By JOHN R. BRODERICK
FOR THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Leaders in the 757 have set ambitious goals to advance our region’s economy. Virginia universities play a crucial role in achieving these objectives through expanded linkages with the business community to leverage innovation, discovery and job creation.
The commonwealth’s research institutions are hubs of innovation. In addition to advancing knowledge and discovery, faculty and researchers develop intellectual property that benefits businesses and government entities that directly align with major assets in our region, including health care, maritime and port assets, federal facilities and resilience efforts.
One such innovation is the nano-pulse stimulation technology for medical applications developed by researchers at Old Dominion University’s Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics. The technology was commercialized into an IPO by Pulse Biosciences, a bioelectric medicine company, that yielded a $41.5 million return to ODU. This IPO represents one of Virginia’s most successful and largest commercialization ventures in higher education.
Maritime and port innovation is also thriving in our deep-water harbor. Leaders intersecting federal, state and private industry tapped ODU renewable energy experts to help land a major logistics and supply chain hub for offshore wind energy fields off the Atlantic coast. Virginia’s wind project could support up to 2,600 megawatts of electricity by 2026, providing enough energy to power 650,000 homes. In addition, this new business opportunity should attract renewable energy and resilience entrepreneurs, creating high-demand jobs of the 21st century.
The federally funded OpenSeas Technology Innovation Hub in downtown Norfolk, a partnership between ODU, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the College of William & Mary, serves as an incubator for maritime, aquaculture and resilience technologies — and is jump-starting the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem in these sectors.
Another opportunity for collaboration in the maritime sector is the Maritime Industrial Base Ecosystem initiative. Gov. Ralph Northam announced this $3 million federal and state investment to transform Virginia’s shipbuilding and repair workforce.
In addition to helping the port transform digital shipbuilding, ODU engineering, maritime logistics, cybersecurity and supply chain faculty and researchers are lending their expertise to industry and government to scale the talent and training pipelines and develop academic programs to close the skills gap. These innovative efforts will help attract and retain skilled data scientists and engineers as well as increase economic productivity.
We can also grow federal capabilities by increasing collaboration among institutions, federal facilities and private industry. According to the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance, our region boasts the nation’s largest concentration of federal facilities. Partnerships between the federal Jefferson Lab — which holds the world’s most advanced particle accelerator for investigating the quark structure of the atom’s nucleus — and higher education institutions have resulted in innovations such as a cancer treatment monitoring system built with technologies used in nuclear physics experiments.
Collaborations between Jefferson Lab and William & Mary, Christopher Newport, Norfolk State, Hampton and ODU attract federal funding from the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation that fosters innovation and growth in physics and accelerator research. The research we accomplish locally can lead to major scientific advancements globally.
Faculty and researchers are also working on commercializing the emerging SmallSats and autonomous systems’ market. The new Virginia Institute for Spaceflight and Autonomy at ODU, housed on the Eastern Shore at NASA Wallops Flight Facility, will provide translational technologies entering the commercial marketplace for improved access to space-based and unmanned-asset data. With support from two state grants, ODU is collaborating with Virginia Tech to help companies entering the SmallSats and autonomous-vehicles sectors apply emerging technologies to their particular business focus, such as using data from satellites and drones to create commercial opportunities.
The technology and innovation advances taking place at Virginia colleges and universities can make the 757 more prosperous. These advances not only touch major assets in our region but also serve as a catalyst for entrepreneurship, job creation and business incubation. Tapping into the research and discovery occurring at universities, will speed the rate at which innovations are transformed into viable companies and jobs, propelling our economy.
John R. Broderick is president of Old Dominion University and chair of the Council of Presidents of the Southeastern Universities Research Association. This year, he established the Economic Development Catalyst Task Force, comprised of 757 and ODU leaders, to identify points of leverage for tech talent and innovation.