CIT brings together public and private sector teams to develop and deploy solutions -- solutions that not only address regional and national challenges, but also produce innovative and marketable solutions. The CIT research and development (R&D) team accomplishes this task by looking for strategic opportunities, building competent and capable teams, and managing these teams as they design and implement solutions.
To spur the innovation economy in the Commonwealth, CIT is working with Virginia's ten regional technology councils to establish the Commonwealth Innovation Index, a tool to assist public and private sector decision makers in their regional and statewide planning and investment decisions. Regions identify their 5- to 15-year strategic industry opportunities; identify and examine enablers, gaps, and avenues to overcome gaps; and produce metrics and methods to measure progress. This planning and management tool enables the Commonwealth's area and industry leaders to steer a successful course toward global leadership in advanced technology company formation and attraction.
CIT R&D also develops and executes federally-funded research programs targeting the areas of defense and national security, renewable energy, and marine sciences. Some of CIT R&D's recent projects include:
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Mid-Atlantic Regional Coastal Ocean Observing System (MARCOOS), to improve maritime safety and provide data and forecasts for the recreational, commercial, and fishery management communities;
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Mine Safety, to prevent mine disasters and protect miners and emergency personnel if incidents occur, using wireless mesh and sensor technologies; and
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Environmental Bioterrorism Detection (EBD), to pilot a new surveillance system that will track animal diseases, especially those that have the potential to jump to humans. Its goal is to create an early warning system to monitor these biothreats.
In the 2011 General Assembly session, CIT was called upon to develop a comprehensive Research and Technology (R&T) Strategic Roadmap for the Commonwealth to identify research areas worthy of institutional focus and economic development. Findings from the Roadmap will provide elected and other officials with priorities in key industry sectors that have commercial promise and which will be eligible for new Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) awards. The Roadmap will incorporates information from Virginia's ten regional technology councils, public and private colleges and universities, federal labs and other research organizations, and economic development professionals. CIT has submitted the first phase report of this multi-phase project; a copy of the report can be found at the link above.
Additional areas of CIT focus have included biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information and communications technologies. Past and present CIT funding has come from federal and state organizations, including the Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA), the U.S. Small Business Admininstration (SBA), and the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME).
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