We are in a moment of incredible and extreme change. Technology is changing at
breakneck speed — changing how we work and the kinds of jobs we do. This change is
coinciding with an affordability crisis, a crisis in providing care for our youngest and
oldest, and a crisis of trust in our institutions, our politics, and in each other. As we face
this inflection point, it would be easy to sit back and let this moment of change shape
our future.
But that’s not what New Jersey does. I’ve traveled around our state and met with people
who will define what that future looks like — business leaders, scientists, engineers and
working families who making our communities thrive. Despite their different roles, they
all want the same thing: a state that invests in its potential.
To do that, we must build what I call an Einstein Corridor across our state. The Einstein
Corridor is a new strategic and interconnected ecosystem of all levels of government,
academia, businesses, venture capital and finance, and other sectors to attract
investment, foster innovation, and create opportunities. It’s one that recognizes the
assets we have in New Jersey and provides incredible opportunities to maximize our
own potential and a blueprint for New Jersey’s future.
I know we can build this corridor across our state, because we’ve done so before. New
Jersey has been the place where the steamboat, the lightbulb, lifesaving medicines,
technological advancements that revolutionized communication, and countless other
innovations that have changed life were invented. It was the place where Edison and
Einstein inspired; a place where we can inspire a new generation of leaders by
supercharging investments so that when people think about the future, they see New
Jersey as the place to build it.
I recently traveled to South Korea and Japan and met with business and government
leaders. Our job isn’t just to inspire them to invest in New Jersey, but to tackle the
challenges that often get in our way. I heard from them that they’re looking for federal
partners to work with state and local partners to create the kinds of conditions where
they can confidently invest money and jobs. I know that creating this ecosystem can be
difficult. Individually, Congress has become an increasingly unreliable partner, and we are in the middle of a government transition at the state and local level. But this is why
strategic coordination is so important; we can’t move forward effectively if we don’t do it
together.
If we work together to build a strong strategic and interconnected ecosystem, we can
build upon the strengths that I see in our state. New Jersey is a recognized leader in
photonics, a field essential for everything from AI to national security. I’ve just spoken at
an AI and data symposium at Rutgers, where some of the best research in the country
is being done. We have incredible companies and academic institutions doing truly
game-changing work on quantum computing and research and development into
lifesaving drugs. We can build the next generation of American ships at shipyards in
South Jersey and leverage the federal assets like Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst to
put New Jersey on the forefront of America’s cybersecurity.
As important as these technologies are to our future, the most important asset that we
have is our own people. The Einstein Corridor isn’t just about attracting investment from
governments and corporations, it’s about making New Jersey a better state for our own
families to invest in, just like my parents — Korean immigrants who moved to New
Jersey to give my sister and I a better life. We should build a future where everyone
from ambitious college graduates hungry to jumpstart a career to professionals seeking
to build a family decide that New Jersey is where they want to be, where they want to
invest, invent, and innovate.
Moments of change can be scary, but they can also be full of opportunity. This is our
moment to seize that opportunity to deliver a better future. But we can only do that if we
work smarter, together; by building an Einstein Corridor for the state that makes so the
world takes.
Andy Kim (D) represents the state of the New Jersey in the United States Senate.
