Begun in the anticipation that it would eventually lead to a source of independent revenue for the Institute itself, it barely brought in enough to keep itself afloat, but not enough to truly help its handful of clients; and eventually it consumed much of the Institute’s initial capital. Compounding these funding issues were several organizational challenges, which led to the management responsibility for the incubator being spun off this year to an independent nonprofit, the Center for Leadership in Sustainability, while retaining an academic partnership with the Institute and the University.

In this new arrangement, the SBI can enter into agreements with other institutions, sign new clients, seek independent funding, and create new initiatives on its own. The green economy is an open field of opportunity, and is indeed growing rapidly in some fields, such as solar PV and wind. What’s needed is an explosion of innovation, of appropriate technologies, and of awareness of the interdependence of ecological, social, and economic systems. Our goal is both to foster and to ride this wave, and help guide a new generation of entrepreneurs to sustainable success.

Incubators are essentially hothouses for startups and new ideas, and the SBI’s goal is to foster a portfolio of green and sustainable initiatives that are environmentally regenerative, socially responsible, and financially profitable. Some of these initiatives may look like information-era startups (some of them, like FADRS™, actually are software solutions, e.g., for managing energy systems), but others may reflect the demands for a new kind of organization to meet the challenges of a new era. One of these is CALL, a NJ nonprofit dedicated to community clean energy solutions, using NJ’s 2003 Government Energy Aggregation Act, that allows municipalities to contract for the provision of energy for all of its households (and many of its businesses), and create programs to save residents money and improve the community’s energy production and utilization.

The advantages that incubators provide are numerous and significant. By bringing startups together, there are opportunities to engage investors, advisers, research and manufacturing facilities, and strategic partners in specific industries and sectors. There are also shared metrics, processes, and assessment exercises that provide better tools for business success. And finally there are synergies amongst the member businesses themselves. Taken together, these add up to an 87% better chance of getting financed and of still being in business after five years of operation.

Indeed, the shortest path to creating more jobs and spurring innovation and economic growth is to invest in the kind of support that incubators can provide. The federal stimulus package put the cost of creating a new job at $200,000. Documented results from established incubator programs show a cost of between $5,000 and $25,000 to create a new, permanent (if this means anything), high-quality private sector job. At some point the new state administration will need to turn its attention to starting a new phase of economic growth. Only that growth needs to be guided into more sustainable paths.

As those of us at the Institute have argued in a recent policy discussion paper, there is a growth path that is possible for New Jersey (and indeed for other states), but it is only through a different lens that we can see this. Indeed, we think it is the only plausible growth path that any state or nation can realistically consider, given the increasingly evident circumstances brought on by global warming, by the mass extinction of species, and the harm we are doing to each other through conflict, oppression, and exploitation. As Jim Kunstler has so clearly and passionately pointed out, we’re not going back to earlier models of growth, endlessly expanding suburbs and shopping malls; now we have to think about livable small cities, energy self-sufficiency, and sustainable agriculture.

At the same time, within this new frontier, opportunity is expanding. It’s not the Internet boom, because it requires longer horizons, and more — and more patient — capital; but it is nonetheless a boom in the making. When GE can grow Ecomagination from a $5 billion to a $20 billion business in less than half a dozen years, this is a sector that is moving rapidly and massively into the mainstream. And the Ecomagination Challenge — which is a $200 million investment, in which GEO is partnering with four VC firms — is both a stimulus and a response to what is rapidly becoming an unstoppable demand: that our production and consumption system be compatible with nature, and serve to regenerate and to protect it; that our businesses actually serve to create “the better good for the greater number”; and that our communities be increasingly resilient and self-sufficient.

The work of the Incubator, and of the Center of which it is now a part, is all about serving this larger vision, and yet doing so in very practical ways. We are looking to create a “virtual laboratory,” made up of the underutilized instruments and research facilities at NJ’s major colleges and universities, where we can both serve new startups and begin to investigate promising biomaterials. Leading this area is Bob Dombrowski, a materials scientist and nanotechnologist, who has become Chief Science and Technology Advisor to the SBI. His intention is to build a Sustainable Materials Lab that enhances the Incubator and supports its clients.

Many of the ideas for the new SBI have come from Chris Kogler, who has rapidly become a full co-director of the Incubator. With a background in creative management, Chris has approached the Incubator’s reinvention as a unique opportunity, to support “intrapreneurial” as well as “entrepreneurial” endeavors.

In a sense, our first new client, Rey Montalvo of Consolidated Energy Design, is an “intraprise,” in that he developed it inside an existing business. Still, he recognized the value of having an incubator as a partner when launching a new product — indeed, his first original, proprietary product — into an emerging market called the “smart grid.” His product, FADRS™, is the first to offer a fully automated demand response and demand reduction program, using artificial intelligence algorithms to manage buildings and complexes, sitting on top of existing building automation systems and communicating in real time with the grid.

More importantly, Chris sees the Incubator as a “factor 10″ accelerator, capable of producing “revolutionary leaps in design and technology (i.e., a decrease in energy use and material flows by a factor of 10 and an increase in resource productivity/efficiency by a factor of 10).”

Download a copy of the paper here: NJSustainableEconomicStrategy23Aug2010b. If you have any comments, or want to to reference this in your own work, please email jcloud@sustainablebusinessincubator.com.

In particular, we’re in the process of crafting an agreement with ISE and FDU; enrolling several new clients of the Incubator program; planning the launch of a new business in sustainable biomaterials; and beginning to add people to an incubator working group in order to effectively re-launch the Incubator with new clients for this fall.

This article provides the most current information on:

1. New clients, team members and associates
2. The new organization, and its policies and procedures
3. Notes and priority action items for further review

The current “mind-map” of the Incubator is here: SustainableBusinessIncubatorMindMap31July10.

Tasks:

• Review the mission statement
• Update the Incubator map

Other frameworks:

• Types of organizing structures we support: businesses, nonprofits, worker coops, and collaboratives
• Possible target customer groups: individuals, families, businesses, communities
• Sectors: food, water, transportation, energy, natural resources, communications, manufacturing, services, consumer products, biomaterials, research, waste and wastewater treatment, buildings, urban and suburban design, education, and entertainment
• The Rubic’s cube of sustainability

Woodbridge, NJ (November 9, 2009) — Fairleigh Dickinson University and the Citi Foundation are pleased to partner with Woodbridge Township in its redevelopment of a Brownfield site to create the Pennval Road Green Technology Park. TheGreen Technology Park, which is located on 107 acres in Woodbridge Township, is designed to promote the start-up and production of clean energy technologies, sustainable energy sources, green research and development, and environmental manufacturing and construction. Read more…

Green Technology Park and Business Incubator announced

THURSDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2009 19:32

Mayor John E. McCormac announced today that Fairleigh Dickinson University and the Citi Foundation have partnered with Woodbridge Township to advance the development of the Pennval Road Green Technology Park & Business Incubator.

The Green Technology Park & Business Incubator, located on 107 acres in Woodbridge Township, is designed to promote the start-up and production of clean energy technologies, sustainable energy sources, green research and development, and environmental manufacturing and construction. Read more…

He cultivated his investment banking skills working on Wall Street. In 1990, Chuck developed a strong personal connection with the world of alternative health care. After experiencing the efficacy of a nutritious diet and the benefits of dietary supplements and herbs, he began to develop relationships with entrepreneurs in all sectors of the sustainable food and supplement market – growers, manufacturers, marketers, distributors, and retailers.

Chuck has an undergraduate degree in political science from Colorado College and an MBA from New York University.

Jerry Masin, CompasScale

Masin has over 30 years experience in building global organizations along with technology and human resources disciplines. He has led business-centric staff functions and has specific interest and expertise in the area of blended resource management.

As a small business and venture counselor, Masin actively supports economic development and entrepreneurship through his volunteer work with SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business, the New Jersey Institute of Technology‚s Enterprise Development Center, the Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Einstein’s Alley, and the Rutgers Business School’s Institute for Ethical Leadership.

Patricia A. Boswell

Patricia A. Boswell, creator of Safonique, member of one of WalMart’s Sustainability Committees, and successful manufacturer of consumer products.

She is also the Principal of Business Sustainability Group, LLC, in which she is supported by a network of sustainability associates specialized in energy, waste reduction, materials science, and change management, to assist companies in making the transition to sustainability.

Director of the Land Trust, Passaic River Coalition

Email:innovator3@hotmail.com - http://fdu.edu/ise

Mr. Polsky works on several ISE projects, including the Incubator. He is a sustainability change-agent. He has extensive sustainability and green economy experience, as well as unique cross-sector experience working in government, for environmental groups, business, and as an adjunct professor. He was the Sustainability Team Leader at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, led an interagency sustainability work group, and advised sustainability initiatives. He has taught sustainability courses at Cook College, Kean University, Montclair State University, NJIT, and Ramapo College. He was a marketing manager at AT&T Microelectronics. Currently, he is the Director of the Land Trust, buying and preserving 251 acres of land for the environmental group, the Passaic River Coalition. He volunteers for many environmental and sustainability groups at all scales, ranging from some in his town (Cranford), the State, to internationally, helping NGOs and students in South Africa, Brazil, and Europe.

He focuses on helping groups understand sustainability more deeply, providing multidisciplinary perspectives, facilitating cross-sectoral communication, and introducing unfamiliar sustainability concepts. He has published in The Seton Hall Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, Greenbiz.com, and occasionally writes op-ed pieces for local and state newspapers; makes presentations on aspects of sustainability; and testifies to state agencies.

As a perpetual student, he has a BA in Psychology from Rutgers College, an MBA in Economics and MA in Humanities & Social Thought from NYU, and is pursuing a Certificate from NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. He has taken additional courses with some of the giants of the sustainability field. He was recently named a Finalist as “Green Executive of the Year” by NJBiz Magazine.