The New Zealand government is investing in the MedTech Research Translator project to deliver new medical tools and meet both the demands of a global pandemic and a growing aging population.

"COVID-19 has shown that we need to build a more resilient, productive, innovative and economically-sustainable health system," Associate Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Ayesha Verrall said in a statement on Monday.

"The project harnesses New Zealand's bioengineering and healthcare expertise. It is a new program for translating the findings from publicly-funded research into solutions for unmet clinical needs," Verrall said.

"This will enable improvements in personalized care, diagnostics and therapy, and result in more equitable healthcare outcomes for New Zealanders," she said.

"The program will fund expertise and activities at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, which aims to get medical technology research off the bench and into business. It will facilitate the development of collaborative projects across New Zealand universities," she added.

The government is investing 8.1 million New Zealand dollars (5.8 million U.S. dollars) over three years. Each project will have a researcher, clinician and commercialization expert on the team. The program will accelerate the most promising projects by providing pre-seed funding to researchers, Verrall said.

"This fund will also contribute to New Zealand's economic recovery from COVID-19, by supporting the growth of the medical technology sector," she said, adding the sector is the second-largest secondary industry, valued at 1.9 billion New Zealand dollars (1.36 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019 when health-tech accounted for 11 percent of the country's top 200 tech businesses.

(Xinhua)