and build great businesses, but who genuinely care about helping others in need.

From an acute care medical research data program, to an online platform preparing children to cope with medical procedures, programs to enhance medical and healthcare training, and an online health and wellness program for those with disabilities, the solutions developed by the ten teams have already attracted almost $1m in funding and seen 8 new jobs added across the group during the accelerator period.

Taylor Hobbs founder of Comfort Quest took out the LuminaX AI Prize for his platform that aims to take the anxiety out of medical procedures and hospital admissions and which has already attracted partnerships with the Queensland Children’s Hospital and the Meg Foundation.

Queensland Minister for the Environment, Great Barrier Reef, Science and Youth Affairs, Meaghan Scanlon MP, with the female founding team members

The other participants were:

Able Digital Wellness – an online community and digital wellness platform designed to improve the lives and health of those living with a disability.
Beyond the Clinic – A two-sided marketplace that empowers patients to take their health into their own hands, whilst providing doctors with data to analyse patient outcomes.
Datarwe – An acute care medical research data platform, enabling medical researchers to develop next-generation artificial intelligence clinical diagnostic tools and technologies.
Edify Medical – A new digital ecosystem designed to break down the barriers of language, cost, and access to information that creates healthcare inequality across the globe.
Virtual Psychologist – A psychology and counselling business that delivers text-based mental health services by qualified professional staff through a global IT platform.
Bundle of Rays – Immersive learning tools such as VR and AR to deliver education and training within the health care space.
Oncana – An integrated digital health and wellness experience that bridges the gap between treatment and care for people living with and beyond cancer.
Fwards – A digital platform that provides clinical nurses the tools to connect, reflect and grow together, aiming to improve burnout and turnover within the nursing sector

LuminaX was delivered in partnership with the Queensland AI Hub and IntelliHQ and with the support of the Queensland and Australian governments. Applications for the next program will open in January 2022.

Filed Under: BUSINESS, HEALTH, PROJECTS Tagged With: child health and development, childcare, Evans Long, Proxima

Precinct to be home to early learning and child development ‘living lab’

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Hon Steven Miles MP is joined by Matthew Evans from Evans Long developments to turn the first sod on the Proxima development

As the first private development in the Precinct’s Lumina commercial cluster, the $80 million Proxima building will offer a novel collaborative space for paediatric researchers, clinicians, teachers, early childhood educators, and parents, in a model that puts all children at the centre.

Up to 30 Griffith University researchers and PhD students will develop innovative programs and early interventions for young children, including those with additional needs, through co-locating with a new early learning centre and paediatric clinicians from Gold Coast Health in the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct.

Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Steven Miles was joined by Minister for the Environment, Great Barrier Reef, Science and Youth Affairs Meaghan Scanlon, Griffith University Vice Chancellor Professor Carolyn Evans, Gold Coast Hospital and Health Services Board Chair Ian Langdon, and representatives of developer Evans Long to turn the first sod on the new Proxima development, which will be focused on child health and development and is set for completion at the end of 2022.

The Deputy Premier and Minister Scanlon said founding tenant Sanctuary Early Learning Adventure would create a unique environment that will include support for children with special needs. Approximately 25 percent of the children who will use the inclusive centre are anticipated to have additional needs.

“This is an Australian-first, an early learning centre with in-house access to allied paediatric health and research professionals, and I’m so pleased they have chosen to establish within Lumina at the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct,” Mr Miles said.

Around 180 construction jobs will be created and when fully occupied, 900 health and teaching jobs will be based at Proxima, providing access to a huge range of services for families.”

“Children will have access to the expert care that they need within a familiar, fun and caring environment at their early learning centre, “Minister Scanlon said.

*Artist impression of the Proxima development*

Professor Evans said co-location provided the perfect basis on which to establish a Centre of Excellence in Early Childhood Education.

“The Centre brings together interdisciplinary teams across Griffith’s Allied Health disciplines and Early Childhood Education to embed a model of research-integrated inclusive childcare education,” Professor Evans said.

“This will be a place in which every child can grow and learn together.”

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Mario Pinto said a ‘living lab’ provides a rare and valuable opportunity for researchers and would build on the university’s existing strengths in education and autism research.

“This is all about collaboration, leveraging complementary skills, building on strong but flexible foundations as a springboard to a whole new level of research translation”.

“It is a perfect example of what our Research and Innovation Plan seeks to achieve with research impact, and what we are striving to create in the Precinct through integration.”

Associate Professor David Trembath, who will lead an allied health team of researchers from the university’s Menzies Health Research Institute Queensland, said the model would benefit both children with additional needs and the broader pre-school population.

“We will be looking at each child individually, rather than thinking of them through the lens of their diagnosis,“ Associate Professor Trembath said.

“It is all about identifying each child’s strengths, preferences, and interests and working with these. This is how all kids like to learn and doing so in an inclusive environment like this is good for all kids.

The close relationship with the diagnostic clinics at Gold Coast Health will also lead to children’s needs being identified in a timely way, so we can intervene at the earliest opportunity when it is most beneficial.”

L-R Evans Long co-founder Dirk Long with Lauren and Damian Hall andSanctuary Early Learning students

Sanctuary Early Learning Adventure Co-Founder, Damian Hall said the new state-of-the-art facility would cater for up to 400 children and they would have their own specialists embedded.

“Proxima will help relieve more of the pressure on parents also as it will eliminate most excess travel in transporting their children to and from medical appointments,” Mr Hall said.

Technology will be a focus for some educational supports, but equally researchers will learn practically through observing interactions between educators and children.

“For some children, technology will open new windows into how they think and learn, for children with minimal language it may open a new door to communication with their peers, parents, and teachers,” Assoc Prof Trembath said.

“We are working on offering training for Sanctuary’s staff and we will certainly be learning from them, and of course from the children themselves, so we can blend the art and science of early childhood development together.

The Director of the Menzies Health Research Institute Queensland, Professor Paul Scuffham played a key role in developing the concept.

“This exciting opportunity will allow for multi-year longitudinal studies as well as rolling evaluations in real-time that we will be able to quickly innovate into new programs,” Professor Scuffham said.

Griffith researchers will also be drawn from the Griffith Institute for Educational Research (GIER) and the University’s specialised Autism Centre of Excellence.