NJIT Aims to Be an Innovation Nexus

On Apr 8, 2024

New Jersey Institute of Technology aims to be a nexus of innovation that embraces new tech, commercializes groundbreaking research, leverages its diversity and tackles global environmental and socioeconomic challenges under a new strategic plan that extends through 2030.

The plan, NJIT Makes An Innovation Nexus, identifies six priorities, spells out the university’s mission to be a leader in research, innovation and entrepreneurship, and reaffirms its core values, including collaboration, social responsibility, diversity and sustainability.

The priorities define student and faculty success, and set goals in digital transformation, external engagement, investment and the realm of research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Under the priority Learner Advancement and Success, for example, the university will make experiential learning a hallmark by ensuring that every student has at least one high-impact real world experience. At the same time, NJIT will focus on creating a holistic campus environment and helping graduates realize their career goals.

“Innovation is at the core of what we do,” NJIT President Teik C. Lim said. “We’re part of an interconnected system that can advance humanity and students here can change lives, including their own, and learn to be highly adaptive as they land jobs that reward them financially and emotionally.”

NJIT Provost John Pelesko added that “providing our students with the opportunity to participate in internships, co-op programs, study abroad experiences, research and service-learning helps them gain hands-on experiences that enable them to grow and fuel the economy of New Jersey, the region and the nation.”

In its Faculty Success priority, NJIT pledges to attract and retain world-class faculty, leverage diversity, increase recognition for translating and commercializing research and more tightly weave lecturers and adjunct professors into its community.

Also, through internal and external collaboration and investments in infrastructure, NJIT plans to leverage its status as a highest-level R1 research institution and catalyze commercialization. This priority, Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, draws from NJIT’s entrepreneurial culture, which drives innovations through scores of specialized centers, institutes and laboratories.

Another priority, Engaged Community, calls for fostering a dynamic ecosystem locally, regionally and globally that nurtures learning, research, creativity and technological advancements to serve the students of the future.

In this context, NJIT aspires to be an innovation nexus that leverages its academic colleges and its expertise in translational research, artificial intelligence, continuing education, entrepreneurship and experiential learning. Another key player here is the New Jersey Innovation Institute, an NJIT corporation that turns great ideas into new businesses.

“In this role, NJIT will bring together industries, government agencies, alumni, faculty, staff and students to foster innovations that address societal challenges,” Lim said.

The Digital Transformation priority builds on the university’s acceleration of such efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it ignited a previously developed Converged Learning Model that blurs the line between online and in-person learning. Under the new plan, NJIT looks to become a boundless and smart campus that integrates the latest in tech, including AI, across all of its operations.

Similarly, the public polytechnic’s Fiscal Excellence and Resource Stewardship priority cuts across all colleges, departments, centers and offices, as the university seeks new sources of revenue, maximizes existing ones and improves fiscal management.

The 2030 strategic plan, developed across 16 months by a steering committee and subcommittees of educators, administrators, students, deans, staff and board members, was endorsed by the Board of Trustees this month and succeeds the previous 2025 plan, Building on a Strong Foundation.

“What sets NJIT apart is the university’s drive to innovate. This has been our core strength for decades. And, our strategic plan has us continuing to build upon this in amazing ways well into the future,” Board of Trustees Chair Robert Cohen said. “We want to make sure we put our money toward building the pillars — this family of strategies part of the innovation nexus.”

For a deep dive on the entire plan, please go here: https://www.njit.edu/strategicplan/.

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