A new commercialisation lab, Fusion Growth Labs, and Gold Coast Health launch Digital Health Lab to accelerate hospital-validated innovation, has partnered with Gold Coast Health to launch a Digital Health Lab, setting a new standard for collaboration between public health and private technology innovation.
Led by Fusion Growth Labs, this is the first structured program in Australia that enables early-stage digital health start-ups to test and validate their technologies in a real hospital environment.
Domenic Girolamo, Gold Coast Health Executive Director of Digital Innovation and Medical Research, said creating a model where innovation could be safely trialed and supported from with the hospital environment was the key for meaningful validation.
“Gold Coast Health is committed to an innovation-led model, providing startups access to clinicians, validation and early traction through establishing a defined route for broader implementation following successful pilots,” he said.
The program provides a clear pathway for scaling nationally and globally, aiming to enhance patient outcomes, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and harness rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence.
Fusion Growth Labs co-founder Yazz Krishna said the partnership reframes how hospitals engage with innovation, not as passive trial sites, but as active partners in the ecosystem.
“By aligning clinical relevance with the rapid execution and domain expertise of our founder network, Fusion’s coordinated pathway reduces the risk of early-stage venture while driving measurable outcomes for the health system,” he said.
This follows Fusion’s announcement about the launch of its cybersecurity lab backed by the $130 million Queensland Venture Capital Development Fund, managed by QIC, and the appointment of Jason Murrell as Entrepreneur-in-Residence along with 12 chief information security officers from major Australian industry bodies supporting it.
Fusion Growth Labs will initially focus on four labs in digital health, space, defence and cybersecurity, and was spun out of venture capital programs from the University of Queensland by start-up veterans Yazz Krishna and James Skinner.
For more information visit www.fusiongrowthlabs.com
