Pete Jobse,
President and CEO

Message from CIT President & CEO Pete Jobse

The cataclysmic economic events of the past two years have demonstrated that we cannot afford to continue to govern and manage our organizations and institutions – both public and private – using the same assumptions or models of the past.

We need to take this opportunity to change the way we look at technology and innovation, their role in our economy and what we can do now to begin to foster policies that foster innovation. Globally, innovation is recognized as the premier path to economic expansion. In Virginia, innovation can accelerate recovery from the current recession and propel the Commonwealth into a new economy that creates new jobs, cuts costs and improves efficiencies.

We have worked with leaders in Richmond to begin positioning CIT and its parent authority so that we can strengthen our mission to help innovators and facilitate the adoption of innovation. Earlier this year, the General Assembly and Governor Kaine created the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority (IEIA). The legislation consolidated two existing entities with research and development (R&D)-related responsibilities – the Innovative Technology Authority and the Virginia

Research and Technology Advisory Commission – into a single authority — the IEIA. The new Authority continues the work of the ITA, with the added duty of creating a strategic R&D roadmap for the Commonwealth.

As the IEIA begins its work, CIT leaders are continuing to foster innovation. This year, CIT R&D and other executives worked with the regional Technology Councils to create the community-driven Innovation Index, which will enhance regional as well as statewide strategic planning and investment decisions. More information is provided later in this report and is documented in the Phase I report of the Index.

Likewise, in spite of funding constraints, our CIT Entrepreneur service line continued to accelerate early stage technology company formation and growth with seed stage capital to jump-start new company formation and to link professional managers to early stage companies. While we received nearly 380 applications this year, we were only able to invest in and create four of these technology and bioscience high expectation companies, which are crucial to providing new growth to our economy.

With innovation comes “disruptive” change that produces opportunities and challenges. We must be prepared to seize both, and CIT professionals in our CIT Connect and CIT Broadband service lines are helping private and public sector clients discover, plan and initiate policy and investment strategies necessary to secure federal funding and facilitate private sector investment.

Innovation is the key to maintaining America’s and Virginia’s standing in the global economy. The current economic challenges and constrained budgets have created challenges, to be sure. But, as you will see in this annual report, we at CIT are creating many more opportunities that will make Virginia the leader in the new innovation economy, while maximizing its return on innovation investments.