The McGowan Government’s inaugural Innovation Seed Fund 2022 will see 17 innovative medical and health research projects share in $8 million of funding to help improve health and medical outcomes for Western Australians.
A med-tech company striving to ease a common cause of complications and pain in a patient’s hospital journey is one of the 17 projects to share in the $8 million, funded through the Future Health Research and Innovation Fund initiative.
West Leederville-based VeinTech Technologies has been granted $500,000 to develop its prototype VeinWave, a portable device small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, that promises to make intravenous cannulation easier and more effective.
Other promising prototypes include ‘PainChek’ for children with disabilities who are unable to communicate that they are in pain.
“What the Doctor said” is another innovation which aims to provide accessible and personalised home-care advice on opioid medication, sent to the phone of hospital outpatients.
The McGowan Government’s Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund is providing support to innovators to develop and commercialise ideas, create high-level health sector jobs and enhance the production/manufacturing capacity in our State.
The Innovation Seed Fund helps nurture health and medical innovation and bridge the gap by offering innovators funding to develop their idea and build sustainable businesses.
More information about the Innovation Seed Fund 2022 recipients can be found on the FHRI Fund News and Events website.
As stated by Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson:
“The McGowan Government has moved to establish an innovation seed fund to drive prototype development and fast track these ideas to market.
“This vital investment supports local innovators but will also help drive health and medical innovation to improve the health and wellbeing of the Western Australian community.
“The Innovation Seed Fund provides an opportunity to diversify the WA economy and create health and medical innovation jobs.
“As a government we want to improve the sustainability of the WA health system and position WA as a key player in health and medical research innovation.”
| Innovation Team Lead | Responsible Entity | Project Title | Funding Awarded |
| Mr Nikhilesh BAPPOO | VeinTech Pty Ltd | Developing a commercialisation-ready and clinically compatible prototype of the VeinWave to reduce cannulation insertion failure | 500,000 |
| A/Prof Jenny DOWNS | Telethon Kids Institute on behalf of the Centre for Child Health Research, UWA | Detecting pain in kids who can’t tell you it hurts: PainChek® for children with disabilities | 392,820 |
| Dr Sarah DOYLE | What the Doctor Said Pty Ltd | An innovation to provide personalised, mobile-accessible discharge instructions for opioid medications for patients attending the emergency department, ambulatory care and hospital outpatients department at East Metropolitan Health Service | 462,332 |
| Prof Wendy ERBER | The University of Western Australia | Precision Diagnostics for Blood Cancers | 499,632 |
| Prof Sue FLETCHER | Murdoch University | Modulation of the Autophagy Pathway to treat Neurogenerative Diseases | 497,956 |
| A/Prof Juliana HAMZAH | Curtin University | Novel medicine to improve blood circulation in patients with peripheral artery disease | 496,715 |
| A/Prof Tim INGLIS | The University of Western Australia | FAST STRIDES: Flow cytometry-assisted Antimicrobial Susceptibility Test Software to Translate Innovative Diagnostics for trEating Sepsis | 497,190 |
| Prof Terrance JOHNS | Telethon Kids Institute on behalf of the Centre for Child Health Research, UWA | Repurposing ion channel drugs to treat brain cancer | 499,406 |
| Prof Yogesan KANAGASINGAM | Medivitals Pty Ltd | AI based remote monitoring platform with medical grade wearable bioband technologies | 383,250 |
| A/Prof Anthony KICIC | Telethon Kids Institute | Making bacteriophage therapy a reality: Implementation of a novel treatment pipeline to treat antimicrobial-resistant infections | 500,000 |
| A/Prof Joost LESTERHUIS | Telethon Kids Institute on behalf of the Centre for Child Health Research, UWA | Activating the power of anti-cancer immunity using small molecule drugs | 496,351 |
| A/Prof Joost LESTERHUIS | Telethon Kids Institute on behalf of the Centre for Child Health Research, UWA | Intraoperative immunotherapy to prevent cancer recurrence after surgery | 497,156 |
| A/Prof Samuel LUNDIN | Biotome Pty Ltd | Development of Helitope, a precision immunological diagnostic to determine gastric cancer risk | 497,000 |
| Prof Bill MORGAN | AECONA Pty Ltd | OcuLinx™: A portable hand-held device for non-invasive measurement of intracranial pressure via the eye | 500,000 |
| Dr Matthew PAYNE | The University of Western Australia | Refining a novel molecular diagnostic test for prediction of women at high risk of preterm birth | 357,017 |
| A/Prof Ming YEW | Innova Medical Pty Ltd | Taking the Fuss out of Pus: A novel medical device for the percutaneous treatment of skin abscesses in an ambulatory setting | 498,973 |
| Prof Minghao ZHENG | The University of Western Australia | Bio-textile collagen rope as a novel substitute to autografts for Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction | 484,396 |
| Total | 8,060,194 |
