The McGowan Government announced last week a $13.3 million to establish a health and medical ‘innovation hub’ in Perth. The hub was a 2017 election commitment which now forms part of the WA Recovery Plan from COVID-19.
To be located within walking distance of the East Metropolitan Health Services (EMHS) Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) campus, the hub is being developed to provide an environment for closer interactions between clinicians, patients, innovators and innovation funders.
The RPH Synapse Innovation Hub (or just ‘Synapse 74’) has been named in reference to the connection and the ‘meeting of the minds’ at 74 Murray Street, adjacent to the RPH campus.
The aim of Synapse 74 is to provide a meeting place and environment where entrepreneurs and innovators in healthcare can come together with a health-related idea or concept that they want to translate into a commercial entity or business. The hub will enable the barriers to partnerships or ‘silos’ within the health and medical industry to be brought down, with research organisations, universities, private industry and other healthcare providers. Synapse 74 will also provide the opportunity for EMHS and WA Health to work with a variety of stakeholders to tackle important problems and challenges within the healthcare sector and develop the most innovative, patient focused and cost-effective solutions possible.
Planning, scoping and documentation will start within the next few months and construction is anticipated by late 2021.