UQ’s main commercialisation company UniQuest will promote the business benefits of partnering with the latest research innovations and expertise from Australian universities at this year’s AusBiotech conference in Melbourne from 30 October to 2 November 2012.
UniQuest Managing Director David Henderson welcomed both the theme of this year’s event – Realising the value – and its spotlight on technology transfer.
“Australian university research contributes significantly to the development of new therapies for diseases and sustainable approaches to feeding and fuelling the world, and our involvement with this annual international conference presents an ideal opportunity to highlight the impact made so far as well as the emerging technologies university scientists are working on now for the future,” Mr Henderson said.
“We’ll be showcasing several major examples of translational research at our promotional booth, and have a number of representatives at the event each day meeting with potential investors and licensees who are keen to gain a competitive advantage for their companies by working with researchers at our partner institutions.
“Research commercialisation is very much a collaborative exercise, bringing together universities, governments and private enterprise to identify, support and fund the development of ideas that ultimately benefit the wider community. At AusBiotech we will be starting conversations and encouraging engagement to boost entrepreneurial activity in this sector.”
More than 1,500 participants are expected to attend AusBiotech 2012, with representatives coming from all over from Australia, the Asia-Pacific region, the US and Europe to attend the conference, the trade exhibition, and satellite activities such as the Australasian Life Science Investment Summit, which is the largest investment event of its kind in the region.
Mr Henderson will join UniQuest’s chairman, Dr Carrie Hillyard as a conference speaker, discussing the topic of ‘Changing Strategies in Tech Transfer', on Thursday afternoon, 1 November. UniQuest’s General Manager for life sciences technology commercialisation, Dr Dean Moss, will also be speaking on ‘Funding for Early Stage' later that day.
These issues have been flagged in three articles based on UniQuest’s experience in the latest edition of Australasian BioTechnology.
More information about UniQuest’s presence at AusBiotech 2012 is available on the UniQuest website events calendar, while details of the innovations to be showcased can be found in the website’s Technology Investment & Licensing section.
Media: (Leanne Wyvill +61 7 3365 4037, 0409 767 199 or l.wyvill@uniquest.com.au)
About UniQuest Pty Limited
Established by The University of Queensland in 1984, UniQuest is widely recognised as one of Australia’s largest and most successful university commercialisation groups, benchmarking in the top tier of technology transfer worldwide. From an intellectual property portfolio of 1500+ patents it has created over 70 companies, and since 2000 UniQuest and its start-ups have raised more than A$450 million to take university technologies to market. Annual sales of products using UQ technology and licensed by UniQuest are running at A$3 billion. UniQuest now commercialises innovations developed at The University of Queensland and its commercialisation partner institutions: University of Technology Sydney, James Cook University, University of Tasmania, Mater Medical Research Institute, and Queensland Health. A recent addition to the company is the Queensland Government-supported ilab technology business incubator and accelerator. UniQuest also provides access to an expansive and exclusive network of independent academics to tailor a consulting or project R&D solution to meet the diverse needs of industry and government, facilitating some 500 consulting, expert opinion, testing, and contract research services each year. UniQuest is also a leading Australasian provider of international development assistance recognised for excellence in technical leadership, management and research. Working with agencies such as AusAID, NZAID, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, UniQuest has developed and implemented more than 400 projects in 60+ countries throughout the Pacific, South-East Asia, the Indian sub-continent and Africa.
