Sheba Medical Center, Kaleidoscope Health Ventures (KHV), and Farpoint Development have agreed to partner on a joint venture to develop, execute and lead the Chicago ARC Innovation Center, based on a shared vision for the transformation of healthcare. Sheba’s ARC model fosters innovation to redesign healthcare and make it more accessible by accelerating entrepreneurship.
The Sheba ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate) model will be adopted in Chicago to promote collaborations with Illinois’ abundant trove of research institutions, biotechnology companies, and healthcare start-ups, thus accelerating advances toward health equity. Sheba Medical Center’s ARC model has allowed Israel to become a world leader in combating COVID-19 by shaping its rapid response to COVID-19, and showcases Israel’s use of innovative approaches to achieve health equity. With Sheba’s guidance, Israel’s agencies and health providers are repackaging the temperature-sensitive Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for wider distribution; opening arenas and field clinics as inoculation centers; and engaging the Arab and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in a public health campaign to overcome vaccine hesitancy.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 boosted this new enterprise and proved to all of us just how crucial it is to get ARC Chicago up and running,” said Prof. Yitshak Kreiss, Director General of Sheba Medical Center, who added: “We have been looking for the right location and partner to bring our model to the U.S., and are very fortunate to have found this great partnership in Illinois.”
The Chicago ARC is set to connect the best science, talent, technology, and data to achieve health equity and justice for all through a collaborative innovation platform. A health equity accelerator will be an early Chicago ARC initiative, with plans to launch later this year. The Chicago ARC will partner with South and West Side community initiatives to unlock the benefits for all residents across Illinois and the United States. A life sciences incubator and data collaborative will follow in 2022, all with health equity goals.
International companies, starting with a focus on promising Israeli start-ups, are targeted as Chicago ARC tenants. A tailored approach with a customer-driven network will give them a U.S. foothold, and make Illinois a gateway for global investment. The permanent Chicago ARC facility is set to open in 2023 as the anchor of the Bronzeville Lakefront development. Until then, it will operate out of interim space.
Congratulating the new initiative, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker added: “I am deeply grateful to Kaleidoscope Health Ventures, Sheba Medical Center, the ARC Innovation Complex, and Farpoint Development for coming together to spur this innovation here in Illinois and bringing more collaborative health innovation, life sciences development and transformative equitable healthcare models to our state.”
