A measure co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt that would harness the collaborative brainpower of New Jersey’s colleges and universities in order to enable businesses to tap into this knowledge to gain a competitive edge has received final legislative approval.
The bill would provide for greater opportunities for economic growth by tasking the New Jersey Economic Development Authority with serving as a liaison between the academic and business communities in the state, potentially identifying possible areas of synergy in a more efficient manner, making the state a bigger draw for businesses by making it easier to determine where academic research of interest and importance to particular businesses is being conducted.
The bill would require each public institution of higher education to submit a list of its non-privileged and non-protected assets to the commission for inclusion in the database and to annually provide updated information to the commission. An independent institution of higher education in the state may elect to submit a list of its non-privileged and non-protected assets to the commission for inclusion in the database.
The bill would also direct the EDA to undertake certain activities that will maximize the amount of federal funding awarded to institutions of higher education, while also requiring each institution individually to assess the abilities of its staff to write and prepare grant proposals in order to improve the institution’s potential eligibility for federal funding.
See this week’s print edition of The Sun for more details.
