The WA government has refocused its flagship health and medical research fund to deliver “intentional impact” on areas that are unique to Western Australia or where it believes the state has a competitive edge.
Areas of importance outlined in WA’s Future Health Research and Innovation (FHRI) Fund Strategy 2025-30 released on Tuesday include Aboriginal health research, remote and rural health service innovation, diagnostics and precision medicine, and emerging strengths in biotech and digital health.
The strategy was updated following a review of the effectiveness of the FHRI in October last year, which looked at the fund’s strategy, programs and operations.
The new strategy announced its flagship initiative – the Spotlight Program – which is designed to encourage collaboration between government, industry, academia, health services, and communities to translate research and innovation into improved healthcare for the state.
The fund will prioritise initiatives that “demonstrate strong teamwork, leverage external investment and deliver tangible benefits for WA,” the strategy says.
“The Spotlight Program is an exciting opportunity to bring together clinicians, researchers, and consumers to co-design solutions that will directly benefit patients and families across WA,” Health minister Meredith Hammat said.
Heralding the change as an “ambitious” long-term investment, Medical Research minister Stephen Dawson said the strategy “will push WA forward as a national leader in medical research and innovation excellence that has real-world impact”.
The strategy also has the ambition of turning WA into a global top 10 health researcher and innovator.
The FHRI Fund was first established in 2020 with $1.4 billion initially committed. It was subsequently expanded to $1.6 billion in 2022, finally becoming $1.8 billion long-term investment into health and medical research and innovation projects across the state.
More than $260 million has already been granted across more than 745 projects and initiatives, according to the state government. Overseen by the FHRI Fund Advisory Council and the Office of Medical Research and Innovation, the updated strategy will “reinforce transparency and accountability” through clear goals, priorities and reporting.
Recipients of FHRI Fund support are expected to contribute to the broader research ecosystem, which includes the PeopleWA-linked data platform, supporting the proposed Health Innovation Hub and expanding access to biospecimens through a revitalised WA Biobank.
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