The basics:

• JPMorganChase joins SciTech Scity Healthcare Innovation Engine
• Partnership supports New Jersey digital health startups
• Bank will provide mentorship, banking expertise, industry connections
• Program helps startups test, validate, commercialize healthcare technologies

JPMorganChase is bringing its financial and healthcare expertise to one of New Jersey’s fastest-growing innovation initiatives. The finance giant will join SciTech Scity‘s Healthcare Innovation Engine to help digital health startups move from promising concepts to market-ready solutions.

SciTech Scity is the 30-acre innovation campus under development at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. Announced July 13, the latest partnership makes JPMorganChase a New Jersey Market Partner in the flagship program Healthcare Innovation Engine.

Launched in 2024, the initiative is described as the nation’s first statewide digital health adoption platform. It connects startups with health systems, government agencies, investors, and industry partners to test and scale new healthcare technologies.

The engine was created to address what SciTech Scity describes as a persistent failure in the U.S. healthcare system: billions of dollars are invested in healthcare innovation each year, yet relatively few digital health technologies ever reach patients at scale. Through structured pilot programs, the initiative works to validate promising solutions in real-world clinical settings, generating evidence that can help startups expand across health systems and communities.

Its work focuses on areas including cardiovascular care, maternal health, mental health, oncology, aging and chronic disease.

Gaining ground

Alex Richter, executive director and head of the SciTech Innovation Hub, said JPMorganChase strengthens the initiative’s ability to help startups grow while improving healthcare access.

“At a time when healthcare systems are under pressure to deliver more with fewer resources, and policymakers are raising the bar on equity and innovation, our partnership with JPMorganChase ensures that the most promising digital health startups do not just pilot in New Jersey. They scale here,” said Richter.

He added that startups participating in the program will gain both financial support and market validation while developing solutions that “expand access, reduce disparities, and strengthen outcomes for communities that are too often left behind.”

[O]ur partnership with JPMorganChase ensures that the most promising digital health startups do not just pilot in New Jersey. They scale here.
– Alex Richter, executive director and head of the SciTech Innovation Hub

As part of the partnership, JPMorganChase will provide mentorship, banking expertise and connections to entrepreneurs participating in the engine. The bank said it will leverage its experience in healthcare finance, startup banking, commercial lending, private banking and public markets to help companies move from early-stage development to commercialization.

‘The right ecosystem’ for growth

“Healthcare innovation requires more than great ideas. It requires the right ecosystem to support growth and adoption,” said Jon Panik, managing director at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. “Through this partnership, we are putting our network, our capital, and our healthcare expertise directly in service of the founders who are solving the hardest problems in care delivery.”

STEM support

The Liberty Science Center recently raised a record $3.2 million during its annual Genius Gala. See the photos here.

Panik said the bank is proud to join the Healthcare Innovation Engine and support entrepreneurs building technologies that improve health outcomes, expand access to care and strengthen the future of healthcare.

The Healthcare Innovation Engine brings together a broad coalition of partners, including:

• RWJBarnabas Health
• Bristol Myers Squibb
• EY
• New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII)
• Princeton University
• Nokia Bell Labs
• New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA)
• New Jersey Department of Human Services
• New Jersey Department of Health
• Jersey City Department of Health and Human Services

With JPMorganChase joining the Healthcare Innovation Engine, officials said the partnership further strengthens the innovation ecosystem taking shape at SciTech Scity. The campus, which includes the existing Liberty Science Center, will officially become the Frank J. Guarini Innovation Campus as it begins opening this year, honoring the late former congressman.

Planned components include a public STEM high school, research laboratories, startup and coworking space, residential housing and public gathering areas designed to foster collaboration among entrepreneurs, researchers and industry leaders.