Hackensack, NJ — Anjalee Khemlani reports in NJBIZ that the board of Hackensack Meridian Health has approved a $25 million capital fund so the state’s second-largest health system can dive into the world of innovation and incubators.
Hackensack Meridian officials said the effort is viewed as a new revenue stream as well as a way to elevate the organization onto a global platform.
The strategy will involve obtaining patents and helping companies launch through the new division, as well as a more robust use of the bench-to-bedside practice that sees research funneled from the laboratory directly to patients, the officials said.
Robert Garrett, the co-CEO, and Andrew Pecora, the chief innovation officer, said the plan for this new venture includes three phases and three locations, all of which already are under construction:
Hackensack Meridian officials said the effort is viewed as a new revenue stream as well as a way to elevate the organization onto a global platform.
The strategy will involve obtaining patents and helping companies launch through the new division, as well as a more robust use of the bench-to-bedside practice that sees research funneled from the laboratory directly to patients, the officials said.
Robert Garrett, the co-CEO, and Andrew Pecora, the chief innovation officer, said the plan for this new venture includes three phases and three locations, all of which already are under construction:
1. An ideation center to help streamline funding for ideas, in partnership with the New Jersey Innovation Institute in Newark.
“It’s kind of like Google’s campus; it’s going to feel just like that,” Pecora said.
2. An innovation center to help kick-start companies, with incubator space at the Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian medical school campus in Nutley and Clifton.
“It would kind of be like (ABC’s) ‘Shark Tank,’ ” Garrett said.
3. Portfolio management of companies launched, housed in Hackensack Meridian’s headquarters in Edison. It will be headed by Tony delCampo, the executive director of the company’s office of commercialization and technology ventures.
“I think that’s game-changing,” Pecora said. “I don’t think you can find that anywhere else in the country.”
Garrett and Pecora said the $25 million from Hackensack Meridian, which was approved by the board in January, already has drawn interests from venture capitalists and life science companies.
Garrett said Pecora will be a key player in the team that will lead this new effort.
Pecora, who already has established himself as an innovator and businessman with the launch of his data company COTA, said that experience has given him the ideas to help cut down the time it takes to launch — shortening what is currently a couple of years to mere months.
For Khemlani’s full story, click here.
To follow Anjalee Khemlanie on Twitter @AnjKhem.
“It’s kind of like Google’s campus; it’s going to feel just like that,” Pecora said.
2. An innovation center to help kick-start companies, with incubator space at the Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian medical school campus in Nutley and Clifton.
“It would kind of be like (ABC’s) ‘Shark Tank,’ ” Garrett said.
3. Portfolio management of companies launched, housed in Hackensack Meridian’s headquarters in Edison. It will be headed by Tony delCampo, the executive director of the company’s office of commercialization and technology ventures.
“I think that’s game-changing,” Pecora said. “I don’t think you can find that anywhere else in the country.”
Garrett and Pecora said the $25 million from Hackensack Meridian, which was approved by the board in January, already has drawn interests from venture capitalists and life science companies.
Garrett said Pecora will be a key player in the team that will lead this new effort.
Pecora, who already has established himself as an innovator and businessman with the launch of his data company COTA, said that experience has given him the ideas to help cut down the time it takes to launch — shortening what is currently a couple of years to mere months.
For Khemlani’s full story, click here.
To follow Anjalee Khemlanie on Twitter @AnjKhem.
