Jersey City, NJ – July 8, 2021 – Affirming its commitment to making lasting and positive change for its members and the communities it serves, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is joining SciTech Scity as a Founding Corporate Sponsor. A “City of Tomorrow,” SciTech Scity is Liberty Science Center’s planned 30-acre innovation campus that aims to launch and grow dozens of world-changing science and technology companies and reimagine public school science education. The campus will bring together entrepreneurs, scientists, academics, students, and other thinkers and doers who share renowned computer scientist Alan Kay’s prescription that “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

Through its charitable giving arm, The Horizon Foundation of New Jersey, Horizon has donated $1 million to SciTech Scity, which will ensure that the scientists of today and tomorrow have the tools and technologies needed to discover and pioneer breakthroughs that will make New Jersey, and the world, a healthier, better place for generations to come.

“Innovation and technology will drive the health care improvements of tomorrow and SciTech Scity will bring a world class facility devoted to those breakthroughs to New Jersey,” said Gary St. Hilaire, CEO and President of Horizon. “Horizon’s members and the communities we serve will benefit for generations from the investment we are making in the discoveries, collaborations, and new approaches that will emerge from SciTech Scity. Their focus on reimagining the science curriculum will ensure that New Jersey’s students of today are ready to join the workforce of tomorrow.”

LSC President and CEO Paul Hoffman said he was “extremely grateful to Horizon for its commitment to and confidence in the SciTech Scity vision. Science and technology are the keys to the health and welfare of our country, and the betterment of all humanity. With SciTech Scity, we are building a unique campus to pioneer the necessary innovations to actualize this mission.”

With its donation, Horizon joins Bank of America, EY, and Verizon as Founding Corporate Sponsors of SciTech Scity. Other anchor supporters include the city of Jersey City; Joseph D. and Millie E. Williams; LSC Board Co-Chair David Barry; and former Congressman Frank J. Guarini, for whom the SciTech Scity Innovation Campus will be named.

SciTech Scity will be a “City of Tomorrow” where companies and researchers test—and residents and visitors experience—new high-tech products and services before they come to market. The first phase, scheduled to open in late 2023, includes:
• Edge Works: A central location for innovation comprising two distinct hubs. The Works will have a fabrication lab, research and development spaces, offices, and co-working areas for start-ups and entrepreneurs. The Co-Creation Center will be a state-of-the-art conference center and tech exhibition gallery.
• Scholars Village: Housing being developed by Alpine Residential for innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs, STEM graduate students, and individuals and families who desire to be a part of the SciTech Scity community.
• Public Commons: Five-acre outdoor park with activations that encourage exploration, creativity, collaboration, and innovation. An events plaza for concerts, farmers markets, art exhibitions, and food-truck festivals.
• Liberty Science Center High School: A county-wide public magnet STEM academy that will be a part of and operated by the Hudson County Schools of Technology offering world-class programming in mathematics, engineering, computer sciences, and basic sciences to students in grades 9 - 12, as well as support programs to under-served low-income middle-school students in Jersey City and Hudson County with interest in the sciences and who aspire to attend the new institution.

Subsequent phases of SciTech Scity may include expanded incubation space, additional schools, and other facilities to drive STEM innovation and job creation.

About Liberty Science Center
Liberty Science Center (LSC.org) is a 300,000-square-foot, not-for-profit learning center located in Liberty State Park on the Jersey City bank of the Hudson near the Statue of Liberty. Dedicated to inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers and bringing the power, promise, and pure fun of science and technology to learners of all ages, Liberty Science Center houses the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, 12 museum exhibition halls, a live animal collection with 110 species, giant aquariums, a 3D theater, live simulcast surgeries, a tornado-force wind simulator, K-12 classrooms and labs, and teacher-development programs. Before COVID-19, more than 250,000 students visited the Science Center each year, and tens of thousands more participated in the Center’s off-site and online programs. Welcoming more than 750,000 visitors annually, LSC is the largest interactive science center in the NYC-NJ metropolitan area.

About Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the state’s oldest and largest health insurer, is a tax-paying, not-for-profit health service corporation providing a wide array of medical, dental, vision, and prescription insurance products and services. Horizon BCBSNJ is leading the transformation of health care in New Jersey by working with doctors and hospitals to deliver innovative, patient-centered programs that reward the quality, not quantity, of care patients receive. Learn more at HorizonBlue.com. Horizon BCBSNJ is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association serving approximately 3.7 million members.

About The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey
The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey is committed to working alongside those who can help us improve our neighbors’ health, inform their health decisions and inspire them to lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. The Foundation’s mission is to support organization’s that make New Jersey healthier. The Foundation has three funding pillars, Caring, Connecting and Creating. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is the sole member of The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, both of which are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information please visit http://community.horizonblue.com/.