New Jersey kicks off United Kingdom economic mission

Matthew Fazelpoor, NJBIZ   |   November 08, 2024

A delegation led by Gov. Phil Murphy is on the ground in the United Kingdom for an economic mission that was organized by Choose New Jersey.

Officials say the aim of the trip is to strengthen economic relations between the state and the United Kingdom – with a focus on life sciences, financial services, AI, media and clean energy.

The trip runs from Nov. 7-12 – and includes a number of leaders, officials, stakeholders from public and private sector to shine a light on the relationship between the Garden State and the U.K. In fact, the U.K. is New Jersey’s fifth-largest export market and sixth-largest trading partner – yielding more than $9.5 billion in two-way trade in goods.

Touting NJ’s AI Initiatives

The delegation spent Thursday in London – with Murphy participating in a keynote interview during the Future of AI Summit, which was hosted by the Financial Times. During that discussion, Murphy highlighted the state’s aggressive efforts in this space.

“We think we have a big generative AI opportunity. We start in a very good place,” Murphy told Financial Times Technology News Editor Murad Ahmed. “For instance, we’ve already announced a big, joint venture with Princeton University. Princeton is one of the premier universities, if not the premier university in the world. But particularly, in the STEM fields – engineering, plasma physics. The fact that the State of New Jersey is in business with Princeton University is a statement – a volitional, intentional statement – that we mean business.”

“We’re also a very international, very accessible state. That matters to a lot of multi-nationals, a lot of startups. They are in New Jersey or they’re considering New Jersey because we are welcoming. We’ve got the talent – we’ve got the location. We’ve got a mindset that is global. We call ourselves ‘The World’s State’ – and there’s a lot of evidence to back that up,” said Murphy.

The delegation, including Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy, participated in a roundtable discussion with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati LLP, a premier legal advisor to technology, life sciences, and other worldwide growth enterprises. During that discussion, the governor presented the case for doing business in the Garden State – especially in Biotech, MedTech, and HealthTech – citing New Jersey’s strategic location, world-class infrastructure, and highly-skilled talent pool.

Read the article here.

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