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SciTech Scity has added some big partners recently, and on Feb. 29 it announced the largest academic health care system in New Jersey is getting involved, too.

RWJBarnabas Health signed on as Hospital Innovation Lead Partner with the Healthcare Innovation Engine at SciTech Scity, the health care system and Liberty Science Center said. It’s the latest high-profile addition at the developing, 30-acre “Science City of Tomorrow.” Previously announced partners include Bristol Myers Squibb, EY, Nokia Bell Labs, Sheba Medical Center in Israel and others. In October, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority committed up to $20 million to the effort.

Together, the collective will work to advance the use of digital technologies to spearhead new and more cost-effective methods for delivering care to underserved communities. Additionally, the Healthcare Innovation Engine will promote startups working on health care challenges.

The Healthcare Innovation Engine officially launched later the same day. During the event, Liberty Science Center President and CEO Paul Hoffman formally announced RWJBarnabas as Hospital Innovation Lead Partner for SciTech Scity‘s flagship program.

Hoffman highlighted the proximity of RWJBarnabas’ Jersey City Medical Center to LSC and SciTech Scity.

Hospital innovation

For its part, RWJBarnabas will play a part in several areas:

• Taking an active role in Healthcare Innovation program design and delivery;
• Contributing clinical expertise, products and resources to community pilots and health equity initiatives

In the past five years, RWJBarnabas Health said it’s invested $300 million in modern infrastructure and equipment. The system serves more than 3 million patients each year. That includes more than half of all underserved patients in the state. The academic medical group is comprised of 9,000 providers and integrated with RWJMS, Rutgers Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

Hudson County was identified as a primary testing ground for digital health pilots that will emerge at SciTech Scity. The most densely populated county in the state is one of the most diverse nationwide, with more than 40% of residents foreign-born. Economically disadvantaged communities within the region rank high on measures of health vulnerability, as well. The new partners note this proves an ideal testing area to address systemic challenges in health care.

The Healthcare Innovation Engine is focused on changing a reactive “sick” care system into a “health” care vision. According to Hoffman, early detection aided by technology and provided conveniently will aid that transformation.

“We are establishing a diverse ecosystem of partners, including universities, hospital systems, public health authorities, and pharmaceutical and medical technology companies,” Hoffman explained. “Only through such a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach will we be able to transform a problem as pervasive as structural issues around health care access in America.”

Making plans

Keynoted by New Jersey State Health Commissioner Kaitlan Baston, the leap day summit set goals for the Healthcare Innovation Engine:

• Identify specific medical challenges
• Discuss possible prototype solutions
• Set the path forward for developing and testing candidate solutions

Additional partners in the efforts include community and health organizations, hospitals, universities and more. Engagement includes testing and validating specific products and solutions. Meanwhile, joint research efforts will engage will a university network that includes Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, New York University, Princeton University, Rowan University and Stevens Institute of Technology.

Cutting edge | Liberty Science Center embarks on next chapter of SciTech Scity

When completed, the $450 million, 30-acre innovation campus will be devoted to using science and technology to address the most serious health care issues — most recently adding a biopharmaceutical component to the project. Read more here.