Assemblyman Michael J. Panter

PANTER: REPORT SHOWS NEED FOR HIGH-TECH EMPHASIS IN FORT MONMOUTH CONVERSION
Stevens Institute Report Highlights Need to Keep Tech Companies in State; Panter Says Plan Would Keep 'Best and Brightest' in New Jersey

(SHREWSBURY) - Citing a 58-page report Stevens Institute of Technology issued this week on the erosion of New Jersey's global telecommunications business sector, Assemblyman Mike Panter today urged the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority (FMERPA) to put greater emphasis on converting a portion of the fort into a telecommunications and high-technology research hub.News from
Assemblyman Panter

For Release:
September 7, 2006

Contact:
Assemblyman Panter
(732) 544-2116
Kerri Danskin
(732) 685 5431

PANTER: REPORT SHOWS NEED FOR HIGH-TECH EMPHASIS IN FORT MONMOUTH CONVERSION
Stevens Institute Report Highlights Need to Keep Tech Companies in State; Panter Says Plan Would Keep 'Best and Brightest' in New Jersey

(SHREWSBURY) - Citing a 58-page report Stevens Institute of Technology issued this week on the erosion of New Jersey's global telecommunications business sector, Assemblyman Mike Panter today urged the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority (FMERPA) to put greater emphasis on converting a portion of the fort into a telecommunications and high-technology research hub.

The Stevens Institute report warns that many New Jersey telecommunications jobs are being absorbed by the state's two largest competitors - California and Texas. It further cautions that unless New Jersey spends $500 million over the next five years in grants and tax breaks for the telecommunications industry, the state will miss out on the next wireless revolution.

"We are all painfully aware that New Jersey's cutting edge has been significantly dulled when it comes to high-tech jobs and research," said Panter (D-Mercer/Monmouth). "Creating a public-private high-technology research and industry nexus in Fort Monmouth just makes sense. The fort is already one of the premier military and commercial communications research centers in the country."

A state study published last year shows that New Jersey has lost 14 percent of its high-tech workforce over the last six years.

Panter noted that a portion of the FMERPA's mission is to focus on ways to not only retain Fort Monmouth's high-tech workforce but to attract new high-tech business and employment opportunities to the area.

According to Panter, one potential way for the FMERPA to accomplish this goal is through a statewide public-private partnership with existing high-tech companies, new high-tech start-up businesses - comprised, in part, of researchers laid-off from bigger companies - and New Jersey's public and private colleges and universities.

Creating such a program could help to retain and attract a high-tech workforce that otherwise might pass over New Jersey in favor of other states; restore New Jersey's standing in high-technology research and industry; save state money that otherwise would have to be used setting up a brand new facility; foster collaboration between businesses and research institutions; and have a long-term positive effect on the state's economy.

Panter's high-tech emphasis complements Governor Jon S. Corzine's newly unveiled strategy for generating economic growth, including public-private partnerships and a concentrated effort to ensure the state remains a leader in technological innovations.

"We should embrace the opportunity to return New Jersey to the forefront of high-tech research and development," said Panter. "To do anything less would squander our chances of unifying high-tech research in our state anytime soon and would likely cement the brain drain we will experience when the fort closes for good."

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