The Australia/New Zealand market is considered one of the top 10 bio-environments in the world, with the predicted annual compound growth rate of the sector of 37 percent fuelled by both public and private investment, according to IDC.
Private investment in particular is expected to play a large part in growth, with IDC predicting the private sector will dominate bio-IT expenditure by 2006. In Australia the bio-IT market is already largely dominated by the private sector, while in New Zealand, the government, through the academic sector, currently dominates. That is set to change over the next three years, IDC argues.
There are over 320 biotech firms in Australia and New Zealand with the industry employs more than 6,500 research personnel. Despite the relatively low level of public investment in life sciences in Australia and New Zealand compared to other Asia-Pacific nations, IDC claims the local market is several years ahead of our regional competitors due to the fact governments are pushing research out from the public sector to the private sector.
The New Zealand biotech industry is expected to increase its IT spend from 14 percent to 30 percent of all-industries' IT spend, predicts IDC. Large pharmaceutical companies in New Zealand are also expected to mature and make up 23 percent of the spend on bio-IT in 2006, compared to just 17 percent in 2001.
IDC singled out Queensland as developing a strong reputation in bio-practices focused on computational biotechnology, and predicts the area will host key R&D centres as the global industry continues to adapt in-silico processors to drive molecular research.
Regional spending on bio-IT is also expected to more than double in size, with the total spend of Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) to reach more than US$2.5 billion by 2006.
