Choose CEO Mathews on economic mission trip to UK – and potential trips to Middle East, Latin America

The United Kingdom became the 10th destination for a Choose New Jersey-sponsored economic mission trip under Gov. Phil Murphy.

They never get old — and no two places are the same.

So said, Choose New Jersey CEO Wes Mathews at the end of the five-day trip to the United Kingdom (stops London and Cambridge). The delegation returns home Tuesday.

“This trip was extremely eye opening for our delegation,” Mathews said. “We knew that the UK and New Jersey have a lot of similar economic strengths and sectors of focus — and we know that our values align very well not just with the UK, but with most of Western Europe.

“I think what surprised us, though, was the breath of the startup community and the innovative industries, both in London and Cambridge. I know the governor’s eyes were quite open by this visit.

“For us, it just makes more sense to focus or refocus some of our efforts, from our Western European presence to the UK.”

This, of course, begs the question: Where to next?

Murphy, who has just over one year left in office, may make two more trips, Mathews said.

“If you look at if you look at our international partners, where we think our economy is headed and where other countries around the globe are looking to deploy their capital in North America, two spots come to mind: The Middle East and Latin America.”

Mathews broke down both spots.

“In the Middle East, you have incredible wealth and incredible burgeoning innovation ecosystems,” he said. “If you look at what’s happening in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and some of the smaller countries, like Bahrain and Oman — and, of course, Israel, I think there’s incredible opportunity there.

“We’ve been to Israel, but we haven’t been to some of the Gulf Arab states. And I think that’s a possible trip for us.”

As for Latin America.

“The entire area is a huge, important economic partner,” he said. “If you collect Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Panama and a few others, there’s an incredible opportunity there for us. If you just look at the cultural and ethnic linkages that New Jersey has with Latin America, I think it’s an obvious choice for a future trip.”

Mathews said the groundwork for the trip already has been laid.

“We have been going to both areas over the last few years at a staff level,” he said. “We’ve been starting to engage the countries in both regions. If I were to place a bet, you couldn’t go wrong with either region, if not both.”

So far, Murphy has traveled to the UK, Ireland, Germany, Israel, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Canada.

Mathews said each location and each region brings unique opportunities for the state — and the delegation of business and higher education leaders.

“Every country has their relative strengths — and is in different stages of development of their economy,” he said.

Then there’s the existing relationships — which also can differ.

“When we went to India, it’s was the first visit for a lot of our delegation, so it was an eye-opening experience to see the breadth, the scale, the scope of something like India.

“When we go to places like the UK and Germany, it’s a chance to reintroduce New Jersey. Almost everybody in the world has heard of Jersey, but what they don’t know is what’s changed over these last five to seven years — how we have doubled down on our innovation economy status, the money that the government’s putting toward funding enterprise and the way we have continued to tether all of our university and higher ed networks to the real economy.”

That’s what makes each trip unique.

“You learn something new every time,” Mathews said.

Read the article here.