Building Australia’s life sciences future at Brisbane’s Boggo Road Innovation Junction

Brisbane’s Boggo Road Innovation Junction (BRIJ) precinct has grown from a long-term legacy in healthcare and community services to position itself as a national locus for life science scale-up.

Professor Trent Munro, General Manager of the BRIJ, and Rebekah Cassidy, CEO of AusBiotech, spoke with BiotechDispatch about the precinct’s contribution to how Australia’s life sciences sector is moving from scientific promise to commercial impact.

Munro describes BRIJ as a carefully curated ecosystem designed to accelerate translation, which is often an awkward phase between lab discovery and a market-ready product.

“We’re thinking about the entire pipeline,” he said. “Space is important, yes, but so are connections between researchers, clinicians, investors and industry partners.”

Those desired connections informed the precinct’s design. BRIJ provides flexible wet lab facilities, shared equipment and translational support services that reduce the typical capital burden facing early-stage companies.

Munro emphasised the precinct’s role as a matchmaking platform connecting start-ups with hospital partners for clinical insight, university researchers for intellectual and corporate partners for scale.

“What founders need is clarity on regulation, on trials, on reimbursement pathways, and a line to capital that understands biotech’s timelines,” he said. “The precinct reduces uncertainty by making those pathways visible and navigable.”

Cassidy, whose organisation advocates for the broader Australian life sciences industry, framed the conversation at a national level. She painted a picture of an ecosystem that has matured scientifically but still struggles to attract sufficient risk capital and supportive policy frameworks to take companies global.

“We have brilliant science and a growing base of founder talent,” Cassidy said. “But access to capital remains a significant point of discussion given the capital intensity and timelines biotech demands. And policy needs to move faster to align regulation, business incentives, tax settings and procurement to reward innovation.”

Cassidy said that targeted policy interventions, from tax offsets for R&D to accelerated regulatory and procurement pathways, can change investment calculations. She highlighted the role of an industry association like AusBiotech in distilling the sector’s needs into pragmatic recommendations for government.

Both leaders returned to talent repeatedly, not just scientists but commercialisation, regulatory and clinical experience roles that are often in short supply.

“You can build all the labs in the world, but if you don’t have people who can run trials, interpret regulatory pathways, or talk to investors, you won’t get commercial outcomes,” Cassidy said.

Munro described how BRIJ is addressing talent shortages through a range of tactics, including co-location of start-ups and small to medium enterprises with universities to enable cross-training, industry fellowships and targeted professional development programs. He said these measures are designed to create a pipeline of people who understand both the science and the business imperatives of biotech.

Both stressed that scaling biotech in Australia requires pragmatic problem-solving. For Munro, that means building on local advantages that let companies de-risk critical early steps before they seek larger capital injections, including internationally.

He offered concrete examples. These include shared GMP-compliant manufacturing capacity to enable small batch runs for clinical trials, a coordinated approach to connecting start-ups with local hospitals for Phase 1 and 2 studies, and streamlined access to shared high-cost equipment. These steps, he argued, reduce time to proof of concept and therefore make companies more attractive to investors.

Cassidy underlined that successful national ecosystems are cumulative, arguing that talent, capital and infrastructure must reinforce each other. “One-off grants or single buildings don’t create a sector,” she said. “You need sustained, aligned action across multiple fronts.”

A recurring theme was engagement of the investment community given biotech’s distinct timeline and risk profile. She said biotech typically requires longer holds and higher tolerance for scientific and regulatory setbacks than many other sectors.

But both leaders also argued that that narrative can be reframed as opportunity. Early-stage biotech, especially in therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics, can deliver outsized returns for investors.

Munro sees Australia’s role as complementary to global hubs. “The aim isn’t to replicate what Boston or Cambridge do at scale but to create sectors of excellence that feed into global value chains. We can be the proving ground,” Munro said. “If Australian teams can get to clinical proof and show manufacturability, the global market will follow.”

He pointed to successful investor exits that demonstrate the model. “These are firms that validated technology locally and then attracted international capital for global expansion. These examples, he said, create the storytelling and investor confidence necessary to build momentum.