Posted: 6 March 2024
On 8 December 2023, BioMelbourne Network invited our members to complete the 2023 Member Survey which closed on 31 January 2024.
We conduct this survey annually and track the trends year on year, so we can share our results with you and discuss the lessons that we have learned.
Thanks for your valuable feedback which will support us in our journey of continuous improvement as an organisation, to align ourselves and our activities with the needs of the industry.
But before we delve into this year’s survey results, it’s important to reflect on last year’s results and the impact we’ve seen this year.
In last year’s survey, you identified these areas for improvement: support for research and commercialisation, advocacy, and professional development and training. You also asked us to facilitate connections and collaborations with colleagues locally, interstate and globally; improve engagement with universities; run events at different locations and times; host events for students and reduce event costs for researchers.
It was clear that you wanted us to broaden our scope of work to better support these areas, further leverage the ecosystem to support these activities and improve how we communicate outcomes.
As a result, we have:
- Redesigned and relaunched our In the Loop newsletter to include information that you need about research, commercialisation and advocacy activities.
- Provided flexibility for anyone wanting to attend our events by continuing our hybrid event model, where anyone can participate in our events program in person or online. Also, everyone who registers for an event receives a video link after the event concludes, so they can view the event at a time convenient to them.
- Launched BioResource Hub, which provides access to anyone in the ecosystem to view any of our event recordings going back to March 2020. Approximately 25% of the content here can be viewed free of charge. Please note that if the event was originally free to attend, it will be free to view on BioResource Hub.
- Provided special pricing packages for researchers to view events at very low cost, so they can take advantage of our entire events program.
- Launched our national Wilam Life Sciences Industry Community to enable the sector to connect with, engage with and support each other nationally and internationally.
- Collaborated on various activities with BioNSW, Life Sciences Queensland, MTPConnect, AusBiotech and other state and national organisations.
- Participated with six inbound trade missions, promoting these opportunities on Wilam and advocating inbound trade mission participants to utilise the resources available on Wilam and BioResource Hub.
- Packaged a suite of business services to partnering organisations to help them achieve their strategic goals.
Through these activities and more, we are continuously realigning our activities and initiatives to provide the greatest value to the sector. We believe this improvement is reflected in the outcomes of this year’s survey results.
Survey snapshot
We received feedback from 108 respondents from 86 member organisations out of 225 across the healthtech sector. The breakdown of survey participants mirrors the distribution of our membership base, so your responses are statistically relevant and reflect the views of our network.
Over the past two years, we have increased our scores in these areas: Net Promoter Score, clarity of strategy and purpose, advocacy, events, networking, openness and accessibility of staff, professional development and training, and support for research.
You have asked us to improve in these areas: collaboration and coordination with other industry bodies, and support for R&D, pharmaceuticals and early-stage commercialisation.
We are taking your feedback on board. Over the past year we have worked closely with BioNSW and Life Sciences Queensland to promote trade missions and provide them with their own state-based Wilam community, so their networks can also benefit from Wilam. On 23 February, BioMelbourne Network announced a formal Memorandum of Understanding and partnership with both state industry associations, which will further benefit the sector.
At AusBiotech 2023 last year, all state bodies met with national entities MTPConnect and AusBiotech to discuss collaboration going forward. In February 2024, we agreed on a set of collaborating principles and a process to co-ordinate and cross-promote our event calendars on Wilam.
We also welcomed a new community on Wilam for SMEs, start-ups, industry bodies, commercialisation professional and researchers wishing to find out more about CSIRO and collaborate with them on research and translation programs. It’s called CSIRO Biotech R&D and Translation, and we look forward to seeing you there.
From a commercialisation perspective, we routinely cover this topic at our events, and it’s also discussed on Wilam. We will explore why you believe we are not providing sufficient support in this area.
Read below for more details about the 2023 Member Survey and our conclusions.
Net promoter score
A Net Promoter Score is a way of measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty.
You rate us higher each year we conduct this survey. In 2023, we achieved a Net Promoter Score of 44, an increase of 18% since 2021. A score of 30 – 70 indicates that we are doing a great job and that you would overwhelmingly recommend BioMelbourne Network to other organisations.
Satisfaction and connectiveness
You also disclosed how satisfied and connected you are with BioMelbourne Network.
Overall, satisfaction remains consistently strong at 86% while connectedness has increased from 68% in 2021 to 78% in 2023.
You cited many reasons why you feel connected to BioMelbourne Network.
Only a small percentage of you don’t feel connected to us. This figure has hovered between 4% and 6% over the past 3 years.
You said we could improve connectedness by:
- having more proactive government advocacy
- increasing interaction with state and national industry bodies
- improving engagement on Wilam and increasing outreach with medical research institutes.
Sector advocacy
Most of you believe that BioMelbourne Network is a strong sector advocate. This figure has increased significantly from 71% in 2021 to 82% in 2023.
These are the reasons that you provided.
Sector importance
You believe BioMelbourne Network is important to the healthtech sector. Consistently, we have maintained a rating of 90% over the past 3 years that we have run this survey.
These are the reasons that you provided.
You said we could improve by providing:
- more advocacy
- proactive policy development
- a mix of event times.
Communication
BioMelbourne Network is providing new and expanded methods of communication across the network and Australia with In the Loop, Insider Report, social media coverage and Wilam.
Based on our data, we are providing the right amount of communication. While the percentage of people saying that you received the right amount of communication has reduced by 5% in 2023 compared with 2022, 5% of you said that you want more communication and 6% of say that you are receiving too much.
You value information about:
- networking opportunities (83%)
- member news (64%)
- updates on trends in sector developments (60%)
- updates on advocacy activities (37%)
- grant and funding opportunities (33%)
- opportunities for promotion and advertising for your organisation (23%)
- Wilam posts (21%)
- Wilam latest discussion newsletter (18%)
- other (4%).
Wilam
In the 2023 Member Survey, we included two extra questions about Wilam, our digital community platform.
You cited these reasons why Wilam is valuable.
You would like these improvements:
- more interaction from users
- Wilam usability improvements
- job postings (Wilam is not designed to be a job posting platform)
- a mobile App (Wilam is configured to operate on mobile phones).
Some of you are not aware of the benefits of Wilam, how it differs from LinkedIn and other platforms, or see the value of engaging here. You are also hesitant to ask questions.
Conclusions
A record number of BioMelbourne Network members provided feedback in our 2023 Member Survey.
You rate us highly as an organisation because of our events, openness and accessibility of staff, networking opportunities and clarity of purpose and strategy.
You feel connected to us as you value our membership benefits, team, events, updates, and have opportunities to network, present and sponsor events.
Over three-quarters of you believe we are a strong sector advocate because of our diverse membership, networking, sector promotion and government connections.
And 81% of respondents are receiving the right amount of communication.
You also listed areas for improvements in advocacy, proactive policy development and a mix of event times and formats.
Those of you on Wilam value its utility but would like more interaction from users, Wilam usability improvements and job postings, which are not possible.
We are taking your feedback on board and working hard to support you, our members, through a Memorandum of Understanding and partnership between BioMelbourne Network, BioNSW and Life Sciences Queensland. We are adding new communities on Wilam such the CSIRO Biotech R&D and Translation community for SMEs, start-ups, industry bodies, commercialisation professional and researchers to find out more about CSIRO and collaborate with them on research and translation programs.
We are also increasing our professional development offering, with 107 BioMelbourne Network event recordings and bundles available to view on demand on BioResource Hub.
Thanks again for your valuable feedback which will inform our activities this year.
