Two new medical research centres, worth a combined $200 million, will be built in Perth in an attempt to make Western Australia a world leader in medical and biotech research.
Two new medical research centres, worth a combined $200 million, will be built in Perth in an attempt to make Western Australia a world leader in medical and biotech research.
The State Government and the University of Western Australia have committed $50million each to build the state-of-the-art facilities, with a further $100 million will be required from other sources..
The Western Australian Institute for Medical Research and the Lions Eye Institute are seen as the likely sources of that additional funding and have both committed to raising funds for the centres, though their contributions are currently unspecified.
WAIMR director Peter Klinken said the significant investment in medical research by the government and UWA would deliver internationally significant research discoveries, improving the health and wealth of the state.
UWA Vice-Channcellor, Professor Alan Robson, said UWA had built a strong international reputation in medicine, medical research and biotechnology over many years.
"UWA attracts the bulk, some $90 million, of national health and medical research funding flowing into WA and it is a measure of the university's research capacity and the quality and skills of its research staff," he said.
Professor Klinken said the commitment would also help create a major new industry to further drive the success of the state into the future.
"We have the potential to become a world powerhouse in medical research and attract significant investment from global pharmaceutical companies, which will in turm create extra jobs and help to revers the brain drain od scientific minds from WA," he said.
Premier Alan Carpenter said the first of the research centres would be built on the Queen Elizabeth II Medical centre site in Nedlands, with the second to be constructed alongside the new Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch.
"These will be outstanding medical and biotech research centres which will be the envy of the nation, if not the world and I commend UWA for joining with the State Government to make this possible," he said.
The Premier said the Western Australian health system had already produced some of the world's best medical research teams led by Nobel Prize winner Professor Barry Marshall and Australians of the Year Dr Fiona Wood and Professor
Fiona Stanley.
He added that the new facilities "would put WA at the forefront of medical research in the world".
Mr Carpenter said the funding was part of his push to develop the science and innovation industries, so that the state economy "goes beyond rocks and gas, beyond the current boom".
"Sitting behind medical research is a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry which we have to be part of, we have to capture part of that industry."
Mr Carpenter said his strategy was two-pronged: facilitating research and drawing in investment.
"The state government has a big responsibility there, in partnership with some of the players who are here today, to get out on the world stage and promote what we have got.
"Take our ideas, our researchers, to the international market, and promote the opportunities of investing in Western Australia."
"That's one of the principal reasons I wanted to stay on as minister for state development, so I could play an active role, and a very visible role, in promoting the state around the world, in this field."