Johnson & Johnson, Make the Connection

Dong Wu, Head, Johnson & Johnson Innovation Asia Pacific, Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC

Johnson & Johnson started its business 130 years ago selling first aid kits, antiseptics, and dyspepsia tablets. The company has since grown into one of the leading healthcare companies in the world. We have made huge investments not only internally but also externally to fulfill our dream to become the most innovative healthcare company in the world.
Innovation needs partners. To build partnerships, we established Johnson & Johnson Innovation, under which about 170 members are playing an active role around the world. To be as close as possible to the local ecosystems, Johnson & Johnson Innovation's activities center on innovation centers in four cities around the world: Boston, San Francisco, London and Shanghai. With the primary objective to be involved in actual deals, these innovation centers have assessed some 8,000 projects during the last four years and have made more than 400 investments.
JLABS, with an incubation function, and JJDC with an investment function mainly targeting pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer, have also been established, allowing us to become involved in innovation at an earlier stage than before. We are open to collaborating with anyone with a "disruptive technology" and alignment with Johnson & Johnson's business objectives.
Concentration of resources is an important factor in innovation. In Boston, as introduced in Session 1, there is a cluster of hospitals in addition to some thousands of companies within a compact area of 2 km by 0.5 km. It is important to create this level of concentrated effort in building an ecosystem.
JLABS was established as part of Johnson & Johnson Innovation's activities for the purpose of creating a physical incubation system within the ecosystem. JLABS is an integration of elements that are scattered in conventional ecosystems, such as capital investments required for starting up a healthcare company and specialists as well as investors and business partners. JLABS offices are located in eight sites in North America and are occupied by a total of 140 companies. 50 companies have so far graduated, and more than 30 collaborative projects have been generated.
JLABS provides opportunities for education and exchange in addition to facilities and equipment. When providing such opportunities, JLABS places emphasis on the idea of "no strings attached." An important feature here is that, because Johnson & Johnson does not attract entrepreneurs with investment capital or other attractive offers, it is possible for them to cooperate with external investors and other pharmaceutical companies in providing educational programs and interchange opportunities.
Johnson & Johnson Innovation hopes to serve as a bridge to help startups accelerate innovations through its functions.

[Speaker Profile]
Dong is Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Asia Pacific. He is responsible for Johnson & Johnson Innovation within the Asia Pacific region. He joined the Innovation team from Johnson & Johnson's Consumer business where he was Vice President of R&D, responsible for the Global Engineering Organization and leading the transformation of the emerging markets R&D groups. In that role, he led the exploration of new product opportunities for Johnson & Johnson in global markets.
Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Dong worked at Unilever where he held various positions in Quality Assurance, Manufacturing and Research & Development. Dong became part of the team that founded the Unilever Regional Innovation Center in Shanghai, where he was acting head of the Development Laboratory. He then became Manufacturing General Manager and Site General Manager of the Hefei plant, Unilever's largest manufacturing site worldwide. During his career at Unilever, he worked in China, the UK, the U.S. and Japan.
Dong has a Bachelor's degree in Applied Chemistry from Fudan University and an MBA from China Europe International Business School.
Johnson & Johnson INNOVATION website: https://www.jnjinnovation.com/

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