The Biotechnology Centre of Excellence
In brief: Articled Clerk Sophie Chamberlin looks at the final contenders in the race to become a Biotechnology Centre of Excellence.
After an exhaustive assessment process, four applicants have recently been short-listed for the Biotechnology Centre of Excellence. One or more successful applicants will have access to millions of dollars of funding from the Commonwealth government.
What is it all about?
As part of its Backing Australia's Ability initiative, the Commonwealth Government (through the Department of Industry, Science and Resources and the Australian Research Council) has allocated an initial $46.5 million over five years for the establishment of one or more Biotechnology Centres of Excellence.
The role of the proposed Centres will be to:
- undertake world class research with potential to yield commercially significant developments;
- attract outstanding researchers;
- develop Australia's biotechnology skills base;
- build networks and partnerships, nationally and internationally, to achieve excellence in Australian biotechnology; and
- develop an entrepreneurial culture that leads to the formation of spin-off companies and clusters of commercial biotechnology activity.
The aim of the initiative is to "help establish Australia as a regional and world centre for biotechnology innovation and application".
The selection process
11 proposals for the Centre were submitted in February this year. The field was narrowed to four in April. The short-listed applicants, chosen by the Biotechnology Centre of Excellence Panel of Experts, stood out as being best positioned to give Australia a strong competitive advantage in biotechnology. The final decision will be made by the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, Mr Ian McFarlane and Minister for Education and Training Dr Brendan Nelson this June.
Who are the contenders?
The short-listed applicants are:
- The Australian Centre for Biotechnology and Biodiversity (ACBB), a consortium of Universities, research institutes, government bodies and biotechnology industry service providers. The ACBB's major emphasis will be on establishing a globally competitive research capability in biotechnology and project management in order to achieve commercialisation of the projects undertaken. It will also conduct Extra and Intramural research programs to facilitate further research. The ACBB will obtain income from licensing, royalties and shares in spin-off companies.
- The Neuroscience Biotechnology Centre of Excellence (NeuroBCE) will act as an independent not-for-profit company with an associated for-profit company which will exploit intellectual property developed by NeuroBCE. It will link four Universities, the CSIRO and eight leading research organisations, and will operate as a technology innovation organisation focussed on neuroscience, creating knowledge, tools and methodologies in the neurotechnology industry. The Centre will generate income from the management and exploitation of their IP portfolio. The NeuroBCE will also develop an educational platform to increase the level of highly qualified scientists and provide training for commercial managers and scientists.
- Centre for Stem Cell and Tissue Repair (CSC&TR) will provide a vehicle for Australia to compete in the tissue regeneration and cell therapy area and, in particular, to identify the manner in which specific cell lineages arise. The Centre will undertake an integrated research program, bringing together a number of biomedical scientists, bioengineers and nanotechnologists. It will obtain its funding through government as well as global investment in all phases of research and development. Returns will be generated through the licensing of cell lines and research reagents and development of cell lineages for diagnostic or drug discovery purposes, with the long-term aim of developing therapeutic cell lines for tissue and organ repair. The Centre will undertake an education program to train research scientists and provide management and commercial experience to graduate students.
- The Australian Biotechnology Centre of Excellence for Control of Infectious Diseases. (ID.biotech) will establish an Australian Biotechnology Development Facility, which will be available to the whole biotechnology sector through expanding and developing new capability in fundamental biotechnology research platforms and establishing new platform technologies in the infectious diseases area. It will establish three spin-off companies - one to manage intellectual property, a Trials company to commercialise the intellectual property and an Incubator company to support new spin-off companies. It will obtain funding from cash and in-kind contributions, including a substantial commitment of resources from industry.
Biotechnology Australia maintains a website about progress in the development of the Centre for Excellence.