WA gov to kickstart medical start-ups

The West Australian government has provided $4.3 million in seed funding for health and medical start-ups to boost the sector’s manufacturing in the state.

Nine companies will receive support from the 2022-23 Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund Innovation Seed Fund, which will help them develop and commercialise their projects, as well as enhance Western Australia’s health and medical production and manufacturing capabilities.

“On behalf of the Cook Government, I am thrilled to announce the recipients of the FHRI Fund’s Innovation Seed Fund,” WA Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson says.

“These start-ups have the potential to change lives, and this funding will help them secure capital and develop into sustainable businesses.

“The Innovation Seed Fund is all about building the number of local health and medical innovation start-ups, and supporting them to take their groundbreaking ideas to market.”

One company being backed is WA start-up EarFlo, which is creating a device to non-invasively treat glue ear in young children. The group, headed by Dr Intan Oldakowska, help to build manufacturing capacity and capability in WA, that can be used to drive future sector innovations.