THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508090519
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Don't worry, Hampton Roads won't be left out.
State and local leaders assured the region that it belongs in the same league as Northern Virginia - which just landed an IBM-Toshiba computer chip plant - but Hampton Roads has a different future.
``I see Hampton Roads as more applications-oriented,'' said Robert W. Harrell Jr., director of technology assistance and transfer in Chesapeake for the Center for Innovative Technology.
``And where we might not develop a new company that would develop new technologies, we might attract a company that applies that new technology,'' Harrell said. ``It's the utilization of information technology and telecommunications in support of defense industry and maritime industry.''
As one of the three largest metropolitan areas in the state, Hampton Roads has been touted as part of the ``golden crescent,'' a concentration of population and commerce stretching from Washington to Richmond to the Peninsula and South Hampton Roads.
Local residents view the region, particularly with its transportation capabilities of roads and port access, as an integral part of the new crescent.
People and companies are already seeking to benefit from Motorola's April announcement that it would invest $3 billion in a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Goochland County outside of Richmond.
Inquiries in sites in recent months have increased tremendously, said Julius ``Bud'' Denton, president of the Virginia Peninsula Economic Development Council. Several prospective companies have visited the area twice or more.
``With our labor market and our association with the port, we definitely feel we're a high-tech magnet with CEBAF (Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility) and NASA,'' he said.
He envisioned Hampton Roads as an area where suppliers, vendors and other high-tech related industries would try to locate their companies for the proximity to the two semiconductor facilities and to the transportation infrastructure.
The shorter distance between the plants and suppliers would help ``just-in-time'' manufacturing, or products made shortly after being ordered, and reduce costs associated with large inventories.
``The companies that support semiconductors that are not here will follow,'' said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Robert T. Skunda. ``There will be a few more firms that decide to come to Virginia because of this.''
Technology has always been a part of the fabric of Hampton Roads by virtue of NASA Langley's presence, said Steve Cooper, executive director of the Peninsula Advanced Technology Center. Defense downsizing forced the region to reevaluate what type of growth its economy could support.
``The economic development community is more attuned to the technological strength and commercial possibilities and how it plays to certain companies,'' Cooper said. ``That's something relatively new in the thought pattern.
``There wasn't the need before. As long as there were plenty of government contracts coming in there, you didn't have to look at nontraditional possibilities to create economic growth. Everyone's more aware of the technology base here.''
Changing the region's perception of itself as a blue-collar area to one that can support high-tech may take time.
``Frankly, part of it is the challenge of changing the image of this region,'' Cooper said. ``And that doesn't happen overnight. It depends on how much effort is put into it.'' by CNB