NJII Launches Digital Capability Center for Cell & Gene Therapy at NJIT

On Aug 3, 2021

NJII announced its partnership with McKinsey & Company in the launch of a new center to advance operations and manufacturing excellence in cell and gene therapy (CGT). The new Digital Capability Center will focus on accelerating operational excellence and digital transformations in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. “Bringing the lessons of Industry 4.0 to CGT operations is critical to the continued growth of the CGT industry, not only in revolutionizing our approach to treat and cure diseases, but in improving the health outcomes of people everywhere,” said Jeff Smith, McKinsey partner and a global coleader of the firm’s CGT work. “The Digital Capability Center will focus on digitally enabling operations to improve performance—from advanced analytics for higher bioprocessing productivity to AI in deviation reduction and digital-twin-based plant scheduling—and the mindsets and capabilities needed to enable, scale, and sustain the transformation.”

“We are honored to partner with McKinsey & Company who will contribute their thought leadership and expertise in operational excellence to design this center and develop and deliver the curriculum,” said Haro Hartounian, SVP and general manager of the biopharma division of NJII. “Our mission is to make cell and gene therapies more accessible to the patients that need them, and this center will provide an opportunity for companies from around the world to experience innovative and promising Industry 4.0 approaches and technologies first-hand.”

According to the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine’s annual report there are more than 1,085 total gene, cell and tissue-based therapeutic developers worldwide and 1,220 trials aiming to enroll more than 90,000 patients worldwide. In order for these therapies to become more accessible, the manufacturing of them must become more efficient, and the technology and digital and operational approaches being introduced in the Digital Capability Center are widely anticipated to be the key enablers of those improvements.

McKinsey & Company launched its worldwide network of Capability Centers in 2007. These immersive learning environments inspire and equip organizations to deliver sustainable performance improvements from operational excellence and tech-enabled transformations, with centers in Aachen, Atlanta, Beijing, Gurugram, Istanbul, Salvador, Singapore, Monterrey, and Venice. This new center will open at the VentureLink building on the campus of NJIT in Newark in the 4th quarter of 2021 and be supported by BioCentriq, NJII’s full-service concept-to-clinic contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) founded in 2019.

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