Israeli hospital system plans local startup accelerator

BOSTON (SHNS) - An Israeli hospital system plans to open an accelerator for health care startups in Massachusetts next year, and an executive with strong Boston ties pitched the endeavor as a way to tackle antisemitism.

Sheba Medical Center -- the largest hospital in the Middle East located outside of Tel Aviv -- will establish an "ARC Accelerator" facility in Greater Boston that is focused on digital and AI health care innovations, including for advanced diagnostic tools and workforce supports. 

ARC Innovation, which brings together entrepreneurs and clinicians to develop health technology, has supported more than 100 startups since it launched in 2019 at Sheba. Its acronym stands for "accelerate, redesign, collaborate."

"Its partnerships span 12 countries, 31 health systems and 300 hospitals. It is a true global leader," Gov. Maura Healey, who wore Israeli and American flag pins, said at a State House press conference Tuesday afternoon. "So we are thrilled, but not surprised, that Sheba ARC has decided to launch their very first U.S. health care partnership in Massachusetts."

Healey was joined by Interim Economic Development Secretary Ashley Stolba, Treasurer Deb Goldberg, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center CEO Kirk Taylor and Consul General of Israel to New England Benny Sharoni, among other officials. Attendees in the governor's briefing room included Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh, Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston CEO Jeremy Burton, and Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association President Steve Walsh.

Sheba officials are searching for a physical space in the Boston area for the accelerator, which is slated to open in January, said Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, who founded ARC and is Sheba's chief transformation officer.

"We have our targets to start in 2026 with six to eight initial companies, but the idea is to grow that to 10 to 12, and more in the years to come," said Zimlichman, a former Harvard Medical School faculty member and research associate at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

He noted that ARC and some of its startup companies have already worked with Mass General Brigham in recent years. 

ARC explored launching an accelerator in other states, though Zimlichman said he knew Massachusetts was "going to be the decision at the end of the day." Hospital executives in a press release described Massachusetts as the "ideal environment for medical innovation" due to its biotech firms and academic medical institutions.

Without quantifying the direct financial impact and job growth, Sheba officials said the accelerator will spur economic growth in Massachusetts and attract international startups that are eager to enter the U.S. market.

Dr. Yitshak Kreiss, director general of Sheba, explained that Israel has a "startup nation mentality" that is focused on driving global innovation. Sheba's work has already stretched to Europe, Canada, Australia and Singapore, he said.

"But then we discovered that we need to have within our global system the hub, the global hub for health care innovation, the global hub of science, and this is here in Boston, Massachusetts," said Kreiss, who received his master's of public health degree from Harvard. "This is the reason we came here."

"I know Boston," he continued. "I lived here. I studied at Harvard. My son is coming here this year. He's coming to study at MIT."

Kreiss acknowledged his team has not traveled often during the last 18 months due to the Israel-Hamas War. He used his platform to call for the release of the remaining 59 hostages in Gaza, and emphasized that Sheba treats all patients, including Jews, Christians, Muslims and Palestinians.

Beyond medical discoveries, Kreiss signaled the accelerator can be a tool for addressing antisemitism, which has spiked in Massachusetts in recent years.

"Antisemitism is eliminated by doing things together," Kreiss said. "We believe that when the people of the commonwealth will see the innovation coming through, the companies, the economic growth, the good things that we can do, the science that we can do together, that's a very effective way to cope with that. Because sometimes antisemitism happens because you don't know much, because you don't know exactly what's going on, and this is part of our mission here and mission globally to show the beautiful face of the State of Israel and the beautiful face of how things can happen if we work together."