34:15D-25 Findings, declarations relative to workforce development funds.

1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. New Jersey, the headquarters of many of the leaders in the field of industrial research and development, has a long, successful history of innovation in the technology field.

b. New Jersey is the birthplace of such varied technology and inventions as: the quadruplex telegraph in 1874; the phonograph in 1877; the "band aid" in 1920; air conditioning in 1921; the first long distance television transmission in 1927; condensed soup in 1939; the first commercial mobile telephone service in 1947; tetracycline in 1952; the solar cell battery in 1954; bubble wrap and the laser in 1957; vaccines to prevent the mumps and the measles in 1963; the UNIX operating system in 1969; and the digital signal processor chip in 1980.

c. Some of the most important inventors and technology companies in the world call New Jersey home. These companies, working in concert with universities, business partners and scientists, are part of the innovation ecosystem that consumers in the State, nation and around the world depend on and need to drive the economy.

d. An innovation ecosystem is an environment in which the persons who have the knowledge, ideas and actions are connected by institutional entities, such as universities, business firms, research institutes, state and local governments, and policy makers, to the materials and capital needed to spur development, inventions and economic growth.

e. It is essential that New Jersey acts to fertilize, maintain and grow an innovation ecosystem that allows technological ideas to flourish in New Jersey, and to expand upon the already rich environment for the development of technology in the State.

f. By directing workforce development funds toward the establishment of technological seed growth in New Jersey, the State will assist in the growth of the type of innovation ecosystem that has created such groundbreaking technology in the past.

g. Legislation is needed to dedicate workforce development funds to create a grants-funded fellowship program to support technology research and innovation throughout the State.

L.2015, c.235, s.1.