ANU welcomes funding for wearable medical technology

The Australian National University (ANU) has welcomed new federal government funding for a landmark project to develop microwearable technology to help drive the future of personalised medicine and diagnostics. Health Minister The Hon Greg Hunt MP has announced the funding from the government's BioMedTech Horizons program which aims to help commercialise and develop technological discoveries and stimulate collaboration between the research, industry and technology sectors. The WearOptimo project, led by ANU Entrepreneurial Fellow Professor Mark Kendall, will receive $890,000 from the BioMedTech Horizons Project to further develop the technology for simple, wearable devices which can help monitor and manage a range of diseases. ANU will match the funding to help develop the WearOptimo enterprise. ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt, who appointed Professor Kendall as an ANU Vice Chancellor's Entrepreneurial Professor earlier this year, said the government funding was welcome support for a project with the potential to improve the lives of millions of people around the world. "Professor Kendall is one of the world's leading medical-technology innovators, and his work is at the centre of finding new ways to use technology to help address some of the major healthcare challenges facing the world," Professor Schmidt said. "Inequality in healthcare is one of the major challenges of our time and personalised medical technologies can help ensure that healthcare can be provided equitably and universally.