Western Australia keen on partnering with AMTZ in the areas of innovation and medical research, says Minister in Visakhapatnam

There is a tremendous scope for collaboration between India and Western Australia in the fields of innovation and medical research, according to Stephen Dawson, Minister for Emergency Services, Innovation and Digital Economy and Medical Research, Government of Western Australia.

There is a tremendous scope for collaboration between India and Western Australia in the fields of innovation and medical research, according to Stephen Dawson, Minister for Emergency Services, Innovation and Digital Economy and Medical Research, Government of Western Australia.

Mr. Dawson, along with a delegation from Western Australia, visited the Andhra Pradesh Medtech Zone (AMTZ) here on Saturday. The team went around the sprawling AMTZ campus and saw the facilities available there.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Dawson said that health and medical life sciences were some of the focus areas in which Western Australia (WA) was looking for collaborations and partnership with AMTZ. Recalling the COVID-19 pandemic, he said it was an ‘unimaginable situation’ He said that to connect and lead health and medical research to the next level we have a 10-year Health and Medical Research Strategy. He said WA was offering three and five-year fellowships to leading research experts to attract the leading health and medical researchers. The $5 million initiative encourages health and medical researchers, based anywhere in the world, to relocate to WA to undertake high quality and innovative research programmes.

The research must be aligned with at least one focus area like aboriginal health, rural and remote health, reducing the burden of disease and living with COVID-19 and long COVID. One fellowship would be dedicated to mental health research. He also spoke on ‘Perth Landing Pad’, a platform to assist high-growth startups looking to invest and grow their businesses in WA.

AMTZ CEO Jitender Sharma hoped that WA would sign an MoU with AMTZ for transfer of technology for setting up of research facilities in WA in collaboration with AMTZ during the G 20 Working Group Meeting in Visakhapatnam.

Later, interacting with media persons, Mr. Dawson said the Deputy Premier of WA had signed eight MoUs with AMTZ during his visit to Visakhapatnam along with 110 delegates, last year. “We held discussions with the government and officials and want to take the agreement to the next level. We want to learn, collaborate and partner with AMTZ on the innovative work being done in the area of medical technology. We are ready for a 50:50 partnership with AMTZ.

Replying to queries, he described WA, which has a lot of similarities with India, as a major attraction for Indian students. Some of the university were offering scholarships up to $15,000 to international students, pursing PG courses in WA. “There are 60,000 jobs in WA for planners, engineers and others. We also want to send our students to India for higher studies.