Innovation Centers | Johnson & Johnson Innovation

About this program

Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s Polyphonic™ AI Fund for Surgery QuickFire Challenge solicits Surgical Data Science proposals worldwide to accelerate AI-driven solutions that improve surgical decision‑making, strengthen data management and governance, and enhance operating‑room efficiency, with particular interest in soft‑tissue specialties (colorectal, bariatric, thoracic, urology, gynecology, general surgery). Selected applicants may receive up to $100,000 in award funding, mentorship from J&J experts, and potential access to computing resources (GPUs, cloud services, ML/AI toolkits); applications are reviewed on a rolling basis with cohort award announcements quarterly through the end of 2026 (current cohort deadline 27 Feb 2026). Open to researchers and innovators worldwide working in Surgical Data Science, proposals should target perioperative decision support, data infrastructure/privacy/labeling/regulatory research, or care‑team coordination and will be evaluated on clinical relevance and impact, patient safety and ethics, feasibility and implementation, innovation and scalability, and team expertise; awards are subject to QuickFire Challenge terms and execution of an award agreement.