A cohesive and collaborative digital health industry will allow Australian healthcare consumers to benefit from world-leading technologies in the treatment and management of acute and chronic conditions, increased healthcare system efficiencies, and better health outcomes, alongside the economic development benefits of an increasingly efficient and connected healthcare system, creation of high value skills and employment opportunities, and the development of a new sector, based in innovation and commercialisation, to take Australia forward into the future.
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This whitepaper represents the views of a diverse group of senior executives from across the Australian healthcare industry who were brought together in a series of roundtable consultations conducted in late 2017. These meetings were held to discuss the strengths, opportunities, constraints and barriers in Australia with respect to creating an integrated ecosystem for the development, commercialisation and implementation of digital health technologies, as the foundation of a thriving, international digital health industry.

Four roundtables were convened to explore interrelated but diverse areas relevant to creating an ecosystem within which both digital health innovation and commercialisation can prosper. Areas explored include technology development, investment, regulation, and market entry / implementation.

Across each theme outlined above, this whitepaper seeks to explore the opportunities and constraints which Australia faces, should it wish to pursue the creation of a digital health sector for Australia, and poses recommendations intended to represent tangible activities for both government and industry to partner on to accelerate the growth of the sector in Australia.

More than anything, this paper is intended to reflect the perceptions and views of the participants of the roundtables in such a way as to facilitate a dialogue around the importance of digital health to Australia and Australians, and the economic opportunity posed by this rapidly emerging area of healthcare innovation.