Even though U.S. News and World Report routinely ranks my program at Seton Hall as one of the top 20 schools for nonprofit management in the country, I am normally not a big fan of rankings.  Part of the reason is New Jersey always seems to be misunderstood in the various state level rankings.  Recently, New Jersey was ranked as the 18th best state in the country in terms of fighting corruption.  However, the ranking is based on laws on the books and not whether not politicians are good at getting around the laws.  I bet we would be #1 at that.   

Even so (as the sly mention of my program’s ranking shows) rankings are useful to those who do well on them.  Recently, the Center for Data Innovation (CDI), a Washington, D.C. based think tank, ranked the best states for Data Innovation.  You can see the report at https://www.smartresilient.com/center-data-innovation-best-states-data-innovation  

New Jersey came in 23rd.  While this is not too shabby, there are some fairly easy things we might do to improve the access to data, technology capacity to use data and business frameworks necessary to take advantage of the so-called “Open Data Revolution.”  How we do in the ranking ultimately doesn’t really matter.  However, according to the report the McKinsey Global Institute estimates “open data” could create $3 to $5 trillion dollars per year in additional value to virtually all parts of the economy.  That means New Jersey ought to jumping into the open and big data games with both feet.   

The CDI report looked at 25 different indicators for “encouraging and enabling data-driven innovation” across three primary categories. Within each of these three categories, New Jersey has room for improvement. The three categories are. 

• Ensuring Data Availability: For example, how easy is it for people to get access to data in the state?;  
• Enabling key technology platforms: For example, how the states are adopting things like smart energy meters and electronic health records? 
• Developing Human and Business Capital around “Data” For example, how many open-data companies are setting up shop in each state?   

Ensuring Data is available to use.  

Overall, New Jersey came in 29th on this category.  One of the indicators in this category is whether the state has something called an Anti-SLAPP law.  New Jersey does not have one and we should.  SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.  These are harassment lawsuits. They are designed to stop members of the public and journalists from posting negative data or reviews about a business, government services or even an elected official.  The goal of these lawsuits is not to “win” them.  Instead, the goal is to make the citizen or journalist spend time and money defending themselves.  That is, of course, time and money they can’t spend publishing data and information that helps inform the general public.  Anti-SLAPP legislation works by making it easier for victims to counter-sue for damages. The New Jersey Assembly actually passed an Anti-SLAPP law (A603) in March but its Senate companion (S3340) remains in the Senate Judiciary committee.  It should be pushed out of committee, passed and sent to the Governor. 

Enabling Key Technology Platforms 

Of the three big categories, this is New Jersey’s worst.  We came in 37th overall. There are two big reasons we did so poorly.  Interestingly, both have to do with inaction on the part of big business and politicians alike.   

The first reason New Jersey did so badly is that we ranked dead last in terms of citizen access to electronic health records.  According to the study, just 75% of New Jersey’s hospitals and 62% of physician offices had even the most basic capacity to use electronic health records.  The top state in the country was Massachusetts, which had corresponding figures of 93% for hospitals and 90% for physicians’ offices. Clearly, we have a ways to go.  One potential road for improvement could be the opioid crisis. Many public health professional argue that electronically tracking the use and abuse of prescriptions is as a central part in fighting the epidemic.  Herb Conway and Nancy Pinkin in the Assembly have a bill (A3831) which is focused on the connection between electronic health records and prescriptions.  President Trump might not be listening to Governor Christie as his opioid czar, but hopefully that won’t prevent the Governor from pushing for better use of electronic health records during the next year.  

A second reason for New Jersey’s low ranking is that we came in 47th in the percentage of energy efficient smart meters.  According to the report, only 0.9% of the household energy meters in New Jersey have the capacity to communicate with the power grid, to identify inefficiencies in the system and dynamically alter prices.  In contrast, 90.9% of all household meters in the state of Maine have this so-called “smart” technology.  The arguments against smart meters generally are they cost too much (say utilities) or they invade personal space (anti-government folks).  Even if both are true, there seems to lots of room for improvement. Surely, we can do better than Mississippi on this.  They are at 31%.       

Building Human and Business capital around “data” 

This was our best category.  New Jersey ranked 9th nationally in our ability and interest in attracting innovative data-driven firms to the state. Part of this high ranking is built on the strength of our public schools system.  New Jersey was second in the country in terms of the number of high school kids taking computer science and statistics AP tests.  New Jersey also was in the top 10 states in terms of jobs in software service and more broadly data science. We were also in the top ten in terms of the number Open 500 companies we have.  An Open 500 company is one that use government open data as a significant part of their business model.   

The two indicators in this category that New Jersey was not at the top were the number of STEM degrees awarded by colleges and universities and a measurement of how strong and prevalent the “open data community” is in the state.   

Luckily, there is a relatively new organization in New Jersey called the New Jersey Big Data Alliance or NJBDA.  Check out their web site at http://njbda.weebly.com/   This is a consortium of several New Jersey Universities that is looking at these issues head on.  The NJBDA hold an annual symposium on big data and open data.  It is setting up committees and task forces designed to build on the strength New Jersey has in “Big Data” but also how some of the deficiencies identified in the data innovation rankings might be addressed.    

So what about this…. 

It is clear that New Jersey has a lot of good things going for it when it comes to developing and using big data and open data.  It is also clear that we could be doing more in this area.  One of the things mentioned in the ranking report as being a key to success is developing a state-wide policy and plan for using and sharing data.  Having a statewide plan and initiative is not something New Jersey normally does well. However perhaps the next Governor can set the tone and a high bar by declaring that New Jersey can and should be the national leader in Data Innovation and not just a bit above average.