THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504070557
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
NASA Langley Research Center found a willing broker Thursday for its technology.
The aerospace center in Hampton reached an agreement with the state's Center for Innovative Technology in Herndon.
The agreement, described as a memorandum of understanding, could solve problems that have beset both agencies.
It would give NASA Langley an added outlet for its research in an era of tight budgets. And at CIT, which recently saw its own budget on the chopping block, it could bolster efforts to become the central player in the transfer of technology to Virginia businesses.
``I think you'll see a blossoming of technology transfer in Virginia,'' NASA Langley director Paul F. Holloway said.
NASA's announcement came during the second day of Expotech, a high-tech trade show which ended Thursday on the Peninsula. It was organized in part by NASA to help spur significant commercial investment in local technology spinoffs.
``Frankly, we've overlooked the storehouses of the federal laboratories,'' said Robert G. Templin Jr., president of CIT. ``And until recently those laboratories have been inward-looking. Together, we hope eventually to come up with a formula to accelerate the transfer of technology.''
Acceleration will be of particular interest to CIT. The agency, formed in the mid-'80s by then-governor Chuck Robb, was on the verge of being cut off from state funding late last year. A government reform commission had recommended that no Virginia taxpayer money underwrite CIT operations, charging that the agency had become too bureaucratic and was ineffective in promoting commercialization of the state's science and technology research.
Gov. George F. Allen ignored his commission's recommendations, restoring half of the agency's money. The General Assembly added more, bringing the total to $8.2 million per year, the original CIT budget request.
``The governor wanted CIT to play a more direct role in economic development,'' said Robert T. Skunda, the state's secretary of commerce and trade. ``CIT will have to demonstrate its performance. We have a relatively short time to deliver - a couple of years.''
Langley, too, is under threat of massive program and personnel costs, possibly next month.
None of the Expotech visitors seemed fazed by money woes. On Thursday, 30 seconds into a Langley visit, Denise Freitag said she couldn't be more impressed by what she saw.
``This is fantastic,'' she said. ``We've been to eight federal labs. I've seen more technology in this room than all eight labs combined.''
Freitag is a business operations manager with a Chrysler/Ford/General Motors coalition that wants to develop an 80-miles-per-gallon supercar by 2007.
Freitag and several hundred other attendees circulated happily in the cavernous aircraft hangar where about 140 Langley exhibits were arranged like spokes in a massive wheel. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Martin Smith-Rodden, Staff
Robert T. Templin Jr...
by CNB