Jones Lang LaSalle
$440M Thrust to Boost Tech Standing
By Thomas Gaudio - 1/23/2006
TRENTON
The state is moving to buttress its sagging technology sector: The New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology has kicked off a High Tech Recovery Plan by designating almost $6 million to be distributed among several programs in 2006.
The plan calls for spending a minimum of $440 million over the next five years, primarily to boost development of promising inventions and technologies through greater collaboration between the business world and the state’s universities.
Governor Jon Corzine’s proposed Edison Innovation Fund, which will require voter approval, would account for $300 million of the total envisioned funding. The Edison Innovation Fund is a long-term tech-sector stimulant that would be partially self-sufficient through revenues generated by patents shared by companies and the state. The remaining $140 million would be funded from future state budgets.
"The High Tech Recovery Plan is a way to halt erosion of high-tech jobs and grow the tech-based economy in New Jersey," says Michelle Reuss, communications director of the Science and Technology Commission. "There should be some good things happening soon."
This year’s $5.8 million will be spread among six programs through grants issued by the commission. Money will go to research programs at four state universities to help commercialize intellectual property such as patented and patentable information and technology. Twelve business incubators financed by the commission will also see some of the funds. A pilot program will award money to established companies that agree to partner with research universities on tech projects.
The remainder of the grant money is earmarked for a new nanotechnology fund, the so-called business-accelerator program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and the Small Business Development Center at Rutgers University.
Longer-term goals include luring renowned researchers to the state’s schools and providing incentives for companies to pass along patents or inventions they may have shelved for lack of interest or resources to entrepreneurs.
The strategy outlined in the plan sprang from a study called "An Economy at Risk: The Imperatives for a Science and Technology Policy for New Jersey," conducted by Rutgers economists James W. Hughes and Joseph J. Seneca. Released in December on behalf of the commission, it starkly portrays the hemorrhaging of high-tech jobs during the last 15 years. From 1990 to 2004 the state’s share of national employment dropped in 10 technology-based areas. Health care, for instance, dropped from 20.2% to 13.8% for a 6.8% loss; wired telecommunications fell from 7.8% to 4.7%, for a 2.6% dip. Some 190,000 manufacturing positions were lost during the same period.
Hughes thinks the Recovery Plan is on the right track but that success isn’t guaranteed. "It all depends on policy changes that make the business climate more friendly to start-ups and larger firms that are already here," he says. "We don’t have a choice, because other states are pressing forward. New Jersey’s prosperity has always depended on being on the leading edge of science and technology. If we lose that position it will ultimately be reflected in a lower standard of living."
The commission looks to academia to help prevent that scenario. Nearly $2 million has been committed to Princeton, Rutgers, NJIT and UMDNJ to develop emerging technologies for the marketplace.
The commission will keep tabs on the plan by measuring job growth in the 10 tech areas highlighted by the Rutgers study and will give yearly updates to the governor and legislature on the status of the projects.
The Six Million Dollar Plan
During fiscal 2006 the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology will spread some $5.8 million through six programs designed to improve the state’s tech standing.
The Entrepreneurial Partnering Fund:
$2 million Set to launch in the spring, companies will bid for grants to be used for partnering with New Jersey’s research universities that are already working on bringing new technologies into the market.
Commercializing University Intellectual Property Program: $1.85 million Princeton University, Rutgers University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey will split the pot that looks to speed up the schools’ efforts to make their lab efforts profitable.
Technology Incubator programs: $1.4 million Ten of these 12 early-stage business nests will see $130,000 apiece for three years. The other two will snag $80,000 each for fiscal 2006.
Seed fund for a nanotechnology initiative: $350,000 The mechanics of how this fund will work are being hammered out.
The NJIT Business Accelerator: $200,000 The money will teach clients at the school’s three incubators how to secure funding.
The Small Business Development Center at Rutgers University: $45,000 A series of seminars will teach entrepreneurs how to draft grant applications.
Source: New Jersey Commission on Science & Technology
E-mail to tgaudio@njbiz.com
$440M Thrust to Boost Tech Standing
By Thomas Gaudio - 1/23/2006
TRENTON
The state is moving to buttress its sagging technology sector: The New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology has kicked off a High Tech Recovery Plan by designating almost $6 million to be distributed among several programs in 2006.
The plan calls for spending a minimum of $440 million over the next five years, primarily to boost development of promising inventions and technologies through greater collaboration between the business world and the state’s universities.
Governor Jon Corzine’s proposed Edison Innovation Fund, which will require voter approval, would account for $300 million of the total envisioned funding. The Edison Innovation Fund is a long-term tech-sector stimulant that would be partially self-sufficient through revenues generated by patents shared by companies and the state. The remaining $140 million would be funded from future state budgets.
"The High Tech Recovery Plan is a way to halt erosion of high-tech jobs and grow the tech-based economy in New Jersey," says Michelle Reuss, communications director of the Science and Technology Commission. "There should be some good things happening soon."
This year’s $5.8 million will be spread among six programs through grants issued by the commission. Money will go to research programs at four state universities to help commercialize intellectual property such as patented and patentable information and technology. Twelve business incubators financed by the commission will also see some of the funds. A pilot program will award money to established companies that agree to partner with research universities on tech projects.
The remainder of the grant money is earmarked for a new nanotechnology fund, the so-called business-accelerator program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and the Small Business Development Center at Rutgers University.
Longer-term goals include luring renowned researchers to the state’s schools and providing incentives for companies to pass along patents or inventions they may have shelved for lack of interest or resources to entrepreneurs.
The strategy outlined in the plan sprang from a study called "An Economy at Risk: The Imperatives for a Science and Technology Policy for New Jersey," conducted by Rutgers economists James W. Hughes and Joseph J. Seneca. Released in December on behalf of the commission, it starkly portrays the hemorrhaging of high-tech jobs during the last 15 years. From 1990 to 2004 the state’s share of national employment dropped in 10 technology-based areas. Health care, for instance, dropped from 20.2% to 13.8% for a 6.8% loss; wired telecommunications fell from 7.8% to 4.7%, for a 2.6% dip. Some 190,000 manufacturing positions were lost during the same period.
Hughes thinks the Recovery Plan is on the right track but that success isn’t guaranteed. "It all depends on policy changes that make the business climate more friendly to start-ups and larger firms that are already here," he says. "We don’t have a choice, because other states are pressing forward. New Jersey’s prosperity has always depended on being on the leading edge of science and technology. If we lose that position it will ultimately be reflected in a lower standard of living."
The commission looks to academia to help prevent that scenario. Nearly $2 million has been committed to Princeton, Rutgers, NJIT and UMDNJ to develop emerging technologies for the marketplace.
The commission will keep tabs on the plan by measuring job growth in the 10 tech areas highlighted by the Rutgers study and will give yearly updates to the governor and legislature on the status of the projects.
The Six Million Dollar Plan
During fiscal 2006 the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology will spread some $5.8 million through six programs designed to improve the state’s tech standing.
The Entrepreneurial Partnering Fund:
$2 million Set to launch in the spring, companies will bid for grants to be used for partnering with New Jersey’s research universities that are already working on bringing new technologies into the market.
Commercializing University Intellectual Property Program: $1.85 million Princeton University, Rutgers University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey will split the pot that looks to speed up the schools’ efforts to make their lab efforts profitable.
Technology Incubator programs: $1.4 million Ten of these 12 early-stage business nests will see $130,000 apiece for three years. The other two will snag $80,000 each for fiscal 2006.
Seed fund for a nanotechnology initiative: $350,000 The mechanics of how this fund will work are being hammered out.
The NJIT Business Accelerator: $200,000 The money will teach clients at the school’s three incubators how to secure funding.
The Small Business Development Center at Rutgers University: $45,000 A series of seminars will teach entrepreneurs how to draft grant applications.
Source: New Jersey Commission on Science & Technology
E-mail to tgaudio@njbiz.com
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 11:01 AM
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