Today NJIT has risen as one of the leading research institutions in the U.S., joining the Nation’s Top 100 Universities according to the U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 College Rankings.
That rise has come alongside Newark’s modern renaissance as one of the most dynamic emerging tech hubs on the East Coast — Panasonic, Amazon’s Audible, PSEG, Prudential and Verizon are among the industry giants that now reside in the Brick City, which boasts a growing workforce with more than 53,000 tech jobs (CBRE’s annual Scoring Tech Talent Report) and one of the fastest data infrastructures in the world.
Creating more than $2.8 billion of economic value for the state of New Jersey and $635 million of annual output to Newark’s economy each year, NJIT has been at the heart of the talent pipeline fueling the region’s burgeoning tech landscape — more than 520 companies visit campus yearly to recruit NJIT students, who now average starting salaries over $64,000 annually.
NJIT ranks No. 1 nationally by Forbes for the upward economic mobility of its lowest-income students, and 53rd out of more than 4,000 colleges and universities for the mid career earnings of graduates, according to PayScale.com.
From within its 45-acre campus grounds at the center of the Newark’s vibrant University Heights district, NJIT’s growing research enterprise has helped drive its contributions as a STEM talent creator for both city and state. NJIT’s yearly research expenditure now tops $170 million across all fields, from life sciences and engineering to data science and information technology, supporting more than $2.3 million in undergraduate research funding since 2015.
NJIT was elevated in 2019 to an “R1” institution by the Carnegie Classification® of Institutions of Higher Education, the highest possible ranking held by just 131 of the top research institutions in the U.S.
Over the past decade, more than $400 million has been invested in campus development to support interdisciplinary applied research at NJIT’s research centers and labs, including the university’s state-of-the-art 10,000 square-foot Makerspace — a rapid prototyping and manufacturing workspace where entrepreneurial collaboration has thrived since the facility’s 2017 opening to support students, faculty and New Jersey businesses in fields of design and production.
NJIT’s campus is home to New Jersey’s oldest and largest technology business incubator, with more than 90 companies in residence.
Spurring commercialization and entrepreneurship among NJIT’s diverse technology and research community are VentureLink, the state’s largest high-growth startup incubator that has grown to house more than 60 technology companies in residence since launching in 2017, as well as the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), an NJIT corporation formed in 2014 that now generates more than $65 million in contract work annually by applying the intellectual and technological resources of the university to challenges identified by industry partners around the world.
Here, you’ll read about NJIT’s dynamic research and industry engagement that is creating meaningful societal impact: from the successes of New Jersey tech startups blossoming at VentureLink’s 110,000 square-foot campus headquarters, to student-led product innovations and entrepreneurial ventures at NJIT’s Makerspace, to NJII’s work to solve critical global challenges in sectors ranging from healthcare delivery systems and bio-pharmaceutical production to defense and homeland security.
We invite you to discover the latest in NJIT’s continued story as New Jersey’s public polytechnic research university — improving quality of life through technological discovery, and sparking innovation for more than 135 years.
