Home of health precincts: Australia’s got what it takes
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There are pockets of leading health precincts around the globe. However, no one country is seen as the world-leader when it comes to bringing together health service providers, researchers, investors and government stakeholders into one ecosystem which can maximise and amplify the investment required to truly make a differentiated impact.
According to Gerry McDougall, PwC US’ Health Sciences Leader and renowned for his experience in health precincts, Australia has the ideal environment - physically, culturally and technologically - for it to become the leader in bio-tech clusters, health service delivery and research capabilities which could change the world.
So what is it about Australia that makes us ripe to opening the door as the ‘home of health precincts’?
PwC Australia’s Nathan Schlesinger sat down with Gerry during his recent visit to Australia as a keynote speaker at the Health Innovation Precincts conference, and asked him to share his thoughts.
What are the opportunities currently within Australia regarding health precincts?
Unlike other jurisdictions which may be hampered by established set-ups or legacy processes, the manageable size of the promising industry here in Australia is a benefit.
So many big players around the world think, ‘I don’t need to partner or need anyone else.’ In Australia, you know you aren’t big enough, so you are more open to collaboration to have a bigger impact, rather than operate individually - a collective energy and acknowledgement that collaboration makes sense.
Any culture that has innovation underlying it is also more open to the ability to fail. In Australia, this extends to your legal structures (ie. bankruptcy) which can support the investment and risk-taking which comes with innovation.
"The forward thinking of convergences across the entire healthcare ecosystem and strategically focusing on health and healthcare as major economic drivers from an holistic perspective is very exciting."
Another opportunity is in your planning, and your willingness to take that on. That’s half the battle. Most of the clients I spoke to in Australia factored in economic development as one of the key ROI metrics for any future health precinct, and integrating that within city planning - the flow-through. That’s really smart. Integrating hospitals - and the surrounding infrastructure to support health - into the cities or precincts.
You can see this in the way you are planning for connectivity within the broader community - by including not just therapeutic providers, but also investors, legal, tech - so that you have a more integrated community that will drive innovation. For example, oncologists can learn from cardiologists, and vice versa.
I am amazed by the level of investment in health innovation precincts throughout Australia, with billions in capital projects. There’s even $500m for a genomics initiative, which will be a wonderful platform globally for innovation in this space.
The forward thinking of convergences across the entire healthcare ecosystem and strategically focusing on health and healthcare as major economic drivers from an holistic perspective is very exciting.
Do you think the Australian ecosystem is structured to support a thriving health precinct environment?
What Australia now needs to really capitalise on these opportunities is to develop a strategic plan to create world-class bio-clusters and health precincts. The Australian Government’s Statement of principles for Australian innovation precincts is a great first step. The fact that you are open to even thinking like that is a big competitive advantage.
"There needs to be an interwoven role between government, business and community."
However, you can’t just rely on a good roadmap. You need to develop and execute on that strategy, and ensure the key performance metrics are measured and leveraged. However, what is the governance that sits over the strategy, and who leads this? The Department of Health, or political appointees - whose job is it to ensure the long-term success of your precincts?
Here is the challenge: what if the precinct’s positioning or a shift in government priorities changes the focus or priority of the precinct’s development?
There needs to be an interwoven role between government, business and community - these need to come together at the outset to set the governance framework for the precinct. So, what can be done up-front to align? Do you need a National Health Precincts Governance Council, deciding which cities/regions get which focus for their precinct, for economic growth? In other words, who gets what ‘part of the pie’?
The key to success is heavily engaging all stakeholders, who are all represented on a Precincts Council, so there is unanimous support on the development and ongoing delivery of the precinct, resulting in a precinct being a true collaboration.
And finally, you need to ensure the governance is supported by a clear execution plan that can be adapted as technology evolves - plan for 10 years, but update every five years.
What are the key learnings Australia can take from successful health precinct development and industry collaboration globally right now?
The opportunity to develop strategic collaborations within health precincts and among the precincts nationally positions the entire system for transformative global models in both health/wellness and healthcare.
Globally, there appears to be a confluence of population size, monetary investment and leading research institutions which result in a scale which can drive down the cost of health precinct development. However, you don’t necessarily need to have scale to build a world-class health hub; rather you need to have consensus on what the hub will be known for. Let me give you some examples...
- Harvard Business School is tackling data and data sharing and how to create incentives between different ecosystems to share and create value around data, to increase quality of care and reduce cost.
- Through the Texas Medical Center, they are looking at aggregating health data across the entire Houston, Texas population, thereby improving healthcare economics by using the data to focus on preventative health - for example, investigating familial histories can determine your likelihood of disease and delay onset through preventative measures.
In particular, the translational-applied sector should be thought through holistically. As its infrastructure is incredibly expensive, it doesn’t make sense for all the scientific-core facilities to be duplicated. You don’t have enough critical mass or through-put in the infrastructure to currently extract its full value. Rather than allowing every health precinct to have the ‘shiny new toy’, you should invest in centralised facilities (Centres of Excellence) with nodes to different precincts to ensure maximum usage and derived value.
What would truly set Australia apart as the world-leader and ‘home of health precincts’?
If you aggregate the precincts, you build up enough critical-mass for research in aggregate to be meaningful. Australia is known for innovative researchers, yet most of them head overseas as they think that is where the best work is to be had.
What you need is to connect the biotech community across precincts. If fragmented, you are missing a major opportunity; however, this is relatively easy to overcome through technology and social media which allows you to connect within and across communities. This then encourages knowledge sharing, and in turn encourages your brightest minds to stay in Australia. This won’t require much resource, but will be money very well spent.
Australia also has a compelling case for creating a world-class clinical trials sector because of your infrastructure. If you can make it attractive, and meet all the global best-in-class metrics, that would many global medical life science and device companies to invest in R&D in Australia.
Globally there is a missing generation in the research space - and Australia can play an important part in reversing that trend and encouraging dynamic young thinkers into research roles. You can use grants to attract and keep younger researchers and get back the missing generation; however, you need a physical space that attracts talent.
Ultimately though, what you have in Australia that truly sets you apart is not about the health sector or precincts themselves - it is having the environment and culture that can not only retain your brightest minds, but attract the world’s best thinkers.
Australia has an enviable selling point - your fabulous lifestyle. You are naturally placed to attract the right talent - a high quality of life, beautiful cities. Things PhDs are going to want to come and live in. So to capitalise on this, you need to create the right infrastructure to combine the lifestyle with the work/research opportunities.
Finally, inclusiveness is a critical component of success in any knowledge economy for recruiting and retaining the brightest minds from around the world. And it is here that Australia is well positioned, like few other places around the world.
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