New era: Medical research and funds management unite
A Financial services company and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Services (the Academy) will join forces today, to discuss recommendations for the Federal Government's medical research fund, so it can generate $1billion a year for medical research.
The financial services company, Findex and the Academy will address the key priorities in research funding and make potential recommendations for the fund, at the first annual Academy/Findex Symposium.
The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) was created following the governments renewed focus on innovation in medical research. It aims to provide an endowment fund that produces $1billion every year for prioritised medical research.
"As a nation, we have to embrace priority given health and medical research. The MRFF will be part of a paradigm shift, and drawing upon the insight of a successful business advisory firm will help us get it right", said President of the Academy, Professor Ian Frazer AC.
Working with a financial services business could provide new insights into "the health and medical research agenda," he added.
"We are providing advice on issues such as risk, funding and partnering. Most importantly, we inject a level of business experience and business acumen that is usually not present in the early stage of this form of endeavour," said Findex global head of business development, Peter Gardiner.
"The old way of doing medical research was for government to fund research and for private enterprise to then seek to fund and promote the commercialisation of the work. But the business perspective needs to be part of the research from day one" said Gardiner.
"As a strong advocate of innovation in professional services, we at Findex see this partnership as an opportune fit, and we're thrilled to unearth the potential it may bring", Gardiner said.
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