Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer signed a memorandum of understanding with Liberty Science Center (LSC) and broke new ground on Friday in New Jersey to develop a cutting-edge high-tech hospital simulation space called “SciTech Scity” that is designed to highlight the future of digital health and home healthcare.
“COVID gave us the opportunity to accelerate innovation and especially digital health solutions,” said Sheba’s CEO, Prof. Yitshak Kreiss. “We have much more in store.”
Phase I of SciTech Scity is scheduled to open in late 2023 or early 2024.
The “city of tomorrow” will be a full campus focused on developing world-changing science and technology companies and Sheba is the city’s first innovation partner and international tenant.
Specifically, Sheba will transform one floor of the “city” into “Liberty ARC HealthSpace2030,” which will serve as a simulation space and leverage the expertise of its existing medical simulation center, and focus on advances in digital health and home healthcare.
Technologies that will be harnessed include digital sensing and monitoring, artificial intelligence and augmented reality, and robotics.
Solutions will be focused on promoting healthy living, coping with chronic diseases at home and promoting health equity.
ARC stands for Accelerate Redesign Collaborate. The first ARC was founded in 2004 at Sheba.
Kreiss said that participating in the center will “enable Sheba Medical Center to spur the digital healthcare revolution within the realm of ARC HealthSpace 2030, providing an engine of economic growth, as well as creating a myriad of cutting-edge healthcare options for the citizens of New Jersey and the metropolitan region.”
He added that “this is also an important development for the State of Israel, collaborating with our partners in New Jersey on ground-breaking medical innovation for the benefit of all.”
The feedback on all the technologies being piloted at Sheba and soon in SciTech Scity’s space will be shared with partner hospitals throughout North America and Europe, explained Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, chief medical officer and chief innovation officer at Sheba.
Specifically, there will be a focus on collaboration with Sheba ARC’s planned innovation center in Chicago that will host many Israeli startups. ARC Chicago technologies will be showcased in New Jersey, too.
Finally, the ARC should also assist the city in serving underserved communities in Jersey City and create jobs in the area, said LSC’s President and CEO Paul Hoffman.
“Advances in digital health and home healthcare promise to help people everywhere,” Hoffman said. “Liberty ARC HealthSpace2030 complements Liberty Science Center and SciTech Scity’s mission to innovate and promote science and technology for all.
“Sheba is the largest hospital system in the Middle East and one of the top 10 hospitals in the world,” he continued. “We are delighted that they are partnering with us.”