NJII Hosts US-German Council on Workforce, Education Reforms in Digital Economy

NJIT was a host site for an international delegation addressing challenges and identifying opportunities in education, workforce preparation, entrepreneurship and infrastructure arising from digitalization.

New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), an NJIT corporation, welcomed the American Council on Germany as part of the ACG’s initiative “Transatlantic Cities of Tomorrow: Digitalization and the Future of Work.” The program, initiated in 2019, included four rounds of reciprocal exchanges focused on the role that small- and medium-sized cities play in an increasingly urbanized and digitized ecosystem. 

The initiative aims to create an international partnership network of practitioners and experts to identify best practices and exchange information among partner organizations and state and local officials.

“The American Council on Germany facilitates a variety of German-American exchanges and we have witnessed how valuable these are in building productive on-going relationships between professionals in both countries to learn from one another and find avenues for collaboration,” said Robert Fenstermacher, chief content officer of the ACG. “We chose Newark in this project for a site visit due to its rebirth as a region with a vibrant set of universities, like NJIT, companies, startups, and community-based organizations that our German counterparts could learn from.” 

The initiative is supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany through funds of the European Recovery Program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

As part of the initiative, practitioners from Philadelphia, Trenton, Newark in the U.S., and Schwerin, Rostock and Hamburg in Germany met on NJIT’s campus to tour its facilities and hear from subject matter experts in core areas of challenges.

NJII, created in 2014 to serve as a portal and platform for higher education and industry partnerships, aligns effectively with the ACG initiative, as its core divisions — healthcare, entrepreneurship, defense and homeland security, and professional and corporate education — demonstrate expertise in several of ACG’s goals for the initiative. Recently, NJII has partnered with powerhouses Merck and McKinsey, strengthening the organization’s direct ties to industry.

Among the contingent’s stops was VentureLink@ NJIT. New Jersey's largest startup incubator and coworking office space showed how they are bridging the gap between education, entrepreneurship and community engagement. 

VentureLink@ NJIT shared some of its successful programming with the group, like Highlander Foundry, an eight-week summer program for students to present their startup ideas, giving them an opportunity to experience entrepreneurship and business creation; and community-based entrepreneurial programs for minorities and underserved residents in Newark to establish high-tech businesses.

In addition, the group toured NJIT’s Makerspace. The 21,000 square-foot Makerspace features over $3 million in state-of-the-art equipment ranging from industrial to small prototyping machines. It is the largest of its kind in New Jersey, and has been used to both develop aircraft to compete in SAE Aero competitions and rapidly manufacture face shields in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was extremely proud to have been selected and to show my international colleagues NJIT’s facilities and offerings,” said Kathy Naasz, vice president of strategic partnerships for NJII. “As a public polytechnic and an R1 university – highest level of research activity – we are in a very select subset of universities in this country and we can serve as a model institution for partnerships like this.”

After the delegation’s visit to Newark, the group will travel to Germany for a one-week tour of institutions and organizations before reconvening again in 2023 for a two-day conference in the U.S. Here, all members and stakeholders of the four exchange rounds will share the lessons gleaned and to highlight actions that have been or will be implemented in the participants’ cities.

“It was an amazing experience to establish relationships with such impressive thought leaders,” said Jan Klaiber, managing director at Digitales Innovationszentrum of Rostock, Germany. “The industry connections and the engaging nature of the professors and staff at NJIT and NJII makes us want to continue to partner with them.”