The New Jersey Innovation Institute prides itself not only on being a leader in technology commercialization and startup acceleration — it counts health care as one of its four primary divisions of excellence.
That’s why it jumped at the chance to extend and amplify its impact by becoming a lead innovation partner of the Healthcare Innovation Engine at SciTech Scity, the “Science City of Tomorrow” being developed by Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.
Jennifer D’Angelo, the chief operating officer at NJII and the executive vice president of the Healthcare Division, said the organization is eager to get to work.
“The partnership marks a pivotal moment for NJII as we continue our mission to drive innovation in health care and unlock new opportunities to shape a brighter future for patients and providers,” she said.
NJII will join SciTech Scity partners RWJBarnabas Health, Bristol Myers Squibb, EY, Nokia Bell Labs and Sheba Medical Center in Israel on a comprehensive multidisciplinary effort to advance the use of new digital home health technologies to pioneer and spearhead new and more cost-effective methods of delivering care for underserved communities in New Jersey and beyond — and to elevate startups working on the biggest problems in health care.
Liberty Science Center CEO Paul Hoffman said NJII is the perfect partner, given its leadership in health care interoperability and work commercializing technologies and accelerating startups.
Alex Richter, executive director and head of SciTech Innovation Hub, agreed.
“New Jersey Innovation Institute has been a leader in health care transformation in the state of New Jersey,” he said. “We are thrilled to embark on this journey alongside NJII, as they’ve demonstrated a shared commitment to driving innovation in health care and bringing early-stage technologies to market.”
NJII brings a unique perspective to the Healthcare Innovation Engine Roundtable. Founded as a corporation of NJIT, NJII aims to foster collaboration between academia and industry and brings to bear the technological and intellectual resources of NJIT.
Its Healthcare Division is the state-designated entity responsible for operating and managing the New Jersey Health Information Network on behalf of the New Jersey departments of health and human services. NJII is also partnered with DHS for the Substance Use Disorder Promoting Interoperability Program, with the goal of enhancing coordination among substance use disorder providers and health care systems by providing them increased access to electronic health records and promoting interoperability among them, critically enhancing New Jersey’s strategy to address the opioid crisis.
NJII works with other SciTech Scity lead partners, including the hospital lead partner, RWJBarnabas Health, to help them participate in promoting statewide interoperability. NJII also offers technical and strategic services for providers and health systems in New Jersey supporting Merit-based Incentive Pay System and Quality Improvement programs, QIP-NJ.
The partnership also reflects NJII’s expertise in technology commercialization and startup acceleration. In addition to catalyzing technology from New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJII launched the Merck Digital Sciences Studio in collaboration with Merck, supporting early-stage biomedical startups with direct investment.
SciTech Scity is a 30-acre innovation campus devoted to using science and technology to address humanity’s greatest challenges, from inadequate health care to climate change, and create a better future for all of us. The new campus, including the existing Liberty Science Center, home of the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, will be officially named the Frank J. Guarini Innovation Campus. It is scheduled to open in 2025 and 2026.
