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Building the Infrastructure for Discovery: How ION Aligns with Australia’s National Health & Medical Research Strategy

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16 September 2025

Building the Infrastructure for Discovery: How ION Aligns with Australia’s National Health & Medical Research Strategy

Australia is at an inflection point in health and medical research. The Federal Government’s Draft National Health and Medical Research Strategy (2026–2036) sets out a bold 10-year vision for building a world-class research ecosystem—one that accelerates discoveries, ensures equity, and translates knowledge into better health outcomes.

 

At the heart of the draft strategy is a clear recognition: infrastructure matters. Shared facilities, collaborative platforms, and future-ready environments are essential enablers of research that can compete on the global stage.

 

For Kurraba Group, this national vision directly resonates with the development of ION. Purpose-built, lab-first, and designed for collaboration, ION embodies the kind of infrastructure the Strategy calls for.

 

 

Shared Infrastructure to Reduce Duplication

 

The draft strategy highlights the need to “use existing and plan new infrastructure, platforms, and networks as shared resources” - ensuring efficiency and reducing duplication across Australia’s research ecosystem.

 

ION is designed around this principle. Its flexible lab and office spaces offer researchers and businesses access to high-specification environments without the cost and complexity of building bespoke facilities. By clustering biotech and medtech innovators within one precinct, ION creates economies of scale, enabling tenants to access shared equipment, services, and support infrastructure.

 

This approach directly addresses the strategy’s challenge of rising indirect costs—by making infrastructure accessible, cost-efficient, and scalable.

 

 

A Hub for Collaboration and Translation

 

The draft strategy calls for expanded Research Translation Centres (RTCs) and “hub-and-spoke” models that connect universities, hospitals, and industry. These structures aim to accelerate the translation of discoveries into health outcomes and commercial opportunities.

 

ION is uniquely positioned to play this role. Located within Sydney’s Tech Central innovation district and surrounded by world-class hospitals and universities, the precinct acts as a collaborative hub where researchers, clinicians, and industry converge. By embedding translational research within its design—through proximity, partnerships, and adaptable spaces—ION supports the very networks the strategy seeks to strengthen.

 

 

Supporting Clinical Trial Infrastructure

 

Australia’s clinical trial capacity is another focus of the draft strategy. It calls for investments in infrastructure to support logistics, data management, and recruitment across both metropolitan and regional areas.

 

While regional access is critical, metropolitan precincts like ION are essential anchors for clinical trial networks. With purpose-built laboratory and data infrastructure, ION provides an environment where trials can be coordinated, monitored, and scaled in partnership with external sites. The precinct can serve as a catalyst for broader trial accessibility, ensuring Sydney remains a competitive destination for global research investment.

 

 

Future-Ready, Flexible Design

 

The draft strategy recognises that health research is evolving rapidly, with new technologies—from artificial intelligence to precision medicine—demanding flexible, future-ready environments.

 

ION anticipates this need through its modular and scalable design. Spaces can adapt to emerging scientific priorities, whether that’s the growth of cell and gene therapy, the integration of digital health, or AI-enabled research. By building flexibility into its DNA, ION ensures it remains relevant for the full span of the strategy’s 10-year vision and beyond.

 

 

Aligning National Vision with Local Impact

 

The draft National Strategy sets a clear ambition: a health and medical research system that is sustainable, equitable, and globally competitive. Achieving this requires co-investment in infrastructure that is shared, collaborative, and future-proofed.

 

ION is ready to meet this challenge. As Australia’s first purpose-built, commercially developed life sciences precinct, it demonstrates how policy and place can align—turning national vision into local impact.

 

By creating a home for researchers, industry, and clinicians to work side by side, ION ensures that discoveries are not only made, but translated into outcomes that matter: improved health, economic growth, and global competitiveness.

 

 

Looking Ahead

 

The Draft National Health and Medical Research Strategy is currently open for consultation. As it evolves into a final framework, its call for investment in shared, future-ready infrastructure provides a powerful endorsement of precincts like ION.

 

Kurraba Group is proud to be contributing to this vision—building the infrastructure for discovery, and the environment for breakthroughs.