The untimely demise of the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology means that there is no longer an official “approval” for science and technology incubators in New Jersey. Nor is there — this year at least — any state funding. New Jersey’s 14 incubators, members of NJBIN, have been left to fend for themselves, and this includes the Sustainable Business Incubator launched by the Institute for Sustainable Enterprise at Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2007.

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.

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In collaboration with the Institute for Sustainable Enterprise at Fairleigh Dickinson University, we have recently contributed to a new public policy initiative, to develop a sustainable growth strategy for New Jersey (many parts of which apply equally well elsewhere).

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.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been discussing the reorganization of the Incubator program, under the independent nonprofit Center for Leadership in Sustainability. Though still affiliated with the Institute for Sustainable Enterprise at Fairleigh Dickinson University, this gives us greater freedom and flexibility to acquire and serve clients, to develop new businesses, and to integrate all of our sustainable business initiatives is a meaningful way.

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

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Fairleigh Dickinson University and Citi Foundation Partner with Woodbridge Township to Develop Green Technology Park & Incubator

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…

Victoria Zelin often finds herself at the leading edge of change, helping individuals and organizations make a paradigm shift. No surprise that she has been researching, writing, speaking and consulting around the “Greening” of Corporate America. She has provided solutions in many areas of human capital management to clients like Novartis, Chubb, Schindler Elevator and McGraw-Hill. She has an MBA from the Yale School of Management and co-founded the Sustainable Leadership Forum.

Amy is the Chief Research Officer and Co-Founder of Earthsense, an applied marketing and research company formed in 2007 that is responsible for Eco-Insights, the largest consumer survey of its kind providing in-depth insights into consumers’ “green” attitudes and behaviors; she is also the creator of the Green Confidence Index in collaboration with Greenbiz.com and SSI. She is the former head of Consumer Market Research at AT&T; is PRC-certified by the Market Research Association; has a BA from Ithaca College (philosophy) and a PhD from Columbia University (psychology). She lives in Maplewood, NJ with her Cornell graduate and LEED-accredited architect husband, Jim McRobert.

Chuck Slotkin is the founder and Managing Director of Nature’s Equity LLC, an investment banking firm focusing on the natural products industry.

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 is Founder and Principal Advisor of CompasScale LLC.

CompasScale is a management consultancy whose focus is building organizational capacity and capabilities for early-stage and emerging companies through the strategic design and implementation of technology and human capital infrastructure. CompasScale also provides retained and pro bono advisory services to for-profit and non-profit organizations on entrepreneurial development, business acceleration, and venture catalyst programs.

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, 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.

Matt Polsky, Research Fellow of the Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, Fairleigh Dickinson University

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.

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