(upbeat music) - Recently I sat down with Chris Paladino, who is the president of New Brunswick Development Corporation, otherwise known as DEVCO.

DEVCO is involved with a whole range of other folks down in New Brunswick with something called the HELIX.

The HELIX is health and life science exchange.

It is a fascinating operation being built as we speak, innovation, discovery, academia, healthcare organizations, not-for-profit institutions.

A whole range of folks coming together at the HELIX.

A one-on-one conversation with Chris Paladino.

Here we go.

This is Lessons in Leadership.

You've been waiting for it all week.

Here we are, Sunday morning.

You see us right here on News 12 Plus.

Lessons in Leadership, Mary, we have a very special guest who's a longtime partner who understands leadership and innovation better than most.

Go ahead, Mary.

Make the introduction.

- Oh, I'm so excited.

So we have Chris Paladino, President, New Brunswick Development Corporation.

But more importantly, we're gonna be really talking a lot today about our special series, Lessons in Leadership, Discovery and Innovation, in New Jersey.

Chris, thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thank you, Steve.

Thank you, Mary.

Great to be back.

- You got it.

And Chris, DEVCO is the acronym for New Jersey Development Corporation and the HELIX is the logo behind Chris Paladino.

Chris, put the HELIX in context for us.

What is it and why does it matter?

- So the HELIX is more than a neighborhood of buildings.

It's more than a place.

It's more than a district.

It's an ecosystem that we hope will foster scientific collaboration, discovery, commercialization.

Why is it important?

We know where companies, where discoveries are made and where companies expand, they usually do that within 10 miles of where they started.

And you know, they grow, they hire people, they go public.

And this is, you know, could be a important part of the New Jersey economy, basically growing in the innovation economy.

The second thing that's important, discoveries that are made here are going to impact people's lives.

Therapies, medications, medical devices, and artificial intelligence.

It's incredible, the amount of things that it can be.

But they're really going to impact the average citizen because they're gonna be the beneficiary.

And the third thing that's probably important, very important is that it's gonna somewhat help us stem the brain drain.

You know, our kids who graduate colleges with computer science degrees, engineering degree, mathematicians, don't have to go to Boston or don't have to go to North Carolina or California to work.

They can stay home and we can enjoy our grandchildren.

- And to that point, Mary's got two in college, outta state.

I've got, we have two in college out-of-state.

And we tried to push New Jersey schools and failed in that regard.

And to be clear, one major institution of higher learning that's very involved, because the partnerships at the HELIX are key, Rutgers University, very involved, correct?

- Yes, they are, you know, basically in our first building, they're our major partner.

They have committed to not only 250,000 square feet of translational research, which is final stage research before commercialization, but moving the Rutgers RWJ Medical School downtown and putting in a completely modern facility to be compatible with the New Jersey Innovation Hub.

But Rutgers is not only doing that, but they've committed to over a quarter of a billion dollars to recruit new scientists that'll work in this building.

- And also Princeton, is involved, as well?

- Princeton and then our other two very important partners are Robert Wood Johnson, Barnabas Health, and Hackensack Meridian.

You know, people don't really understand this, but Rutgers and Princeton together, on an annual basis, are the beneficiaries of over a billion dollars of third party research.

This is money that comes from NIH, it comes from the National Cancer Institute, it comes from the FDA, it comes from foundations.

So basically, you know, bringing these two incredible research universities together, good things will happen.

- HELIX will open officially, when, Chris?

- In the December of 2025.

- Got it.

Mary?

- Yeah, I love watching all of your posts, Chris, on social media where it just shows, it's amazing.

You blink and there's like a new structure going up any day.

You talked a little bit about the partnerships.

I believe it's connected to the Innovation Hub.

How are you helping startups?

How are you helping those businesses that are really just up and coming and true entrepreneurs?

How are you helping them through the Innovation Hub?

- So in two major ways, A, we're creating a place for them.

So we're creating a place where a startup, it may be three postgraduate PhD students who have a great idea, who wanna start a company and want to continue their research and they use our shared laboratories, or they use office space and conference rooms.

It may be somebody at the end of their career who's leaving Johnson & Johnson, who's leaving Bristol Myers and they've got a project that didn't get pursued and wanna, with some colleagues.

It may be the person that called me recently from a major research institution in New York City who said, "I've been working in my lab, my partners and I are ready to commercialize this.

We have to leave the university space to do it.

We all live in New Jersey.

We'd love to have a place to do this."

So creating a place is important.

But the other place is creating this ecosystem where startups can, you know, at lunch, having a cup of coffee, a drink afterwards, can meet academic scientists who are working for Princeton or Rutgers or working with physicians from either of the two hospitals, being in the same place, sharing ideas, helping solve problems, saying, "Hey, can you come to my lab and look in my microscope?

I see something interesting."

So we're basically creating a place where creative collisions can happen.

- So Chris, let me get on this because you and I have known each other a long time, and one of the things I think we have in common, other than being Italian American is this... We've been at this for a long time, but Mary knows this and I think Mary does think of this sometimes, like, "Steve, when is enough enough?"

When do we say, "Hey, we're good the way we are?"

What's all this with a new idea, new series, new this?

Why are we spinning off to innovate?

And what I said to Mary, and trust me, there's a question here is, when I stop doing that, that's when I don't want to do this anymore.

That's when you're done.

I know, I've known you.

Chris, you don't stop, meaning this innovation initiative, discovery innovation in New Jersey, the HELIX.

I'm not saying it's you alone, but are you sitting up?

There's a question in this way.

Do you sit up at night thinking about all these possibilities?

- Usually when I'm driving or taking a shower or shaving, usually I'm pretty good when I go to sleep, I go to sleep.

But look, cities that do not continue to reinvent themselves suffer.

- And we're talking about New Brunswick.

By the way.

HELIX is in New Brunswick, to be clear.

- Right.

- Go ahead, Chris.

- And look, innovation is the lifeblood of New Jersey, of New Jersey's economy.

The HELIX, hopefully, will create an ecosystem that will reignite the entrepreneurial spirit of Edison, Sarnoff, Waxman, Claude Shannon, you know, unlocking that potential, unlocking that excitement for the next generation.

So, you know, we kind of always have to rediscover and reinvigorate and reignite.

Let it be, you know, you know, a city or you know, or just getting people to be excited about being in a place.

- And whether it's a higher ed institution that has to evolve constantly, innovate media organizations, hospital systems that you just talked about, both of whom are our underwriters of our programming, RWJ Barnabas Health and HMH, Hackensack Meridian Health.

Mary, one more quick question - Yeah, definitely.

And as an outsider looking in, it seems like everything has just gone like clockwork with the HELIX, right?

I see all the posts and I'm like, "Wow, everything's."

But I know probably behind the scenes there have been some challenges.

Can you share one of those challenges and more importantly, the lesson that you learned, whether tied to innovation, leadership, whatever, because as I said- - About logistics, Mary?

Logistics.

- And logistics.

(laughing) I'm obsessed with logistics.

- Well, you know, I think, in a micro sense, next week we're gonna pour 1400 cubic yards of concrete that has to be in one continuous pour and it has 150 trucks coming and it has to happen continuously or you have to start over.

- What could go wrong, Chris?

What could go wrong!

- Wait a second, though.

- A flat tire.

- I don't know a lot.

- The truck falls in the hole.

- But doesn't temperature matter?

Well, isn't that a factor with concrete as well or am I making- - Temperature does matter.

So we have to get that the right day.

But you know, look, I think the biggest challenge and certainly one of the bigger accomplishments are getting our partners, the EDA, Rutgers, Hackensack- - Economic Development Authority and Tim Sullivan, go ahead, - Robert Wood Johnson, Barnabas Health, Princeton, to get on the same page, to make concessions, to take some risk and see the big picture.

And then one day, the light goes off and you know, you kind of bear down and get the deal done.

You know, you don't wanna see how, you know, sausage is made.

You don't wanna see how laws are made.

You really don't wanna see how public and private partnerships are made.

Mayor Cahill said to me one time when we were doing a ground break- - Mayor Cahill, the mayor of New Brunswick, go ahead.

- Yes, and he said to me as we were walking off the podium at a project that had some real rough going, getting to that gate.

And he said, "Don't you just once before you're done want to get up here and say, 'Hey, I'm gonna tell you what really happened'?"

Because everybody's really happy at groundbreakings and at ribbon cuttings.

But there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

But you know what?

We are fortunate in New Jersey.

I'm certainly fortunate in New Brunswick to have some people who have some real foresight and are true leaders and are able to come together and do something in a collaborative nature that could not be done by any one of these institutions, by themselves.

- That's the beauty of partnership.

And Chris Paladino, the president of New Brunswick Development Corporation, DEVCO, leading the way, being the QB, as I like to say, the point guard, the quarterback, the facilitator of the HELIX initiative.

Chris, thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

Discovery and Innovation in New Jersey.

Thanks, Chris.

- Thank you, Steve.

Thank you, Mary.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

The New Jersey Education Association.

PSEG Foundation.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

And by The North Ward Center.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by BestofNJ.com.

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