Steve Sweeney Details Plan To Improve Higher Education in New Jersey

“As the Trump administration continues to undermine the Department of Education and cut critical school funding to advance political agendas, it’s more important than ever to safeguard access to quality education and better position ourselves for future success. As Governor, I will strengthen our higher-ed institutions and push back against these threats by investing in our universities, county colleges, and trade schools – as well as building strong, private, in-state partnerships – so New Jersey remains the best state in the country to learn, work, and live.”

- Steve Sweeney

Woodbury, NJ - Throughout his career, Steve Sweeney has been a champion of higher education in New Jersey as means of attracting new residents, improving the quality of education for students, and creating thousands of good-paying jobs for New Jerseyans. Now, Steve Sweeney is leading again with his plan to further boost higher education institutions and making research & development a priority, so New Jersey can back-up its standing as one of the best states in the country to receive a quality education and a leader in cutting-edge technology. 

The New Jersey Innovation Commonwealth is a new public venture-capitalism model inspired by Silicon Valley and Israel's technology industry. It aims to fund the commercialization of ideas from New Jersey's scientists and engineers, creating businesses in health, energy, manufacturing, and digital infrastructure. The program ensures the public receives financial returns on investments. Through partnerships with universities, hospitals, private industry, and labor, New Jersey will attract talent, invest in its future, and unlock daily value. 

Modeled after DARPA, ARPA-E, NIH, and In-Q-Tel, the Innovation Commonwealth will serve as an early-stage R&D funder and equity partner in mission-critical technologies. It will support public-good innovation and reinvest proceeds from successful ventures into new challenges. New Jersey will be the launch site and a shareholder, and the fund will be managed by venture capitalists with experience in financing new ventures in health, energy, materials science, and information technology, leveraging the expertise and advantages that exist in the state. 

Under Sweeney’s New Jersey Innovation Commonwealth plan, New Jersey would create a public agency called the NJ Innovation Commonwealth Authority (NJICA). 

• The NJICA would be responsible for combining public funds with capital sourced from New Jersey’s university endowments, pension funds, corporations, and other institutional investors. However, instead of this money flowing to Wall Street tycoons, it will be re-invested back in the state. The fund will invest in seed capital (less than $500k per investment) and commercialization-level capital (typical investment $5-10 million). 

• In addition to standard equity investments in ventures, the Authority will provide grants, SAFE notes, and royalty-bearing support for R&D and commercialization.

• The state would collaborate with Rutgers, Rowan, Princeton, Stevens, NJIT, county colleges, and trade schools.

• The NJICA would also partner with NJ-based companies such as Merck, J&J, BD, RWJ Barnabas, Hackensack Meridian.

The state would require NJ location or benefit for eligibility, including jobs, IP, licensing, or HQ presence, and would enable unions, state pension funds (e.g., NJ PERS), and other institutional investors to co-invest in mission-aligned vehicles.