New Australian labs to revolutionise STEMM innovation

International research has shown that a focus on promoting innovation and rapidly growing STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) start-up companies lead to the creation of opportunities for employment and economic prosperity.

Countries across the globe are adapting to this idea by establishing programs to support STEMM entrepreneurs in the start-up ecosystem. While various entities within this ecosystem interact and collaborate to assist each other for augmenting their value, there is acute lack of technical spaces that cater to the needs of a wide variety of start-ups.

Australian STEMM Start-up Challenges

Australia’s start-up ecosystem is in the very early stages of development. Moreover, the actual needs of start-ups are quite different to those of small businesses. This sector is rapidly growing globally, and the Australian start-ups are competing in the global marketplace without similar levels of support that are seen in other parts of the world.

The barriers to the growth of Australia’s STEMM start-up ecosystem include a lack of appropriate technical spaces to launch a business and a fragmented ecosystem, amongst others. Most start-ups fail to operate independently and are located in the restrictive environment of academic institutions where often the companies have to share their intellectual properties and manage the ‘red tape’.

Novel Labs and Technical Spaces for Innovation

The concept of fully-flexible and ready-to-go technical spaces that can be adapted to any scientific, clinical, or commercial use, has been practically non-existent in Australia.

One solution to the shortage of such spaces is Yild Technical Spaces, a new facility in the Norwest Business Park in Sydney with low entry cost and with low maintenance. The Director of Yild, Russell Urquhart, has identified the needs of such enterprises by looking to the future and built the first facility of its kind in Sydney and indeed in Australia.

The cutting edge technical spaces resemble US-style incubators for start-ups and are likely to revolutionise the growth in biotech, pharmaceutical and medtech sectors, that are in need of such spaces to innovate, collaborate and grow. Usually such spaces are built and dictated by the needs of clients, but the creation of Yild proves that some in the sector are proactively looking to the future by building such advanced facilities for the Australian science and innovation to grow.

“If you’re looking to start a company, start with the future. Imagine what things will be like in 10 years, not what they’re like now. The most important thing you can do is to solve a real problem. If you solve a problem that lots of people care about deeply, you’ll be able to figure out the rest.” said Melanie Perkins, Cofounder, Canva4.

Yild has done just that by bringing the lab-to-rent model to life in Australia.

Dr. Dimitri Aronov, Director of international company OCSiAl said “We wanted the space to be flexible and we wanted a reasonable cost. In reality Yild was the only facility that I was able to identify in Sydney that fitted all of our requirements”.

These technical spaces comprise a state-of-the-art, fully-flexible facility which can be used and adapted for pharmaceutical, food and beverage, research, teaching, and biotechnology operations. The format is a highly collaborative, multi-tenant environment, combining modern PC2-grade wet-and-dry labs and an ISO grade cleanroom, with hot desks, meeting rooms, kitchen, break-out areas, reception and goods in-out.

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