Posted: 17 November 2023
The Victorian Medtech Skills and Devices Hub (VMH) has released a White Paper identifying the education and training needed to accelerate the growth of Victoria’s vibrant medtech industry.
An initiative of the Victorian Government’s Australian Medtech Manufacturing Centre (AMMC), the VMH is working to improve the international competitiveness and sophistication of Victoria’s medtech sector through the development of future-ready education offerings.
Working closely with academia and industry, the VMH is delivered by a consortium led by The University of Melbourne and includes Swinburne University of Technology, RMIT University and the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD).
Prepared by Swinburne University of Technology, The Medical Technology Skills-Education Gaps Roadmap draws on the expertise of over 180 industry stakeholders to identify how Victoria’s medtech sector can continue to flourish.
VMH Co-Director and University of Melbourne Professor Andrea O’Connor said that identifying the skills-education gaps was important for the VMH to shape its efforts where they are needed most.
“Industry has highlighted several key areas where the VMH is already well positioned to assist, such as addressing knowledge gaps around commercialisation and device regulation, and greater awareness among students of medtech career pathways,” Professor O’Connor said.
“We want Victoria’s medtech business leaders to know that the rest of the sector is listening. A key mission of the VMH is bringing together government, regulators, industry and education providers, helping to create an environment where every business in the sector, from start-ups to established players, can access the support they need to flourish.”
Crucially, the Roadmap identifies eight key skills-education gaps presently limiting the sector’s ability to develop more sophisticated technologies at scale:
- Lack of knowledge of the medtech landscape, limiting graduates’ ability to target specific career pathways.
- Misalignment between industry and academia, expressed as a lack of specialised medtech courses and training on industry-standard tools.
- Internships of insufficient length to provide adequate workplace experience prior to graduation.
- Gaps in graduates’ knowledge around domestic and international regulatory and QA processes.
- Knowledge gaps around funding application drafting and commercialisation and reimbursement pathways.
- No representation of big data, AI and other future skills in existing medtech education offerings.
- Lack of sector-specific education in project management courses, leading to talent gaps.
- Present courses not preparing graduates for mixed roles, requiring both business and technical skills.
VMH Co-Director and University of Melbourne Professor David Grayden said there is significant work ahead for Victorian higher education.
“We have the opportunity to seize a significant piece of the $500 billion global medtech market, but it starts with building a stronger pipeline of properly trained, job-ready graduates and professionals,” Professor Grayden said.
Louise Robinson, Executive Director, Swinburne Edge, Swinburne University of Technology, said the road map paved a clear path forward for the Victorian MedTech sector.
“The MedTech Skills-Education Gaps Roadmap champions a whole-of-sector approach to skills and training, to benefit all Victorians,” Ms Robinson said.
Dr Ewan Nurse, Director of Epilepsy Research at Seer Medical and one of the contributors to the Roadmap, said that some gaps spoke to the existence of complex issues in the sector.
“Industry identified commercialisation and regulatory pathways as two key knowledge gaps in professionals at all levels,” Dr Nurse said.
“Unless addressed, these gaps will significantly limit the ability of Victorian medtech companies to grow both domestically and internationally.”
The first in a series of releases, the Roadmap will continue to evolve, providing an up-to-date image of the sector as it evolves, enabling smarter decision-making from academia, government and industry.
The complete Roadmap can be downloaded from the VMH website: https://vicmedtechhub.com.au/medtech-roadmap/
