NJIT Plays Integral Role in 1st Annual ExploreNJ Conference for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

The focus of the event was why New Jersey is the best place for entrepreneurs and businesses in the U.S., as well for foreign firms seeking to enter the U.S. market, to invest in and grow their businesses. And the interest in doing so was indeed high, with upward of 150 people from over 40 industries — from accounting and architecture, to insurance and investment, to manufacturing and marketing and more — attending the inaugural ExploreNJ conference.

A joint effort of Choose New Jersey, an economic development agency based in Princeton, and the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey (CIANJ), an organization representing the interests of more than 900 companies from all business sectors, the two-day conference took place June 13 and 14 in Jersey City and Newark, respectively. It featured one-on-one meetings with business experts, along with insights from dignitaries on such pertinent topics as finding the right location, protecting intellectual property and developing workforces.

NJIT, a CIANJ member, hosted the second day, which included remarks from Newark Alliance President Aisha Glover, United Airlines New York/New Jersey Region President Jill Kaplan and PSEG Power President and Chief Operating Officer Ralph LaRossa. Joel Bloom, NJIT president; Donald Sebastian, president of New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), an NJIT entity; and Simon Nynens, vice president and chief commercial officer at NJIT, also spoke.

“NJIT has a deep and demonstrated understanding of the necessary linkage between higher education and industry. In fact, economic development is a core component of NJIT’s mission,” remarked President Bloom in welcoming conference attendees to the university. “We take our responsibility in this arena very seriously, and that is evident in the results we have produced. A recent study by eConsult pegged NJIT’s annual economic impact on the state of New Jersey at more than $2.8 billion.”

“A significant achievement of the conference was highlighting NJIT and Newark as prime destinations for business,” noted Suresh Kumar, professor of practice and director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Programs at the university’s Ying Wu College of Computing, and NJIT’s liaison for ExploreNJ. “We have since had several business owners show interest in the services offered by NJIT institutions such as NJII, VentureLink and our various education programs. They will be visiting NJIT this summer to explore the opportunities.”

ExploreNJ was so successful, it will continue as a spinoff following the federal government’s annual SelectUSA Investment Summit in Washington, D.C.