Living in the Future at SciTech Scity

In this episode of Greetings from the Garden State, powered by the New Jersey Lottery, host Mike Ham sits down with Alexander Richter, the Executive Director and Head of SciTech Scity Hub at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. They discuss the bustling activities at the Science Center, delve into Richter's journey from Austria to the U.S., and explore the ambitious vision and mission behind SciTech Scity. The conversation covers key aspects such as the development of a state-of-the-art STEM high school, residential housing, and business incubator spaces aimed at fostering innovation in healthcare and sustainability. The duo also highlights the formation of a robust community of entrepreneurs supported by significant corporate partners and the vision for future growth. Richter emphasizes the impactful collaboration needed to make SciTech Scity a focal point for technological and societal advancements, and discusses the potential benefits for New Jersey residents.

arichter@lsc.org

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Transcript

 All right, 

what's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Green's for the Garden State powered by the New Jersey Lottery. I'm your host, Mike Hamm. Uh, we're here at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey with Alexander Richter, uh, the executive director and head of SciTech City Hub. Alex, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Thank you for having me here. Um, we were joking as we walked in, like, I feel like I've definitely been to Liberty Science Center before. Uh, it might've been 20 years ago. Uh, but there's a lot of things going on here right now, right? There are a lot of things going on.

Yeah. We're here on a Monday. Yeah. It's open to the public. There's a couple of thousands of kids running around outside. Yeah. A lot of kids. About half of them on school trips. Yeah. The other half is being taken by their parents who are looking for an activity to do. Typically on a rainy day, on a Sunday day, there's a few visitors, but still, um, it's an exciting place.

Um, it's a place that I think is thrilled with an energy that you don't see,  um, anywhere else. Yeah. Um.  The kids are unbelievable in how they just engage. You can just see how their brains are working differently, um, when they get exposed  to all the different exhibits that are in here, there's 12 different exhibits  and it's just  sparks also new curiosity and joy in me, even in my older age, as I  plenty of years in management consulting have slowly snuffed out the scientist in me ever existed.

Um, but some of that is getting reinvigorated. Yeah. Which is really cool. And, um, I don't know if people can tell, but you're not from Jersey originally. Uh, right. So you're from Austria. My slight accent may give it away. I'm still debating with my wife, how strong my accent is. I don't think it's that bad.

Cause we had a phone call, right? When we.  Talked about doing this. Did we? No, I think we only emailed. Okay. Only emailed. So then my accent at emails is pretty good. Yeah, I couldn't even tell through the emails. I run it for Chad GVT. But I feel like Chad GVT. Yeah. I mean, yeah, definitely can. It's not like super noticeable, but you know, um, but so what kind of  brought you here?

Because I know we talked a little bit about your background. We'll kind of get into that as we start. Um, management consulting, you said you also dropped a scientist thing in there too. Um, so like, what were you doing in Austria? Kind of, how did that lead you to what you're doing here with Liberty Science Center, all the stuff that we're going to talk about today?

Yeah. So that journey really started, I've been in the U S now eight years. Okay. Um, I came originally for, for business school. I started working for a management consulting firm, um, back in 2014 in Switzerland,  partially with the idea of coming to the U S I had done an undergrad exchange in Canada. Cool.

Had a great time. I really got exposed to the diversity and the richness of American college life. And I was like, I want to come back to my master's here, get exposure. And it was really kind of that set on coming to New York city. Um, I grew up in the Western part of Austria, pretty rural. Um, never lived in a  big, big city.

Yeah. Um, I lived for a while in Zurich, um, but that's still manageable compared to, to what New York is, but, so yeah, I've been here now eight years. I came for business school. Cool. transferred to our office here in New York after the school. Um, and then eventually got in touch with Liberty Science Center.

And that happened because, um,  the Boston Consulting Group is a board member institution of the Science Center. Okay. Um, there's about 30 of those here. big established corporations that are supporting the mission of LSC by providing resources and support. Um, so they are port members, representatives, um, hold this, um, work with the CEO and the leadership team here on the initiatives, um, but also help with the development of the facility itself.

And then. ultimately with Scitech City. So BCG was on this, on a board to help with the development of Scitech City. I did a four week pro bono consulting case, um, during, during which I essentially drew up something on paper around how you could make Scitech into a success. And then a couple of months later,  Paul Hoffman, the CEO of Liberty Science Center called me and I was like, well, we really liked what you did, but turns out doing it is the hard part.

And I was like, I know that's why I never do it.  That's why typically I just consult on it. Um, and then he asked me, would you like actually help, help me do this? Um, and so first I came on on a kind of a leader on loan  for a year. Um,  gladly BCG was incredibly supportive of me doing this. And then eventually,  One thing led to another.

I really enjoyed the work. I really enjoyed the mission. We had some great momentum and So I joined full time at the beginning of April. Yeah. And so, uh, it's interesting because the SciTech city part of it, um, and in a second here, we're going to define what SciTech city is. So people are, are familiar what we're talking about.

Um,  it was an idea that existed and the LSE was basically just trying to figure out how to put that into practice. Is that, am I getting that right?  In a certain way. Okay. I mean, the, the project really came about with, you Liberty Science Center has been around, right, for about 30 years, um, has a strong group of support from the industry, as I mentioned, but also from the city and the state.

There's very strong ties. And I think it was actually the mayor of Jersey City, Stephen Fulop, who  is a very visionary driven guy who had, I think, the idea and approach Paul Hoffman about the possibility of doing something interesting with this land that is right adjacent to Liberty Science Center. Yeah.

And he essentially challenged Paul to come up with an interesting idea. Okay. Yeah. And. So Paul came back with SciTech City, which essentially is, um,  uh, for the AK Innovation Campus. And the idea of it is how can we help accelerate the adoption of societally beneficial technologies? So technologies that does, that do good for people.

Yeah. Um, and so that's what we're trying to do by providing a local test bed. So we'll say a living laboratory for, can we actually make  technology, useful for people in their everyday lives, starting with very specific areas. Yeah. And so what are those specific areas? I think that when people are listening to this  and they're like, okay, technology, I have a cell phone, you know, I do like you said, chat to BT before, like I use chat to BT for my stuff.

Um, so talk to me about like, What are those specific technologies that are going to be kind of included inside Tech City, um, and why they're important, I guess.  Um, so the project itself has a couple of components. Um, one is a state of the art STEM high school. And the idea is, um, how can we create education of the future?

Um, there's a residential housing component with 500 units. That's about how can we create the future of living. And then there's the Edgeworks incubator building, um, which we're really excited about. using as the anchor point for a business community that we're creating. Um, and this  community we're cultivating along two major focus areas at the moment.

Um, one is in healthcare and the other one is what we call planet care, which is sustainability.  Um, And essentially the idea is these are areas where we see big challenges and you know all about that has happened with COVID over the last couple of years. But I think that has just laid open the structural challenges that exist in the U.

S. healthcare system, um, more broadly.  Sustainability, you know all about with climate change, right? It's a challenge that's as acute as ever. Um, and what we're trying to do is realizing that there's big challenges, but there's also an incredible amount of innovation happening out there, right? I think sometimes people don't appreciate  the amount in terms of how we really unleash human creativity and potential, right?

But you see what I mentioned earlier with. kids coming in  into LSC, that exposure and those experiences they can get here. Um, I think that can't be taken for granted. And we, we've, I think done in this country, also a good job with creating more and more STEM education and opportunities. Yeah. And then on a global scale, right.

I think I've recently read. The amount of literal, uh, of people that are literate can read has tripled since the 1950s. Wow. Um, the amount of PhDs globally has tripled since the 1980s. Yeah. And the size of the startup economy has tripled since the mid 2010s. Yeah. But you see how. We're doing really an incredible job and  pushing people in giving them opportunities to  apply science and technology in, in everyday life.

And so we want to be supportive of those startups and entrepreneurs here because they are the solution to, to many of the problems and challenges we talked about. Sure. And Jersey, just as it were, has more. Uh, PhDs and engineers per capita than any place I think in the country, probably the world. But I think it is.

Yep. Most PhDs per, I think, square foot or square mile. Yeah. Yeah. Indeed. Yeah. And so, um, okay. So when you get asked to do this kind of consulting role pro bono part on, uh, for SciTech City, when you're kind of presented with the idea, the stuff that you're working on now, is that kind of the. Um, you know, when you put together this initial plan, I guess was that kind of, did it look similar to what it is going to be now?

Um, what, like talk to me a little bit about the differences, like when you first did this and got approached with this and now basically running the whole thing, like, how does that, how does that happen?  That's a terrific question. Um, I think  I need to give credit where credit is due, right? Paul Hoffman. 

CEO of Liberty Science Center who had this idea, it's incredibly visionary, super ambitious, right? Transforms society for science and technology, make New Jersey a technology leader. Um, these are big lofty goals. Um, I think the challenge for me was how do we translate that into actual programming, right?

Programming that is living up to this big ambition, um, but it's also realistic, can actually be pulled off. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah.  And that's not easy. Um, I think, but without big goals, you never pull off unique things. Um, the program we have now just launched the Cytec Healthcare Innovation Engine. I think, um, we have now first time gotten confidence we can actually achieve our big lofty goals.

Okay. Because we have, we think we've got something that it is unique in its nature, but also has found  um, significant traction, um,  with our partners that are bringing real meaningful resources to the table. And it's a true public, public, private partnership. Um, we've got six big corporations involved, the Bristol Myers Squibb, RWJ Barnabas Health, the biggest health system in New Jersey.

Um, Bell Labs is involved, um, Sheba Medical Center from Israel, a global technology leader in the digital health space. Um,  NJII, um, I know you talked to Michael Johnson recently, um, Princeton is involved and them together with public stakeholders, um, in our engine. At the kickoff back in February, we had the commission of the Department of Human Services as well as the, um, the health, New Jersey health commissioner, um, and that's really helping us now.

We've got the right things at the table. Now it's putting it into  something operational that can actually deliver. And the idea of that, of that program is essentially, can we launch specific pilots, proof of concepts, right? Proof something works once, then it can essentially work everywhere. That's the idea.

Do it with one hospital partner here with Jersey city medical center in our immediate neighborhood, and then bring it to the whole state, based on those templates we create almost. Sure. Um, and so we're working, what is important to note right here in Liberty Science Center is in Hudson County, which is actually one of the most densely populated neighborhoods, but also one of the most diverse and most economically disadvantaged.

Um, so it's, it's a big challenge bringing healthcare to the population as you know,  meaningful inequities exist all across the US healthcare system, but especially in this community  and digital health has the opportunity to help really there because  how you can scale it, how you can bring it.  home to people, even barriers that it can overcome such as language barriers, right?

That you can  solve through those apps. Um, so there's big opportunity of giving people something, um, and helping them also navigate what is an incredibly complex system, right? I think everybody who has been in a hospital or has had any experience knows it's complex. It is complex. You don't know where to start and where it ends.

Um, So yeah. Um, okay. So I do also kind of want to go to when this really, the ball really gets rolling on this, on this project. Cause you know, we, you took me up to the tower. We kind of looked over the whole, you know, uh, the, where it's going to be, you know, obviously you can see Liberty state park, all that kind of stuff, which is really cool too, from up there, but, um, Um, where the land that SciTech City is going to be, it's essentially just on the other side of the parking lot from where Liberty Science Center is.

Um, so talk to me about how that land came to be and, uh, why that's a good place basically to start this. Yeah. I mean, a terrific question.  As I mentioned earlier, right? The idea came initially from Mayor Fulop. The land is right adjacent to Liberty Science Center, Liberty Science Center itself is right in Liberty State Park, right?

That's where the name Liberty comes from,  which all of this is, I think, both  pragmatically, but also symbolically a super powerful place. Pragmatically, think about we are in between, um, New York City, right? Wall Street, the epicenter of global business and the rest of the state and Newark airport. 

Practically, right. We can build a gateway between the New Jersey innovation community and what exists in New York. Yeah. I'm doing a bit of best of both worlds, right? Because I think for startups, it can be incredibly difficult and challenging to navigate New York city and, um, cutting through that noise there and getting the attention from the right people is hard.

So New startups, but again, New York has a lot of resources, right? Tapping into the VC community and stuff like that,  that you, you need That access  on a point on point basis. And so we're trying to provide both, right. But essentially bringing all the New Jersey innovators together.  here in a place that is a, is a gateway. 

Yeah. And, and so when you're talking about all these different things, like obviously there's healthcare, uh, you said planet, uh, sustainability, right. And what was the other one? Um, and then we're working on AI and enabling technologies. And so like when you're putting the idea. The concept of SciTech City together, uh, how do you go about almost kind of like identifying the areas where you're going to start implementing these innovative things?

Obviously, like, healthcare is a big one, like you mentioned, uh, before with, you know, uh, the, the complexity of the current system and how maybe we can make it better. Um,  But then taking that a step further and kind of being able to take it and introduce it into parts of people's lives that we're just generally not used to having, you know what I mean?

Um, so like, how do you kind of identify those spots that you're going to start implementing these things? Um, and then, you know, figuring out who and what you're going to work, who you're going to work with in order to make those kind of come to fruition, what it is. finally done and built. Cause like right now it's just  right now for the, for the most part, you know, so like kind of envisioning this whole thing being built with all these different nuanced things to kind of make people's lives better essentially.

Yeah. That's a really good question. Right. And I think it comes back to the point of identifying where are really  societal needs unsolved challenges. Yeah. Um, And then where are technologies that can help solve those? Right. And there's challenges where technology isn't the answer or maybe just be a minor part of the answer, but we're looking for those where it plays a really important role.

Um, but also you need to actually make it work in a real life context. Yeah. Right. Something that's not so simple to straightforward, like, um, your phone, you essentially know how to handle it. Right. But, um, if you think about a digital health solution, what needs to come to the table, like somebody needs to pay for it, needs to pay.

the appropriate amount. It needs to go through regulatory considerations. Um, it needs to have safety and all these other considerations in short, right? There's a lot of layers that  you need to work with people to actually get it adopted on a large scale. Yeah. Um, and I think that that's the goal of, there's a difference between inventing a technology and sure it's great in theory, but then actual innovation, meaning people can use it, um,  delivers on the benefits and it works in the context.

Yeah. Of our real lives. Right. And so I think the idea is that sandbox of, can it work in real life? And there is typically the barriers that exist are often less the technology in itself that modern people don't want to use it or cannot use it for various reasons. Yeah. Um, yes. And I, well, this would be the last question before we take a quick break, but, um, I think it's really interesting the idea since you're the executive director and you're running Thank you.

This whole thing, right? And then all these different kind of technologies and different things that you're trying to implement inside Tech City  right now being a concept, so to speak, but also kind of like it with the vision of making it a full fledged  reality. But I think another kind of maybe not sticking point, but challenge for you is and the people that are working on this is making sure that all these different things can kind of.

Like, you know, if one group is working on, like, the healthcare piece and somebody else is working on, like, an AI piece, but then also making sure that those things can, you know, talk to each other, work together, because I feel like a SciTech city, like what we're talking about, Yeah. No, it's a good point.

And there's, there's a lot of overlaps between those focus areas too. Sure. Um, especially when AI in healthcare is obviously a big discussion. Um, but I think what we're trying to do is actually take a lot of it to a very specific level. Um, so for example, in healthcare, right, we are choosing annual focus areas.

Um, and so the first focus area we chose is cardiovascular disease, um, which actually again, has a big societal need. Um, in about one out of two adults in the U S now have, um, high blood pressure. Uh, it's estimated that about a third of cardiovascular disease, actual cases could have been avoidable if blood pressure was treated properly.

Um, about 15 million people in the U S have undiagnosed high blood pressure. Um, and it's one where we do actually have established methods of treatment first and second line, um,  statins and other things, right. But, um,  patients struggle with it. in the actual day to day management of the disease. And that's why a lot of the people actually end up in hospitals getting first a stent and then bypass surgery.

And then sometimes unfortunately even can have fatal heart attacks, right? Sure. Um, and so that's  an area big need, but also we do have treatments and we have more and more actual digital technologies. If you think about early diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, what wearables can do, they can measure all your vital signs.

blood pressure. There's a number of them out there,  but they can also help you with your day to day management, making sure that they check in with you. Have you taken your meds? Right. And they can identify abnormalities in your systems, uh, in your symptom. Right. So it's essentially being able to monitor people, um, on a more ongoing basis and help them in their day to day lives.

Um, there's huge opportunities in that space. So this is what we're tackling first. And there's also what are. partners have a big,  large experience in Bristol Myers Squibb, the former partner, um, and others.  Subsequently, we'll move to other areas as well, right, where we see similar opportunities. Um, not all of it will do, will work, right?

Frankly, we'll, sometimes we'll find out, well, actually that was a critical component of that missing, um, because it wasn't the addressing that specific challenge for the patient. Our patients actually cannot use that digital device because  it's too big. It's too cumbersome. They don't have the Wi Fi to begin with.

There's all kinds of real world challenges that we'll, we'll stumble into. Um, but the idea is once we have, we'll find the things that actually work and can stick, we can then take that and bring it to places across the whole state and say, look, we did it here in Hudson County. You can do it, um, anywhere else.

Yeah, for sure. Um, okay. We're going to take our break real quick. Uh, I know that wasn't too long, but that was 20 minutes actually. So we were doing, we were doing great. I just looked at the time. Um, okay. So this is the greenest we've got to say podcast powered by the New Jersey lottery on my cam. We're here with.

Alex Richter, Alex, Rick, Alex Richter, the executive director and head of Cytech City. Uh, we're at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. We'll be right back.  The male performing arts center is the heart of arts and Entertainment in Morristown, New Jersey. PAC presents over 200 events annually at his home to an innovative children's arts education program to see impact's upcoming schedule of world-class concert, standup comedy, family shows, and more.

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You can check them out on Instagram at at WeMakeCoolShit or visit their website, wemakecoolshit. co. Remember, that's co. com.  All right, we're back for segment two of this episode of Greetings from the Garden State, powered by the New Jersey Lottery. I'm Mike Cam. We're here with Alex Richter, the executive director and head of SciTech City.

Uh, we're at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. It's a lot of intros. A lot of things we gotta say on that intro. Um, so we learned kind of like the overarching view of what Scitech City is, is going to be, all that kind of stuff. Um, One of the things that I think is really interesting because, uh, if you know really anything about the show is that, you know, that we're kind of like driven by community, essentially like that's what we do.

We travel to all our guests. We kind of sit down with them in their place, talk to them. Um, you know, it's all community. That's what we've been doing for two and a half years at this point. Uh, what I find super interesting is that, This is a community, but on just like a way different kind of scale, so to speak.

So, um, talk to me a little bit about, cause I mean, obviously you could put together like a great plan, but obviously the plan is really nothing without kind of the people that kind of are part of it. Um, so talk to me about the community building aspect of that and then other, other ways that you're kind of working on making sure that this is a success, I guess. 

Of course. Um, so I think that was actually an early part of the vision that Paul Hoffman, the LSE CEO had was, um, create a community of scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs, anyone who wants to use technology for the common good. Um,  it really becomes relevant in our mission because we're not going to  technological adoption without corporation of a lot of stakeholders.

Um, but again, also the innovation, the technology needs to come from somewhere. Right. And those are, you know, The startups and the entrepreneurs. And so they're kind of the heroes in our story, so to say. Um, and the goal is that really at the heart of the. side, the community is a really robust group of, of entrepreneurs, starting with folks from New Jersey, um, but also from the broader East coast and the country that want to move here and be a part of this.

Um, and even from abroad. Yeah. Um, so want to be an international landing pad as well. So the entrepreneurs are at the heart of it. Um, and the physical building called Edgeworks is going to be that focal point of where they will be anchored in. Um, there's a couple of floors can think almost of it as a, we work on steroids, where Startups can come to you.

They have a physical space, but more importantly, they get all the services, support, um, and resources that they need to be successful, right? I think that starts with  access to the VC community, um, with access to corporate partners that can be partners or can be first customers  that starts with access to academic partners as well for research purposes and others.

Um, but also with just simple everyday resources that we can provide. Um,  I may have mentioned at the beginning, but there's a lot of big fortune 500 companies involved in inside the city, including bank of America, um, ADB, um, Ernst Young, Verizon, um, Horizon, Blue Cross Blue Shield. And part of the idea is also how can we help provide some of those resources from those partners to the startups, right?

So essentially they at the heart of this community, but we want to very closely bring them together with those corporate partners and others. And so the idea is almost  to have, um, an incredibly dense co location and mix of startups and what we call corporate innovation outposts. Uh, so it won't be a small office from a VC firm or a small office from a.

Yeah. Corporate innovation division, right. Or where a researcher works for half a year to a year on a very specific challenges, um, with the startups in our community, right. So we'll serve up challenges from those corporate partners that startups have the solutions for it. Right. And then so it becomes a real win for win, win for both parties.

Corporates get access to outside ideas, innovation startups get what is most important, which is  the first real world customer or the second, but somebody, the folks we have really have meaningful scale, right. That can make all the difference.  So they are at the heart of this, our corporate partners that we  thank,  thankful to LSC, etc.

I have a very solid  group around us, the universities across all of New Jersey that we work with.  And so I think all of the elements start really coming together. And  when the campus opens by the end of 2025, early 2026, right? Um, I think that's when Um, obviously  we'll be able to take it to the next level, but the initiatives we're doing now are already starting to build that community.

Right? So the healthcare engine I talked about a lot earlier, um, what we're working on in planet care that is intended to start bringing those folks together, um, and build a real network.  I, does that, is that connected to the genius gala? Is that kind of part of the whole process? Yeah. Yeah. In, in ways and forms.

Um, um, as you may know about, so LSE has a couple of,  communities around it that it already has cultivated. Um,  it's corporate board is one example, but, um, the community of everyday people is one example, but also the genius guide is a, is a huge flagship event every year in May. Um, I think it's probably one of the biggest, if not the biggest fundraiser in New Jersey every year.

Um, and that honors  singularly brilliant scientists and engineers that have made a contribution to society. Um, that includes, I mean, last year we honored Kathleen Carrico who actually invented the technology behind the COVID, um, 19 mRNA vaccines. And she subsequently won the Nobel prize actually half a year after the genius gala for that very work.

Um,  But there's people like her, but also Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson got an award, folks like that in a network that have, um,  I think  ideas, resources, um, et cetera, that we can really build something around. So we are trying to leverage that community that LSE has already created. And, um, And bring it at SciTech into a real world, um, context.

Yeah, so we're talking about a lot of really advanced technological scientific things. Um, I am not. a scientist by any stretch of the imagination. Um, neither am I, nor am I that smart. Uh, but I do think that when people are listening to this and when, like I said, we do a lot of different kinds of  episodes of this show, we've done all sorts of, all sorts of stuff.

So at one thing that I do like when we do talk about whether it's like the Helix down in New Brunswick or, you know, all these other things that we're kind of talking about, that we've talked about on the show with people that are really involved with those types of things. Is why would the average New Jersey and really care, you know, like, obviously things are going to come out of what you're doing at SciTechCity.

They're going to make people's lives better down the road. Um, but like, if they're listening to this and they're like, well, I, there's, this is beyond, I don't, I can't do this, but they kind of can really, right. Like live there, you know, I mean, that, that's part of it. That, that is part of it. Right. So part of SciTechCity. 

Scholar's village will be 500 units of residential housing  right at the heart of this. Um, so if you are somebody who's like, just enjoys being around cool and interesting people and getting exposure, um, frankly, also do a lot of fun events. It's not just all science and nerdy stuff. There's a lot of fun things going on here as well.

Um, then you should consider, um, it's being developed together with Alpine residential, but everyday people can live there. And the idea is that those are people that want to be at a place where they are the first to see and experience new technologies. Um,  part of that is then obviously working with those folks that will live there.

Um, and to state that all of this is compliant and they opt into it, they're not going to be forced to do anything. Um, but if they want to be helped to live actively, a healthier life, um, they want to be part of  some other research project. They can actually do that. Um, and then they can also just  come by  the campus itself to do that. 

see the community to come to the weekly startup happy hours, et cetera. So it's a fun place to be. Yeah. Hopefully. Yeah, no, I'm sure it will be. And so people that don't live there can still, like you said, interact with what's going on at high tech city and kind of, you know, uh, getting some of the benefits of what you guys are building there.

Correct. Um, and I think the good thing is, right. We're at the heart of Liberty state park that is a publicly accessible venue. Um, so will the campus in general be right. And. We are planning a lot of programming around community events, um, where folks can come and see it. including also getting exposure to startups and entrepreneurs and actually also see their technologies, right?

So we'll,  we'll try to do pilots and short cases on the, on the campus that people can come and see. Maybe if they're already at Liberty Science Center, they can just walk across the street or they may come for that very purpose.  Um, so I'm also interested because, you know, we've talked about a lot of stuff and obviously there's construction going on now and people can live there and there's all these different kind of development projects going on.

Um, what's like kind of the, the, you, we said end of 2020, 2025, early 26 is kind of the target date for this to be completed. Um, yeah.  What are the things like, what's the, the steps basically, like what's going in there first and then you have to kind of make sure that everything kind of works as you continue to build on to it.

Is that how that, is that how that's happening? Um, in a way, um,  so I think the major steps really right in the physical construction is reasonably straightforward. Sure. Um, and we, luckily we have a, a great developer, um, SJP properties that have done many things like this before. Um,  and that will take about 18 months or so.

Um, but we have,  in addition to that, mostly to figure out what is then the actual day to day look like once this opens. Right. Um, so I think one thing is just designing these living spaces for people in scholars village. Um, but the other thing is then more around the community. And the initiatives that we do to shape this community that we'll, we'll keep on launching.

Right. So we have the healthcare program I mentioned earlier, that's already started, right. We'll actually launch community initiatives in Hudson County later this year. Um, but we'll obviously build on that and, and we need to build out. the startup spaces and the resources that they, that they get access to  once the campus opens.

Um, and then actually  more and more also attract external innovators to host events there, right? There will be a big conference center. So anybody can actually come and host an event that they can Promote to their own audience. Yeah. Also promote to ours. Excuse me. Um, Voice is cracked. I'm on live TV. Um, no, but, uh, that's, that's, and that's really interesting.

And I think like, you know, uh, one of the other questions that I have, and again, this is kind of beyond because it's beyond kind of like my scope of expertise is once it's built and people are living there and everything's running, is there kind of like a timeframe that you're kind of open to have so that, you know, when to.

Continue to add stuff. Um, Or is it kind of be like,  is there a goal to kind of build beyond what you're doing right now? I mean, obviously like the ultimate goal is really to kind of go beyond this plot of land back here and really take it to other cities and grow it and all that kind of stuff. But the original sci tech city, you talked to me about like the goals kind of down the road for that.

Yeah. It's a really good question. And so there is.  more land left that won't be developed in this phase one. So there's an opportunity  to add something else to it. That could be additional incubator space for startups. It could be an outpost and campus of a university. Um, it could be something totally different, right?

I think that will a little bit depend on. where we see the community going and what we think would be really complimentary to that. I do think that we'll run out of startup space pretty quickly. So I think that's where my hypothesis lies. Um, but that's probably more like a 27, 28 timeframe. Um, and the other thing is,  um, all of these programs, they are very big and lofty, right?

Trying to change healthcare in New Jersey. There's a lot to do. So we'll have plenty of work in scaling up these programs. Um, and in the beginning, it's mostly.  Like we work with startups, right? And we provide you the opportunity to prove that you can actually deliver the value for hospital and the payer, but it's a, it's a business development opportunity, more accelerator like  we're not originating the ideas, but maybe in the future, as we build more and more, we may actually start launching our own companies based on ideas we have that come out of this community, right.

And build something from scratch,  which is.  different animal, to be fair. Um, but I think as we build out the team, the resources, um, that, that may be where we go. Yeah. What part of this for you personally, when they, you know, you do your, like we talked about at the very beginning, um, you do your pro bono stuff, they bring you on for like a year as kind of like a loan from BCG, uh, and now you're here running this whole program.

Um, which piece of it are you kind of the most excited about to see it, inaction, working, um, and all that kind of stuff. Is there a piece of it that you're, uh, like really into?  I think it's a good question. I do sit, I want to say  already now, one of the most rewarding experiences has been working with.

entrepreneurs. Okay. I just really love that  experience. They're like so excited about that technology, but it's also cool stuff. Yeah. And I just love learning about, Oh, it's a new, interesting idea. Yeah. Um, and so I think  as I have really appreciated these opportunities, talk to the founders about the ideas, talk to their vision and then help them.

And I think that that is rewarding. Um, what I think is incredibly rewarding too, that out of this  is for the common good. So there's never an excuse not to work. You feel like, well, but it is for the common good. So, um,  and so I think in that case, the startup community is great. Doing good is great. But I think it just in general,  the attitude people have towards LSC and us, there's so much trust, which I'm thankful for that  everybody's willing to engage to us. 

Listen to us and then  when, assuming we have a good pitch, right, then we can, we can get somewhere, but I think the doors are really open for us and I think people are really, um, incredibly constructive. Um, and so I found it very rewarding. Anyone we talked to from LSE sport or the broader community. Um, I've never found a closed door so far.

Yeah. So, which is, yeah, incredible. And I think what you said speaks to the reputation of LSE. Um, all the good work that they've kind of done for Jersey and the science community and all that kind of stuff. Um, and just giving, you know, a lot of kids a good platform to kind of just learn and, you know, get engaged with this kind of stuff.

Um, I want to make sure before we kind of wrap, and I know we've mentioned pretty much all of them. Uh, but I want to make sure that we kind of, do we hit all the partners that we wanted to hit?  I do think we talked about most of them. Um, look, the initial founding group, so to say, was Bank of America, um, Horizon, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Verizon,  ADB, um, Ernst Young.

Um, and since then our healthcare initiative specifically, uh, we're working with Bristol Myers Squibb, um, RWJBarnabas Health, um, Bell Labs, Sheba Medical Center.  Um, Princeton and NJII,  um, between all of those, there's already a ton of momentum and there's probably another 15, 20 conversations I'm having right now, but it's mostly filtering out which of these things I think can actually work out.

Yeah. Um. And there is a  longer term strategy and program we're working towards. We get approached with a lot of ideas, but I think we want to make sure that we make them fit into the bigger puzzle of what we're already working on because we, we also don't want to dilute our attention too much. Yeah. I would imagine, you know, you have probably a lot of really good ideas getting thrown at you, but obviously having like, excuse me, the base set up first.

I think is the most important thing, like get a good core thing going and then make sure that works. And then start adding, you know, bolted on pieces as you kind of progress, which I think is obviously the way to do it. Um, well, this episode has been really interesting and I really appreciate you. Jumping on and chatting with us.

Thank you for having me. Uh, absolutely. So if people are listening to this and they're like, I need to learn more about SciTech City and all this stuff going on, are there places they can go to do that right now? That is a good question. The best thing would probably be, honestly, just shoot me an email at A richter@lse.org.

Yeah. Uh, R-I-C-H-T-E-R. So A-R-I-C-H-T r@lse.org. Um, that there is a homepage. We're in the process of updating it. Sure. A lot has happened since we last did that, so Yeah. Yeah. Um, we need to give it the credit, but we've been focused on building the building as opposed to building the homepage. But that is next

That is next. Yeah. Um,  but outside of that, you find me on LinkedIn, you find me anywhere and my doors are as open as people have been to me, so yeah. Awesome. Alright, we'll make sure, we'll put those links in the show notes then. Sure. Uh, so that people can go click those. Um, again, Alex, I really appreciate you having me on and, uh, thank you for coming over chatting about this and I'm excited to see it when it's done and come out and do something there, you know, certainly.

Yeah, that'd be great. Um, so  again, this has been the greetings of, uh, we, we'll also put, uh, greetings for the r state.com in the show notes as well. Obviously we say that at the end of every episode, if I remember to say it. Um, so you can get to all of our other episodes that we released this year, because I don't know if you know this, but this year we've been crushing it with episodes, like our guests.

So all the stuff that we talked about this year have really been really interesting and really kind of like a, you know, uh, a broad range of topics, but all super important, super interesting, super great guests. Um, so you're just, you're part of that whole. Yeah, I would say it's an exciting time in New Jersey.

I think between what's happening here, um, at the Helix at Princeton with the AI hub, um, there's a fresh  winds of innovation across the whole state. And I think it will benefit everyone because this is really one plus one is equals three. Um, and we're also working on actually. connecting actively with those other clusters as well, because at the end of the day, everybody will win if, if New Jersey becomes an hotspot for, for entrepreneurs.

Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. Um, again, so this has been the greenest regards, a podcast powered by the New Jersey lottery. I'm Mike Ham.  He was Alex Richter, executive director and head of the sci tech city hub. Uh, we were at the Liberty science center in Jersey city, New Jersey. Thank you for listening and we'll catch you next time.