Message from the CEO “Life Sciences Queensland end of year wrap up… December 2022"

Firstly, thank you for the warm welcome to life sciences ecosystem. Since I joined in mid-October, I have been immersing myself back into the sector, meeting with members and key stakeholders to listen and learn what is important and what you need from LSQ. There have been many highlights already, from attending and hosting the LSQ pavilion at Ausbiotech 2022 in Perth in my first week, through to delivering our largest GENE Awards event and celebrating the achievements of 32 finalists and award winners. Every day is different in this role and some key areas I wanted to share with you:

• Engaged as the QLD representative on the BIO Steering Committee managed by AusTrade. Collaborating with TIQ on the QLD capability statement. I have clearly heard the importance of BIO for us to connect globally and have a strong presence.
• Attendance at TropAg Conference that we sponsored highlighted the vibrancy in the agricultural sector and enabled key connections in future proteins and indigenous botanicals.
• Ausbiotech Debrief session and survey to hear about the 2022 event and inform 2023. WA did a great job in giving the conference a local flavour and that is a goal for us in 2023. A key message is that participants are coming to Queensland and not Brisbane. We are compiling a prospectus for Ausbiotech 2023.- watch this space.
• Great engagements with Lorraine Chiroiu and the Queensland and national Ausbiotech team. We have a great year ahead of partnering.
• Discussions with UQ about the Global Bioeconomy Alliance conference that is coming to Brisbane in 2023.
• Delivery of our last breakfast event for 2022 with panellists Dr Kym Baker, Patheon; Dr Tim Evans, AcuraBio and Mike Junger, Vaxxas. We also held our AGM and welcomed Trent Munro to the Board and farewelled David Camerlengo.
• Recent weeks has had a bounty of announcement and launch events. We welcome the Sanofi partnership and Alliance Pharma and Southern RNA opened their facilities. It was great to visit and meet the teams. We are keen to support as they establish.
• Visits to Springfield and the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct including the Griffith Clinical Trial Unit and Glycomics Institute and Cohort startup hub. A huge thank you for the great tours to see the rapid growth and vision for these precincts. We are eager to engage and be an enabler.
• Panel presentations at the QUT-CBT conference and the AIBN Bio-manufacturing event.
• Regular meetings with the Biomanufacturing Alliance and framing our focus on some network mapping discussions in the new year.
• Roundtable with Life Sciences Incubator (LSI) during their visit to evaluate where they may locate in Australia. It was great to see the impact from our work connecting LSI with BEDA and key partners including Silverstone Developments.

2023 is shaping up to be a stellar year.  Being the host state of major life conferences will inject even more energy and focus our narrative of the Queensland ecosystem. We can’t wait to see the Medtech Accelerator cohort at JP Morgan in January and amplifying their successes.

Wishing you and yours a safe, healthy and joyful festive season. I look forward to collaborating and engaging with you in 2023.

Best,

Erin

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