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Filed Under: BUSINESS, INVEST Tagged With: ADaPT, Business Events, Destination Gold Coast

GCHKP stars as Gold Coast Business Events attract eyes of the world

Sheriff Karamat, President and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association (second from left), visits ADaPT

Having launched its revitalised business events brand ‘Imagination Capital of Australia’ last year, Destination Gold Coast (DGC) has rebooted its Ambassadors program and tapped Precinct stars Dr Hal Rice and Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM as two of the first city ambassadors to sell the Gold Coast as a business events city on the world stage.

And in a series of promotional partnerships between the Precinct and DGC, exciting medical device and additive manufacturing projects by Griffith University’s Advanced Design and Prototyping Technologies Institute (ADaPT) were showcased at the business events industry’s peak conference. GCHKP also hosted a visit from the global President and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association Sheriff Karamat, including a tour of ADaPT.

Business events are big business for the Gold Coast, injecting $570m into the city’s economy pre-Covid. The benefits of staging events goes beyond tourism and hospitality and extends to profiling the Gold Coast’s capabilities and offerings for talent and investment attraction.

The Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct benefits from the investment focus that conferences bring to the city and, according to Destination Gold Coast’s Head of Business Events Selina Sinclair, is a key catalyst for attracting business events thanks to our talent and world-leading capabilities.

“With 50 percent of meetings globally in the medical field, like-minded professionals are provided a platform to come together to exchange knowledge, discuss and debate new ideas and forthcoming technologies,” Ms Sinclair says.

“At the heart of the Gold Coast’s advancement is a thriving innovation economy driven by our hospitals, three distinguished universities, innovative startups and the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct.

“Beyond the direct economic contribution these business events inject into the Gold Coast economy, they also lead to new partnerships and attract talent to our hospitals, universities and research institutes.”

Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM
Dr Hal Rice (left) with Mayor Tom Tate and Destination Gold Coast representatives
Dr Rice and Selina Sinclair at the Medtronic Neuorexchange conference

The Precinct is also playing a key role in the relaunch of the BE Connected Gold Coast Ambassador Program to attract business events to the city, with Queensland Australian of the Year 2021, Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM, and Gold Coast Australian of the Year 2022, Dr Hal Rice, among the first chosen for the revamped program, supported by Mayor Tom Tate as patron.

“Dr Hal Rice, the Gold Coast’s Australian of the Year 2022, renowned stroke specialist and one of the founding ambassadors from the original program, is a great example of partnering with Destination Gold Coast to not only bring events to our city but through his work put the Gold Coast on the world medical stage,” Ms Sinclair says.

“Dr Rice has continued to bring international medical conferences to the Gold Coast, generating millions of dollars in economic benefit for the city and is now, through both public and private sector investment, in the final stages of building a world-class training centre for image-guided surgeries right here at the Gold Coast’s $1bn Health and Knowledge Precinct.”

Business events marketing has also taken Precinct expertise to the industry’s peak annual conference, Asia Pacific Incentives and Meeting Events (AIMe) as part of a showcase of all that the Gold Coast has to offer conference organisers.

At the Melbourne event, a selection of custom 3D-printed items (including replica brain aneurysm training models, lightweight small satellite prototypes and even a 3D-printed metal skull of an extinct Australian animal) were displayed to highlight the broad design and prototyping capability at ADaPT.

Following the conference, global conference industry leader Sheriff Karamat, President and CEO of the Professional Convention Management Association, visited the Gold Coast for a first-hand look at the Precinct’s additive manufacturing capabilities and other opportunities.

Precinct showcase alongside Swell sculptures
3D printed bone model and cutting guide on display
Sheriff Karamat visits the Precinct

Destination Gold Coast has secured 146 events worth almost $200m in the events pipeline between now and 2030, with momentum building as the city’s reputation for business events grows.

March 13, 2023 By Kathy Kruger

Filed Under: BUSINESS, INVEST Tagged With: Dubai, Dubai Academic Health Corporation, Dubai Futures Foundation, Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences

Precinct set to partner with Dubai

I hope you all have had a great start to 2023.

I wanted to provide our Gold Coast Health & Knowledge Precinct network with an insight into the business development work undertaken by the Precinct Office, in conjunction with our key partners.

Specifically, this article is focused on my recent visit to Dubai.

By way of background, the Gold Coast and Dubai have held a Sister City relationship for the past 22 years. People from Dubai love visiting the Gold Coast. During their summer months, the Gold Coast is a highly popular destination for people from the Middle East. Whilst I was in Dubai, many people knew of the Gold Coast and told me of their great family holidays to our city. It’s these relationships that provide a foundation for the Gold Coast and Dubai to progress new business relationships.

Dubai is fast becoming a global city powerhouse, with their vision to make Dubai one of the world’s foremost future cities. They are investing significantly in infrastructure, energy, transportation, ICT, education, security and health. They are creating partnerships globally and bringing some of the most highly qualified experts to work in Dubai. Through the Sister City relationship, Dubai can connect the Gold Coast into a global network of innovation.

Mayor Tom Tate

My visit to Dubai was specifically to follow on from Mayor Tom Tate and City of Gold Coast CEO Tim Baker’s visit in November 2022. During their visit, health was identified as a key priority for Dubai.

Therefore, I travelled to Dubai and pitched five of the Gold Coast’s leading health technologies to the Dubai Futures Foundation, Dubai Academic Health Corporation and the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences. These projects included:

  1. Artificial intelligence in healthcare
  2. Image guided and robotic treatment for stroke and aneurysm
  3. Drugs, vaccines and diagnostics
  4. Advanced rehabilitation with a focus on spinal injury
  5. Orthopedic surgery techniques.
BioSpine is a key technology for partnership opportunities in Dubai

Post my visit, I am now in regular contact with the stakeholders I met with and in the process of connecting and facilitating our local Gold Coast experts to meet with associated Dubai stakeholders. It is our intent that by introducing these Gold Coast capabilities to Dubai, that new partnerships and investment can be facilitated, to fast-track these technologies for the benefit of Gold Coast, Dubai and beyond.

These efforts in the health sector, if progressed successfully will build further opportunities in the other key priority sectors for Dubai identified above.”

This visit could not have been undertaken without the support of Trade and Investment Queensland’s Geoffrey Schuhkraft. His relationships and commitment to our city is exceptional.

I hope this piece gives you an insight into the work done by the Precinct Office in promoting our leading Gold Coast technologies and showcasing our talent internationally.

Best,

Craig

March 1, 2023 By Kathy Kruger

Filed Under: HEALTH, TECHNOLOGY Tagged With: artificial heart, BiVACOR, Cohort, Griffith Mechanobiology Lab, Griffith University, Medtech

BiVACOR wins new grant for artificial heart development

BiVACOR researchers in the Precinct will focus on a next-generation external device controller as part of their development of a world-first Total Artificial Heart (TAH), supported by a $750k grant from the Australian Government through its Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and Targeted Translation Research Accelerator (TTRA) program.

As the company heads towards first-in-human clinical trials within the next two years, the grant, matched by in-kind support bringing approximately AUD$2.2 million in funding towards BiVACOR’s clinical advancement, will help develop a lighter, smaller, more portable external controller to give patients better quality of life at home.

External heart controller development to improve patient comfort

BiVACOR’s novel TAH technology is the first long-term therapy dedicated to patients with severe biventricular heart failure.

The implantable total artificial heart, the size of a human fist, is based on a rotary blood pump and uses magnetic levitation (MAGLEV) technology to enable the double-sided centrifugal impeller to rotate in free-space, minimising blood trauma and eliminating mechanical wear.

Dr Daniel Timms with the BiVACOR TAH

A long labour of love for founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Dr Daniel Timms, the BiVACOR TAH has enjoyed significant Australian government support over its two decades of R&D.

“Heart failure hits close to home for me. It remains a leading cause of death worldwide, and its prevalence is only increasing,” says Dr Timms, who lost his father to the disease.

 “BiVACOR is an Australian-born innovation, and we are extremely grateful for the ongoing support from the Australian government and community.

Without their support, we wouldn’t be where we are today, and this grant gives us a boost in the clinic to drill down into the TAH external controller.”

The TTRA program, a MRFF initiative delivered by MTPConnect, supports new approaches to improve the prevention, dianosis, treatment and management of diabetes and cardiovascular disease complications.

Griffith researchers work on testing the BiVACOR TAH for its blood compatibility

While the implantable device is largely being developed in the US, including through collaboration with the Texas Heart Institute, the latest version heading towards clinical trials has been extensively tested at Griffith University’s Mechanobiology lab, with the aim of understanding and reducing its impact on blood cells.

Across the road at Cohort, where BiVACOR bases its international office, research engineers are focused on the heart’s external controller and its software.

“We want a controller that is as small, lightweight and as ergonomic as possible to maximise portability and comfort,” explains Dr Timms.

“At the same time, it needs to be totally reliable, including its batteries and power system, and we want to create a software interface that enables patients to easily monitor and manage their cardiovascular health, while providing timely and reliable data and alerts to their clinicians when needed.”

During the planned first-in-human trials, patients implanted with the TAH will remain in hospital for monitoring, whilst waiting for a human heart transplant.

“Our goal is to provide the best possible solution for patients facing end-stage heart failure who have run out of options,” says BiVACOR CEO Dr Thomas Vassiliades.

“These funds will give us a clinical advantage as we push on perfecting the external controller for the TAH.”

The BiVACOR TAH builds on the successful transition of Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) technology from volume displacement to durable rotary blood pumps and aims to be the next-generation TAH that sufficiently restores quality of life to patients suffering from severe biventricular heart failure.

The TAH therapy may be initially utilised as a short-term device in a patient awaiting a heart transplant or as a long-term alternative to heart transplantation.

To date, BiVACOR has raised more than AUD$50 million in funding.

February 8, 2023 By Kathy Kruger

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