The strategic arm venture arm of Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, is set to open a JLABS life sciences incubator in Soho in 2018.

Located on the third floor of 101 Avenue of the Americas, Soho, the incubator is an initiative that forms a collaboration with the New York Genome Center (NYGC), which signed a 20-year, 170,000 s/f lease of the building in 2012.

The incubator, which was announced in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address, will encourage start-up businesses working on cross-sector solutions to prevent, intercept or cure diseases to enter into a QuickFire Challenge to secure a one-year residency at the site.

The project will take up 30,000 s/f and is part of the life science research arm of J&J. It will receive $17 million grant from the New York State with the company seeking businesses working in the biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer health industries to take part in the challenge.

Melinda Richter, the head of JLABS, said, “Home to more than 100 research foundations and nine medical centers, New York City has the foundational elements for a thriving biomedical ecosystem, yet lack of infrastructure and commercialization support has been a roadblock for entrepreneurs in the life sciences in the greater New York region.
“By providing healthcare startups with the laboratories, equipment, expertise, tools and capabilities that they need to build and grow their companies, we believe JLABS @ NYC will fill a key gap in resources and remove a barrier to growth for the region’s life science innovation ecosystem, providing well-paying jobs and allowing potentially transformative solutions for patients to advance.”