Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews believes the state’s science and innovation can match it with the world’s best.
Andrews announced $100 million from the Breakthrough Victoria fund to universities so groundbreaking ideas can be turned into commercial propositions.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit:Wayne Taylor
Among the examples was a prosthetic bone which can replace the work done by screws and other surgical devices which has been developed at RMIT in partnership with other companies and investors.
Andrews said turning the ideas of innovators into jobs and profits would help Victoria continue to grow after the pandemic.
“This is a big part of our future. But it’s happening right now,” Andrews said on Thursday.
“It’s not about waiting with a sense of hope that there’s private sector investment. You’ve got to make these things happen. You’ve got to capture these ideas, help them come to fruition and then make sure that the jobs are right here in Melbourne and across Victoria, in every single industry.
“What we’ve seen today is a unique capability. This is a fantastic centre of training and learning and the partnerships with industry are second to none.
“We can’t take anything for granted. We’ve got big challenges as a state as a nation coming out of COVID. And the only way to deal with those challenges is to grow our way out of those challenges. And if you have all the best ideas coming from Melbourne, but the profits and the jobs are going to Singapore or to San Francisco, that’s no good for Victoria.
“This is about supporting universities and those who through universities make these amazing, amazing discoveries. Coming up with these great ideas. They just need some support to take those ideas and turn them into products, profits and jobs and that’s exactly what this platform will do.
“We’re delighted to be here today. It’s $100 million. It’s not a cost of the budget. It’s a profound investment in making sure that we make more things here and that we have more people in work right here.
“When you talk about great cities of the world for science – and the same can be said for innovation and product development – for tech, you’ve got London, you’ve got Boston, and you’ve got Melbourne and we need to make sure that we value that and we continually invest to make sure that leading position is guaranteed, guaranteed for the future.”