October 2019
How will innovation shape the future of business in New Jersey? Our economic success story here wouldn’t be possible without thinking outside of the box, and Ernst & Young LLP (EY) has been a part of that growth for many years.
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Innovation starts with our people. To leverage New Jersey’s diverse talent pool, we heavily recruit at local universities and invest in New Jersey’s future innovators long before they formally enter the workplace via our Ernst & Young and You (EYU) learning framework. On New Jersey college and high school campuses, EYU offers practical learning opportunities and hands-on coaching for students.
At the community level, our executives serve on numerous non-profit boards and we have an annual day of service—EY Connect Day. On EY Connect Day, we encourage all employees across the Americas to volunteer at local nonprofits, with a focus on activities that support educating the next generation, teaching entrepreneurial skills and advancing environmental sustainability. This year in New Jersey alone, 1,400 of our people participated in 50 activities totaling 6,000 hours.
Additionally, we teamed with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) to prepare student teams to participate in the NFTE World Series of Innovation Challenge. Activities included brainstorming and developing business ideas and analyzing potential target markets for a 30-second commercial pitch. NFTE was just one of the dozens of local organizations we support each year.
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Innovation industry
We’re also helping New Jersey businesses innovate to stay competitive. We do this by weaving emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, into our solutions. Two examples are EY Document Intelligence and EY Voice.
EY Document Intelligence uses natural language processing to read and interpret contracts, which usually is a very time-consuming and inefficient process. Artificial Intelligence is reducing the time it takes to review documents by 60% to 80% and increases accuracy. EY Voice uses speech recognition to help improve customer service and compliance management for call interactions and recordings from 40% to 90%. Ultimately, these technology solutions help businesses run smarter and more efficiently.
Using blockchain, another emerging technology, we transform outdated supply chain models, which is a critical element of the consumer products and retail (CPR) sector. Our innovation in CPR also includes FutureConsumer.Now, a framework identifying drivers and testing assumptions about the future of retail and what consumers will value.
Innovative programs for New Jersey’s future—and the world’s
Entrepreneurs embody the true spirit of innovation, and we have been supporting them at the regional, national and global level for over three decades.
The Entrepreneur Of The Year® program has expanded to more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries, recognizing those who inspire others with their vision, leadership, and achievement. These game-changers are tomorrow’s global leaders, and their innovative ideas have far-reaching benefits that improve the quality of life in their communities and around the world. At the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards gala, New Jersey had a national winner and another national finalist from the 11 national categories.
Now in its 11th year, our EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ program also underscores our commitment to innovation by identifying up-and-coming women entrepreneurs and providing resources to fuel their success and help their companies flourish.
And while supporting today’s entrepreneurs, we will continue to champion innovation in New Jersey in the years to come. As many have said, the best way to predict the future is to create it.
