Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.announced a collaboration with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) to unlock innovation potential in Singapore's life sciences ecosystem. This collaboration is the first of its kind and will leverage Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS' services and innovation resources aimed at boosting the region's innovation output.

Under this collaboration, JLABS will support early-stage companies with a base in Singapore to help accelerate their early-stage discoveries into innovative medicines, medical technologies, and healthcare solutions. JLABS will also collaborate with local incubators and other strategic partners in the ecosystem on venture and talent development offerings to stimulate employment and commercialization opportunities for early-stage companies.

This collaboration with EDB demonstrates the ongoing commitment of Johnson & Johnson to enable and accelerate the best science and technology in the Asia Pacific region with the ambition of addressing critical unmet medical and healthcare needs. It builds on the success of JLABS' no-strings-approach and more than a decade of experience, as well as JLABS' reputation as the largest global network of life science startups, investors, and corporate partners.

"At Johnson & Johnson Innovation, we source and cultivate the world's most promising, early-stage healthcare innovation wherever it originates," said William N. Hait, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Chief External Innovation and Medical Officer, Johnson & Johnson. "We are thrilled to partner with EDB to advance the thriving life sciences community in Singapore and help unleash the potential of healthcare innovation in the Asia Pacific region for the rest of the world."

"The needs of the next generation of global innovators, potential partners, and early-stage companies are changing rapidly, and Johnson & Johnson is committed to pioneering new approaches to address them, like this significant collaboration with EDB," said Melinda Richter, Global Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS. "This type of collaboration exemplifies our pivotal role as an innovation, talent, economic and venture developer with a mission to empower our partners with the knowledge, experience, networks and practical frameworks they need to make an impact for patients."