New Queensland biotech alliance to create thousands of jobs

Queensland’s biotech sector is joining forces to create thousands of jobs over the next few years producing everything from life saving vaccines to heart treatments.

Biotech is ramping up in Queensland.

It’s a burgeoning sector - producing everything from life saving vaccines to heart treatments made from snake venom - that also promises to create thousands of jobs over the next few years in Queensland.

Now seven of the state’s key biomanufacturing organisations are combining forces to pave the way for further growth and development of both biotech and biomedical industries.

The organisations in the new Bio Manufacturing Alliance (BMA) include Life Sciences Queensland, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, the Translational Research Institute (TRI), University of Queensland, Cytiva, Springfield City Group and Thermo Fisher Patheon. Life Sciences Queensland chief executive Dr Erin Evans says the BMA will formalise a two-year relationship between the parties, and pave the way for new partners.

“We have keen interest from leading biomanufacturing groups, including Sanofi, Aegros, Southern RNA and Vaxxas,” says Evans. “We see huge potential globally in biomanufacturing and the BMA is a vital part of harnessing that.”

Professor Frank Gannon, special advisor to Springfield City Group and former head of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, is optimistic that Queensland’s growing reputation as a collaborative environment for biomanufacturing will attract investments that will create and retain thousands of jobs.

Gannon predicts businesses moving into Springfield’s BioPark Australia will create 1200 high-quality jobs over the next five years.

Dr Erin Evans.

Gannon says many of the businesses will address sovereign manufacturing needs, such as providing the supply chain for RNA vaccines or specialised blood proteins.

In a welcome brain gain for the state, Gannon says about 20 per cent of the jobs will be for PhD candidates, another 30 per cent will be for those who already have their PhDs and the rest will go to technicians with specialist skills.

UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry says the collaboration opportunities provided through the alliance will be invaluable.

“We need to understand where the skills gaps are in the workforce and through that alliance seek to address these gaps by providing courses, training opportunities, and upskilling of our students to address that need,” Terry says.

The BMA spans all sectors of bio-manufacturing from product development, personnel training, novel biotherapies and start-up labs, to dedicated locations to allow clustering of mature expanding industries.

The group launched on Wednesday at a breakfast for 150 sector leaders gathered for the AusBiotech ‘23 conference being held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

By chance the launch event was the first official engagement for Queensland Chief Scientist Professor Kerrie Wilson, who begins her new roles this week.

Not happy

We hear there are not a lot of happy campers down at Suncorp HQ where about 24 senior managers have been let go as part of a round of restructuring of the group’s insurance operations.

“It was an intense day yesterday,” one Suncorp insider told your diarist after the cull. “People were crying and were p**ed off.”

We hear Suncorp has told the Finance Sector Union that no other cut are planned ahead of a crucial appeal to the Australian Competition Tribunal over the stalled $4.9bn sale of Suncorp’s banking operations to ANZ. But another insider noted that “many people are still very stressed.”