DATE: Tuesday, November 11, 1997            TAG: 9711110280

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN AND AKWELI PARKER, STAFF WRITERS 

                                            LENGTH:   76 lines

TECH CENTER GETTING HIGH MARKS FOR AIDING BUSINESS, CREATING JOBS

A humongous peanut combine that can harvest eight rows at a time is just one of the ways Virginia is reaping the benefits of the Center for Innovative Technology, according to a George Mason University study.

The legacy of former Gov. Charles S. Robb, the 13-year-old CIT has transformed its image. Once considered a sugar daddy to already well-off universities, the center is now seen as a business ally and job creator.

CIT forges partnerships between Virginia companies and public research entities to help companies develop products more cheaply and quickly than if they worked solo. The center - which receives about $8.5 million a year from the state - also partially funds those research efforts.

The economic impact, say CIT officials, justifies the investment. According to GMU's Center for Regional Analysis, for fiscal year 1997:

CIT created or retained a net of 4,282 jobs.

It started, attracted, converted from defense to commercial products or retained 92 companies that otherwise would have packed their bags for other states.

It helped bring about $116 million in ``increased competitiveness,'' the study's term for greater capital or sales.

It received a customer satisfaction rating of 4.13 on a five-point scale.

``These results demonstrate again the value of the investment that the Commonwealth of Virginia has made in science and technology through CIT,'' said Robert G. Templin Jr., who took over as CIT's president in 1994.

By capitalizing on colleges and universities, federal labs and non-profit organizations like the Virginia Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership, CIT can ``return to the Commonwealth economic impact more than 10 times our budget,'' Templin said in a statement.

Needled for years by skeptics for its lack of clearly defined objectives, in 1995 the Center pledged to the General Assembly that it would assist in the creation and retention of 6,000 jobs, 150 companies and $100 million in improved competitiveness in a three-year time frame. CIT says it blew those goals away, with three-year results at 9,854 jobs, 222 companies and $278 million in competitiveness.

Critics also lobbed bombs at the center in its early days for its policy of pouring money into the research coffers of only a select few state schools, like the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech - for hard-to-document, if not negligible, results.

``Our goals have changed,'' said Robert W. Harrell Jr., director of CIT's South Hampton Roads office. ``While still working with the universities, we've become more business-oriented.''

Whereas before the emphasis was on bankrolling university research and letting technology trickle out, today the bottom line is developing real-world products, like the eight-row peanut combine developed by Suffolk's Amadas Industries.

CIT's support and the know-how of several Virginia universities helped Amadas snare a partnership with John Deere to develop and manufacture the combine. The Technology Application Center at Old Dominion University and the Virginia Technical Information Center - both funded by CIT - gave technical support along with NASA Langley Research Center's Mid Atlantic Technology Application Center.

The National Association of Management and Technical Assistance Centers selected the project as ``outstanding'' in the technology transfer category of its Project of the Year Awards competition. The peanut combine can harvest 125 acres a day compared to about 25 acres for ordinary machines.

``(The award) gives us national recognition,'' Harrell said. ``It says what we do is important. The proof is in the pudding.''

``CIT has been very helpful in a number of ways,'' said Timothy Ambrosino, president of Mariah Vision3 Entertainment in Suffolk. The company builds an array of interactive, live-video simulators and is working with CIT on commercializing a 3-D display.

``They have introduced us to strategic partners and resources in the area that are unique to our business - rapid prototyping, computer software developers and the university system, where we are getting excellent support,'' Ambrosino said. ILLUSTRATION: CIT IMPACT

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