Gibran Maher first indigenous winner of South Australian Industry Leaders Fund scholarship in 2021
Gibran Maher and an example of 3D-printed titanium spinal implants he hoped to produce with his partner at the Additive Surgical plant in Adelaide.
A medical-grade manufacturing plant to produce 3D-printed titanium spinal implants in Adelaide would be led by Gibran Maher, the first indigenous entrepreneur to receive a South Australian Industry Leaders Fund scholarship in 2022.
Maher, the brother of South Australian government attorney general Kyam Maher, founded Additive Surgical with former Austofix medical devices manufacturer general manager Chris Henry. Additive Surgical planned to transform an inner-east Adelaide site with world-leading fine resolution printers to stem the loss of valuable local medical intellectual property to overseas companies.
The new plant would produce the implants used to treat spine diseases and give South Australia a much-needed chance to build prototypes for innovative medical device breakthroughs. Maher said the biggest gap in South Australia’s eco-system was the lack of a short-run prototyping plant that met medical-grade regulations. Supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for more sovereign medical device production and the medical sector continued to struggle with long waits. Australia imported 80% of its medical devices.
Additive Surgical was set up as a joint venture with world-leading medical device company Tsunami Medical, based in Italy, to be able to access intellectual property for making devices in South Australia, along with the right to have local clinicians to work on innovating its baseline technology. The company intended working closely with Flinders University and the Medical Device Partnering Program, and the Medical Devices Research Institute.
Maher moved to South Australia with his family after working in Victoria for 12 years including as national sales manager and vice president global sales and marketing for medical 3D printing firm Anatomics. He would use the Industry Leaders Fund scholarship to complete an Australian Institute of Company Directors course and an executive training course in innovation at Columbia University in New York.
