A consortium of partners across the Western Australia (WA) medical research sector, which includes The University of Western Australia (UWA), will develop and deliver the State’s first digital health-specific program.

This program is designed to support education programs in digital health commercialisation.

According to a recent press release, the program will launch in Western Australia after being awarded a State Government X-TEND WA grant.

About the initiative

The pilot of the Digital Health Accelerator Program will build capacity in digital health entrepreneurs and provide a pathway to commercialisation. This will be done by leveraging existing programs and locally-based expertise, and delivering programs currently operating outside WA.

The programs are unique as they combine industry-led expertise with proven frameworks for teaching innovation to provide tailored advice and models specifically for digital health entrepreneurs.

The Director of the WA Life Sciences Innovation Hub and University Professor shared that it would be important for improving health outcomes in Western Australia.

The project will enable a team of innovators to observe unmet clinical needs firsthand in WA and work up potential digital health solutions.

Benefits of the program

The benefit for the community will be improving healthcare for WA patients as well as developing critical skills to support the growing needs of the sector.

Digital health broadly includes the following:

Mobile health

Health information technology

Wearable devices

Telehealth/telemedicine

Personalised medicine

The use of digital technologies in health-care aims to reduce inefficiencies, improve access, reduce costs, increase quality, and make medicine more personalised for patients.

Digital health products have different commercialisation pathways to pharmaceuticals and medical devices, requiring novel and flexible commercial models.

The need for digital healthcare

The Sustainable Health Review, which was recently launched by the WA Department of Health, highlights digital healthcare as an area where investment was needed and a rich source of opportunity to improve the health system and patient outcomes.

UWA will work with several institutions that include Curtin University and Murdoch University, to name a few, on the project.

The X-TEND WA Program is a competitive grants program, which is funded under the New Industries Fund and run by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation.

It is designed to build capability and capacity within the WA innovation community.