This July Dan Conley will once again be running his "dead of summer" Real Entrepreneurs boot camp. If you and your team are getting ready to hit the fund raising circut this fall you owe it to yourself to attend. Is your financial plan in order, your marketing plan, your distribution plan, your business plan? Is your team ready? Make your presentation to a team of experienced venture evaluators and find out. Click "Boot Camp" on the left menu for details.
The June meeting of the New Jersey Entrepreneurial Network was help jointly with the Princeton Chamber of Commerce and was devoted to Einstein's Alley, the latest appellation applied to the booming Route 1 corridor located between Piscataway and Lawrenceville, NJ. Home to both Princeton and Rutgers Universities, Einstein's alley occupies about 5% of New Jersey's land but is home to 50% of the state's high technology. Three speakers discussed the past, present, and future of Einstein's Alley:
Richard Woodbridge kicked off the meeting by briefly discussing the history of Einstein's Alley. The early recognition of the importance of the Route 1 corridor began in 1989, when the name Silicon Alley was coined. Efforts to attract and support high technology business were initiated which continue to this day. The Princeton Area Chamber of Commerce, local governments, and state government are working to make the area attractive to high technology businesses. Three main goals are currently being pursued:
Kristin Appelget discussed the current status of government initiatives to recognize and promote Einstein's Alley. Currently the New Jersey is considering Innovation Zone legislation (Assembly bill A-3770). Innovation zones in Newark, Camden, and New Brunswick associated with public universities were established by former Governor McGreevy via executive order. The proposed legislation would expand the New Brunswick zone down Route 1 to Princeton and also would remove the requirement for collaboration with a public university, fostering work with Princeton University. People interested in moving the legislation forward should contact Kristin at the Princeton Area Chamber of Commerce.
The final speaker of the day, Maria Klawe, discussed the role of the Princeton University School of Engineering and how Princeton is reaching out to the larger community to foster high technology growth. The engineering program at Princeton University is one hundred years old, and is currently one of the top 20 programs in the country. While the program is relatively small in size, with about 120 faculty and undergraduate and graduate populations comparable in size to Cal Tech, the program is successful in attracting funding and a high proportion of the faculty are members of the National Academy of Engineering. The vision for the future is to set a new standard for engineering education and research, to educate leaders, instill teaching and research with an interdisciplinary perspective, and to address technology issues in their full societal context. As the program moves into the future key elements of the vision include interacting with industry, educating entrepreneurs, and helping the university to become the core of a high technology hub.