Perth will host AusMedtech in 2026, Australia’s leading medical technology conference, marking the first time the event has been held in Western Australia. The announcement, made by Science and Innovation Minister Stephen Dawson on the final day of AusMedtech 2025 in Sydney, is expected to draw hundreds of national and international delegates to Perth for the two-and-a-half-day conference.
Securing the event represents a significant win for WA’s growing health and medical life sciences sector, offering the state an opportunity to showcase its biomedical industry directly to the delegates, investors and industry leaders who converge each year to help shape the future of Australian healthcare technology.
What AusMedtech Brings to WA
As Australia’s premier medtech conference, AusMedtech brings together industry leaders, researchers, clinicians and investors from across the medical technology sector, covering everything from diagnostic devices and surgical technology through to digital health platforms and biomedical materials innovation. The conference program will include planned site tours to local WA facilities, giving visiting delegates direct exposure to the research and manufacturing capability the state has built up within its biomedical sector.
For WA’s home-grown medtech companies and research institutions, hosting the event on their own turf offers a considerably easier and lower-cost opportunity to engage with the national and international medtech community than travelling interstate or overseas, potentially opening doors to partnerships, investment and collaboration that smaller WA-based companies might otherwise struggle to access.
Building on Existing WA Representation
WA was strongly represented at AusMedTech 2025 in Sydney, with the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation and the Department of Health leading a delegation of seven WA biomedical companies and organisations to the event. Visitors to that Sydney gathering had the opportunity to learn about WA’s latest health and medical life sciences innovations and investment opportunities through a dedicated industry stand, groundwork that appears to have helped build the case for bringing the conference to Perth the following year.
Supporting WA’s Health and Medical Life Sciences Strategy
Securing AusMedtech 2026 directly supports two key objectives of Western Australia’s Health and Medical Life Sciences Industry Strategy: strengthening the state’s innovation ecosystem and attracting new investment. State officials have consistently framed the biomedical and health technology sector as a genuine growth opportunity for WA, capable of building on the state’s existing research strengths at institutions like Curtin, UWA and the state’s major teaching hospitals.
A Pattern of Major Events Choosing Perth
AusMedtech 2026 joins a growing list of major conferences and trade events WA has secured in recent years, alongside events like Land Forces 2026 and Energy Exchange Australia, reflecting a deliberate state strategy of using Perth’s convention and exhibition infrastructure to attract industry-specific gatherings that showcase the state’s capability in priority growth sectors. For each of these events, the economic benefit extends beyond direct visitor spending to include the harder-to-measure but potentially more valuable long-term investment and partnership opportunities that flow from bringing industry decision-makers directly into contact with WA’s local capability.
What Comes Next
With planning now underway for the 2026 conference, WA’s biomedical companies and research institutions have a genuine opportunity to prepare for what will effectively be a home-ground showcase of their capabilities to the national and international medtech community. For a sector state officials have identified as a genuine future growth pillar, successfully hosting AusMedtech for the first time offers a meaningful platform to build on the momentum already generated through WA’s participation in previous years’ events held interstate.
Growing a Local Medtech Ecosystem
WA’s biomedical sector has grown steadily in recent years, supported by research strength at the state’s major universities and teaching hospitals alongside targeted government funding aimed at commercialising promising medical technology research. Hosting AusMedtech offers local companies and researchers a rare opportunity to build relationships with interstate and international investors and industry partners without the cost and logistical burden of travelling to conferences held elsewhere in the country or overseas.
Industry observers say the timing is particularly favourable given growing global interest in medical technology innovation, from diagnostic devices through to digital health platforms, positioning WA companies to make their case to a genuinely engaged international audience.
School and university groups are expected to be invited to attend elements of the conference program, extending the event’s benefit beyond the immediate industry audience to help build broader local awareness of WA’s growing health and medical technology career pathways among students still weighing their future study options.
Organisers say the site tours planned as part of the conference program will give visiting delegates a genuine, first-hand look at the research and manufacturing infrastructure underpinning WA’s biomedical claims, rather than relying purely on presentations and pitch sessions to make the case for the state’s growing capability in this space.
For WA’s Department of Health and its research partners, hosting the event also offers useful visibility into emerging national and international medtech trends, insight that can help inform the state’s own future investment priorities within its Health and Medical Life Sciences Industry Strategy.
