CSIT Awards Startups $3.9 Million; Nynens Steps Down From NJII/NJIT; I-Corps And HAX Innovate Together
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CSIT Startup Grants Awarded
- The New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation, and Technology (CSIT) awarded a combined $3.9 million in grants to 45 startups statewide.
- The grants came through the Catalyst Seed Research and Development (R&D) Grant and Clean Tech Seed Grant programs.
- “Cultivating companies within our state during their formative years helps us to promote financial growth, sustainability, and economic mobility for years to come,” said CSIT executive director Judith Sheft.
- See our article below.
Simon Nynens Leaves NJII/NJIT After Successful Tenure
- Simon Nynens, CEO of the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) and vice president and chief commercial officer at NJIT has left those institutions.
- Nynens, who is a familiar face in the NJ tech ecosystem, revitalized the NJIT Enterprise Development Center, now called NJIT@VentureLink, led the reorganization of NJII and led the sale of BioCentriq for $73 million.
- He also was instrumental in forging partnerships with McKinsey to launch the Digital Capability Center and with Merck to create the Digital Sciences Studio program.
I-Corps And HAX “Innovating Together”
- At a meeting called “Innovating together: I-Corps Northeast Region & HAX,” representatives from both institutions talked about what they are doing to commercialize university science.
- The I-Corps Northeast Hub runs programs six times a year.
- The program offers innovators and entrepreneurs training in four intense sessions.
- Participants receive a $3,000 reimbursement for customer discovery and mentorship.
- HAX is already in operation in Newark at a temporary location.
- The venture capital firm, part of SOSV (Princeton), specializes in accelerating companies dealing with “hard tech” problems.
- Think 10 to 15 years in the future about things that we haven’t seen that involve physical hardware, Susan Schofer, chief science officer said.
- Those are the type of technologies that the startups that come into HAX are typically building and looking to put out and commercialize, she said.
