JCU reveals Cairns Tropical Enterprise Centre: Research, tech and medi-tourism

JAMES Cook University is eyeing off prime real estate next to the Cairns Hospital for a research centre that could also cash in on the lucrative boobs-for-bucks trade.

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JAMES Cook University is eyeing off prime real estate next to the Cairns Hospital for a $50 million research hub allowing scientists to collaborate with doctors, businesses and medical tourists.

JCU vice-chancellor Professor Sandra Harding has returned from the Cairns TNQ Convoy to Canberra confident the proposal was well received.

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“JCU’s vision is to create a brighter future for life in the tropics worldwide,” she said.

“As part of that vision, JCU is proposing a Cairns Tropical Enterprise Centre in the CBD, adjacent to the hospital.”

JCU is attacking the concept from multiple angles, starting with using the Cairns Hospital’s position as Australia’s first large-scale regional digital hospital to discover how increased digitisation can improve patient outcomes.

James Cook University Vice-Chancellor Professor Sandra Harding — Photo: Cameron Laird

“Models and approaches relevant to rural and remote communities, such as remote monitoring of chronically ill patients, can be scaled up nationally and are of interest to Australia’s tropical neighbours,” a project briefing says.

It will delve deeper than just the health sector.

The CTEC Innovation Exchange will be “the public access interface for the technologies, tools and expertise that are held within JCU that are available to industry and entrepreneurs”. It will focus on the “Internet of Things” that increasingly links physical devices to a digital network and how technology can benefit the Far North.

“Sectors to be served include health, agriculture, creative industries, retail and tourism,” the briefing states.

The centre would also partner with a Cairns high school to deliver a STEM, language and Internet of Things-intensive curriculum.

The property has not yet been revealed but the hospital is bordered by existing unit blocks and medical businesses.

Attaching a university would help the Cairns Hospital in its long journey to gain tertiary hospital status.

Cairns Hospital on the Cairns Esplanade. Photo: Brendan Radke.

Enhanced bid

THERE is big bucks in boobs — a fact that has not been over-looked in the Cairns Tropical Enterprise Centre proposal.

JCU wants to cash in on the medi-tourism phenomenon.

“The cachet of Cairns as a tourist destination, its connectivity to Asia, and its hotels and attractions create the circumstances for a medi-tourism hub,” a briefing identifies.

“A medi-hotel could be part of the mix.”

Originally published as JCU reveals Cairns Tropical Enterprise Centre: Research, tech and medi-tourism