RomeCup Health Bot Contest: An interview with Federica Mazzotti.
Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine Italia is a RomeCup 2024 partner with Health Bot, the first educational contest dedicated to designing and prototyping robotic and artificial intelligence solutions for healthcare. The challenge is open to teams of Italian high school students and places no limits on the creativity of solutions created with robotic applications, artificial intelligence, IoT, or extended reality. Factor J is the project promoted in high schools throughout Italy to raise awareness among students on the value of scientific progress for health, well-being, and quality of life. The goal is to build a healthy world by interesting young men and women on the progress of science and research, making them protagonists of their own choices in a One Health perspective. Onelia Onorati interviewed Federica Mazzotti, Business Transformation Director at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine Italia.
What is J&J Innovative Medicine's commitment to innovation for well-being?
Our commitment to innovation and scientific research is an integral part of our history and corporate mission. Suffice it to say that 20 of the 80 molecules we have developed have been included by the WHO in the list of essential medicines for humanity. Not only history, but also our future speak of innovation, and they do so in a concrete way, through constant investments in research and development aimed at paving the way towards the medicine of tomorrow. This is demonstrated by the announcement of $15 billion in investments in R&D globally and the €27.5 million invested over the last three years in Italy alone. In Italy, and more precisely in Latina, our site is among the most innovative in the world, producing approximately 4 billion tablets per year, 90% of which is exported to over 100 foreign countries. Our therapies reach 2 million patients in Italy and, in 2022, we conducted 97 clinical studies and collaborated with 346 research centres, providing 3600 patients with early access to treatment. We are at the forefront, developing innovative solutions that are capable of transforming the future of medicine and consequently people's well-being and health. Also because of this, J&J looks to research and its application in the most complex diseases in Oncology, Immunology, Neuroscience, Cardiovascular, and Pulmonary and Retina Arterial Hypertension.
This year J&J Innovative Medicine is a RomeCup 2024 partner. What are the reasons that convinced you to join the Italian multi-event on artificial intelligence and robotics?
On behalf of J&J, I can say that it is an honour for us to be a partner of RomeCup 2024. The transformative role that AI will have (and is already having) at a multidisciplinary level on the lives of all of us is clear to everyone, including national and international policy makers. Specifically, as demonstrated by a recent study by the World Economic Forum, AI will completely transform the way in which we address the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of pathologies, facilitating the task of doctors and ensuring better treatment for patients. At J&J, we are already integrating these solutions into our daily work, using AI to improve the efficiency of our clinical trials, and bringing new therapies to the market faster. Despite this, we are aware that the approach to innovation, including that of AI, must be an integrated approach that guarantees the involvement of the widest number of actors and that looks above all to the protagonists of the future, i.e. the new generations. Accessibility, proximity, and sustainability of innovation inevitably pass through the support of young people, not only to fascinate them with this new technology, but also to support them in their studies and work careers in technological and scientific fields. We have been collaborating with the Fondazione Mondo Digitale for over 4 years on Project Factor J to promote a scientific culture amongst high school students throughout Italy and this year artificial intelligence is one of the main topics. It is in this context that we have chosen to support and participate directly in RomeCup 2024 to look together at the intersection of technology, science, and new generations.
Can you tell us about Health Bot?
Project Health Bot is an initiative conceived precisely to train and introduce young men and women to the topic of artificial intelligence in the context of Project Factor J. Health Bot is a creative contest in which Italian students are called to present prototypes of robotic and artificial intelligence solutions for healthcare. The projects will be presented on the second day of the RomeCup and, together with a jury of experts, we will reward the best projects. From this perspective, I can already anticipate that the solutions proposed are truly innovative and best express the familiarity that young people have with new technology, as well as their awareness of its positive impact on the lives of patients. Health Both demonstrates how important it is to invest in innovation and pave the way for the new generations in scientific and technological fields, to further improve our ability to generate well-being for patients and those who care for them.
