West Virginia University has received the prestigious Innovator Award from the Southern Growth Policies Board for TechConnectWV, an initiative supporting the diversification and development of the Mountain State’s economy.
“The idea of TechConnect is to strengthen the region’s economy by increasing start-up companies in the state; attracting new technology firms; creating innovation economy jobs; and forming new capital investment,” said Russ Lorince, WVU’s director of economic development and chair of TechConnectWV. “All that means new jobs and enhanced tax revenues for West Virginia.”
Curt Peterson, WVU vice president for research and economic development, will accept the award in June at ceremonies in Lexington, KY hosted by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear.
The SGPB is a non-partisan public policy think tank based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina that was formed by the region’s governors in 1971 to advance visionary economic development policies among a diverse cross-section of governors, legislators, businesses, academic leaders and the economic and community-development sectors.
WVU’s role in helping create and nurture TechConnect is seen by the Board as a significant initiative that is helping communities recover from the economic downturn.
Peterson explained that TechConnect was formed through collaboration between WVU and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation to support technology-based economic development – a function that incorporates a broad range of activities from research to commercialization of new inventions to the implementation of proven innovations.
“After much study and planning, we were able to identify specific needs for promoting and supporting what we all know as technology-based economic development,” Peterson said. “Benedum and WVU, together with large and small private sector firms, non-profit and development entities and federal labs, created TechConnect to advance commercialization of research done in West Virginia.”
The new organization, along with a blueprint for tech-based economic development in West Virginia, was unveiled in 2009.
“TechConnectWV targets four critical strategies for the state where support should be focused,” Lorince said. “Those areas are entrepreneurship, commercialization, access to capital and a business climate that embraces innovation. Strategies and actions have been developed to help the state address those areas and key stakeholders were identified to lead the effort.”
Peterson and Lorince both pointed out that unlike most of its peer states, West Virginia has not historically invested in the infrastructure to support technology-based economic development.
Gov. Joe Manchin and the state legislature “broke that mold in 2008 with creation of the WV Research Trust Fund or Bucks for Brains which focuses on stimulating academic research,” Peterson said. “And, the recent announcement of the state’s investment in the Dow Tech Park in South Charleston represents another major step in West Virginias engagement with the innovation economy.”
He said TechConnectWV is committed to providing downstream support for WV research by advancing commercialization and maximizing the value of the intellectual property that is created.
The SGPB recognition for the initiative emphasizes the importance of the activity and the promise it holds for effective economic development, according to Peterson.
“The partners in the TechConnectWV collaborative, from research universities to federal facilities to for-profit firms, have forged a spirit of partnership which did not previously exist” Lorince said. “Working with assets outside the state boundaries, every effort is being made to team with proven winners to create synergy with new resources while thinking on a global scale.”
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CONTACT: Gerrill Griffith, WVU Research Corp.
304-293-3743; Gerrill.Griffith@mail.wvu.edu
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