Writer: Sara Suarez
2 min read August 2021 — New Jersey’s economic institutions are collaborating to provide additional monetary help to local startups that focus on clean technology. The most recent grant of almost $750,000 by the Commission on Science, Innovation, and Technology (CSIT) seeks to boost clean technology ventures.
The money awarded through the Clean Tech Seed Grant Program provides 10 New Jersey startups with $75,000 each to advance projects focused on avoiding, recapturing or cleaning greenhouse gases and other pollutants from the environment and developing more efficient ways to generate energy, process waste, protect land and water, and even build sustainable buildings.
The CSIT initiative was developed in coordination with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) as part of their Strategic Industry Support Program. The portfolio offers 15 financial assistance programs to incentivize companies, investors, universities and workers to choose New Jersey for their headquarters, invest in New Jersey-based companies or participate in challenges to innovate and create new technologies in New Jersey.
“New Jersey’s innovation ecosystem stands at the forefront of the global transformation toward a clean energy future,” CSIT Chairman Gunjan Doshi told ROI-NJ. “Critical funding provided through the Clean Tech Seed Grant Program will help propel the projects created by these 10 startups toward commercialization and into the hands of consumers within the worldwide clean technology marketplace.”
The 10 awarded companies, most of which are still in the early stages of their projects, will benefit significantly from the award to continue their work, attract further investors, and start generating revenue for themselves and for the state of New Jersey, which is the ultimate goal of the portfolio.
The project will also help propel Gov. Phil Murphy’s goal of having 100% clean energy by 2050. “NJBPU is proud to support the Clean Tech Seed Grant Program and to fund early-stage companies that are developing vital technologies. Startups within our innovation economy play a key part in creating clean technologies that will enable us to reach the governor’s goal of 100%clean energy by 2050,” said NJBPU President Joseph Fiordaliso in a press release.
Murphy’s goal of achieving 100% clean energy by 2050 is an $80 million annual investment. The money seeks to fund tech ventures that want to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and boost projects that provide clean energy while simultaneously creating jobs, protecting the livelihood of New Jersians living in environmental justice communities, and increasing coastal cities’ resilience. “In the same way focusing on fairness makes New Jersey’s economy stronger, protecting our environment can be a path to increased economic growth. Clean energy and sustainability will be vital as engines powering New Jersey’s recovery from the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19,” said NJEDA CEO Tim Sullivan in a press release.
This economic package comes at a crucial time for New Jersey, a state that in 2020 was ranked among the worst 25 states in terms of air pollution, according to a 2020 State of the Air report. New Jersey is among the 11 Northeast states that form part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, whose goal is to cap greenhouse emissions and invest in green economic activities. For New Jersey officials, the plan involves more than environmental economics; these initiatives also have to consider benefiting some of the communities that have been historically and disproportionately affected negatively by pollution in New Jersey.
“This plan will put significant resources toward electrifying transportation, especially for low- to moderate-income residents, an area where we can make the broadest, fastest progress on cutting air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. With the RGGI Strategic Funding Plan, we will continue to take measurable steps to remediate past environmental inequities and ensure all New Jersey residents can participate in and benefit from New Jersey’s transition to a clean energy future,” said Fiordaliso.
