US-based healthcare group Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is preparing a shake up of its innovation teams to be based in four centres, in California and Boston in the US, in the UK and in Shanghai, China.
Paul Stoffels, currently chairman of J&J’s pharmaceutical group research and development and chairman of the Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) board of directors is expected to help lead this shake-up of the company’s innovation teams.
By creating centres of excellence around the world, J&J is expected to gain the flexibility and resources to invest from early to later stages and work with different types of entrepreneurs – whether from academia, venture capital-backed companies or incubating ideas internally.
Sources close to J&J said the four centres would allow the venture team to be "immersed in hot regions" and with the flexibility, agility in deal structure and resources to support innovative ideas. J&J declined to comment, although more details could be announced formally as early as next month.
The company now has JJDC, Corporate Office of Science and Technology (Cosat) and RedScript Ventures.
J&J has also committed to independent venture capital funds, including Index Ventures’ $200m Live VI fund where Stoffels joined the advisory board, and has supported new models of innovation, such as the Atlas Venture Development Corporation, which develops drugs from pharmaceutical companies, biotech start-ups and academic centres through proof-of-concept clinical trials and then considers various deal structures to profit from these products.