Workforce gaps in Australian MedTech, Pharma, Biotech and digital health sectors

Australia’s medical technology, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and digital health sector supports approximately 70,000 Australian jobs and contributed more than $5 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the Australian economy in 2019. Its future is dependent on the skills of its workforce.

Earlier this year, MTPConnect set out to better understand the sector’s workforce needs and skills gaps by funding some sector research.

Working with the support of a cross-industry project team of AusBiotech, ANDHealth, Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA) and Medicines Australia, an online survey of human resource (HR) professionals and managers with hiring responsibilities in the sector was developed to find out more. 

The results of the survey are in and BehaviourWorks Australia, a research enterprise within the Monash Sustainable Development Institute has prepared the following report, ‘A Survey of Workforce Skills and Capacity in the Medical Technology, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical and Digital Health (MTP) Sector’.

This report identifies current, emerging and future skills gaps that need to be addressed in order to drive employment and growth in the Australian MTP sector, including:

• Business skills and commercial expertise
• Regulation and quality
• Clinical (including trials)
• Biological sciences and technologies
• Informatics, computation, mathematical and statistics and;
• Chemical science

Feedback concerning the lack of real-world experience in industry shows there is more work to be done to support career development opportunities in our sector.

These survey results have now been incorporated into a comprehensive Skills Gap Analysis being undertaken by L.E.K for MTPConnect’s REDI program.

REDI is a four-year $32 million MRFF funded program which aims to build the MTP workforce, address skills gaps and enhance entrepreneurship in Australia. An interim Skills Gap Analysis report will be released next month.