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Research
Drives Development
Virginia
has taken a big step toward one of the first
research goals articulated by Gov. Mark R. Warner.
Will the General Assembly follow?
Though
media and political observers in Richmond will
remain transfixed by the "yeas" and
"nays" of the General Assembly session
for another week, not everything happening in the
Commonwealth waits for House and Senate action.
Gov. Mark R. Warner's announcement February 7 of a
public-private research consortium, for example,
represents a significant step toward realizing one
of the first goals he articulated upon taking
office in 2002.
Twelve
state universities, along with industry partners
and Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology
(CIT), will collaborate in a Virginia Institute
for Defense and Homeland Security (IDHS). The
institute will focus on research, education and
technology transfer in telecommunications,
biodefense, sensor systems and risk management,
areas of need cited by both the Secure Virginia
Initiative Panel in late 2002 and the Virginia
Research and Technology Advisory Commission (VRTAC).
The institute will reside initially at CIT's
headquarters in Herndon.
The
governor aspires for IDHS to unite world-class
centers in Virginia universities to compete better
for complex research initiatives funded by the
federal government and industry. He also hopes
IDHS can co-locate prototyping facilities with
federal agency evaluation locations, and educate
the next generation of federal defense and
security workers. Initial funding goals will
approach $50 million.
That's
a sizeable chunk of change, whether it comes from
competitive peer review programs at the National
Institutes of Health, the National Science
Foundation or the Departments of Defense and
Homeland Security or from Congressional earmarks.
But, more importantly, the IDHS effort grounds
Virginia more seriously in three areas that
translate research into economic development –
focused research, active collaboration between
institutions, and investment in long-term
strategies.
The
Commonwealth clearly needs such new efforts. In a
study released late in 2002, the State Council on
Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) suggested
that despite research growing into a $5 billion
annual industry in Virginia, no state research
university has yet cracked the top 50 research
list. At the program level, however, the SCHEV
study revealed better rankings in areas as diverse
as polymer chemistry (Virginia Tech 5th), civil
engineering (VMI 6th), bioengineering (UVA 15th),
oceanography (Old Dominion 17th) and computer
science (UVA 27th, VT 42nd), as well as unique
activities such as the collaboration between
George Mason and James Madison Universities on the
Critical Infrastructure Protection Project.
Raising
15 additional Virginia research programs to Top
Five rankings by the end of the decade is the goal
Governor Warner announced in his first State of
the Commonwealth address.
SCHEV sees Virginia's research agenda
priorities in biotechnology and bioinformatics,
advanced manufacturing and biomanufacturing,
aerospace, energy, transportation, environmental
technologies, information technology and
communications, and advanced materials and
nanotechnologies. Better state policies to
encourage academic research and incentives for
private research are just as important if Virginia
is to succeed.
But
why is academic or basic research a tool for
economic development? In its system-wide strategic
plan that includes increasing Virginia's national
standing in sponsored research, SCHEV quotes two
Milken Institute conclusions: 29 of the top 30
technology areas in the U.S. are home to or
adjacent to a major research university, and the
presence or absence of technology enterprises
explains most of the differences in economic
growth in American metropolitan areas. In the
Commonwealth now, technology jobs pay almost twice
the wages as other jobs.
Dr.
Charles W. Steger, President of Virginia Tech,
Chairman of CIT and Chairman of Governor Warner's
Steering Committee on Research Capabilities and
Centers of Excellence, told a VRTAC meeting
earlier in February, however, that research alone
does not guarantee economic development. Where
universities have spawned thousands of technology
companies with tens of thousands of employees,
Steger noted, there also has been an economic
development mission.
That
focus on an economic development mission for
Virginia starts with executive leadership, but it
does require some "yeas" from the
General Assembly. Delegates and senators are
changing Virginia law to make commercialization of
university-based intellectual property easier, a
key recommendation of VRTAC. On the other hand,
the General Assembly is reducing funding for
universities, for the research equipment trust
fund and for the Eminent Scholars program.
Legislators also are considering proposals to
submerge CIT's research catalyst mission, sweep
already committed Commonwealth Technology Research
Funds back into the general fund and even delay
the release of higher education bond funds
approved by voters last November.
This
is not the long-term strategy or investment
approach that will move federal research dollars
for Virginia's universities from $500 million a
year up to $700 million or more or translate that
research more easily into technology companies and
jobs across the state. The General Assembly should
be the next "founding member" to sign on
for the coordinated advocacy and strategic
collaboration opportunity represented by
Virginia's Institute for Defense and Homeland
Security.
--
February 17, 2003
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