17 September 2015 - Australia is taking a page from Silicon Valley’s playbook as it seeks to reinvigorate its resource-dependent economy at the end of a long commodities boom, placing bets on biotechnology and digital health care.

For years, mineral-rich Australia has lagged behind the US and other tech-centric economies in converting tech discoveries into business ventures. Australians produce twice as many citable research papers per capita as Americans but only half the number of patents, according to a 2014 report by consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

That is changing, partly because of tax incentives for research and development that have aided biotech companies facing years of costly research and drug trials. Australia ranked fourth globally for biotechnology innovation last year, up from seventh place in 2013, according to a survey by Scientific American based on categories including government policy, intellectual property protection and workforce education. The US is No 1, followed by Denmark and New Zealand. Switzerland, home to pharmaceuticals giants such as Novartis, slipped to seventh in 2015 from third in 2013.

The sector may get a further boost after Malcolm Turnbull, a successful software entrepreneur and venture capitalist before turning to politics in 2004, wrested the job of prime minister from Tony Abbott in a Liberal Party coup. “Mr Turnbull’s business acumen along with his knowledge of and well-known support for the Australian technology sector will provide him with unique insights into the barriers facing Australian start-ups, particularly in terms of accessing venture capital and talent,” said Peter Bradd, chief executive of non-profit organisation StartupAUS.

In the semi-industrial Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford, Starpharma recently moved into a building used for years by Carlton United Breweries to analyse beer. Walls and parquet floors that evoked beer hops and wheat fields have been whitewashed, but the whiff of brewing yeast lingers, billowing from the neighbouring brewery’s smoke stacks.

For more details, go to: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/australia-eyes-biotechnology-start-ups-to-remedy-resources-slump/story-fnay3ubk-1227530584048