Center for Innovative Technology (CIT)

Stafford County and the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) Announce Opening of the First Virginia Smart Community Testbed | Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey reports on a new partnership between high-tech companies and Stafford County.

(News4's Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey has been covering this side of the state since joining NBC4 in 1992. She's joined by reporter Drew Wilder.)

Launch celebration included ribbon-cutting ceremony and technology demonstration

​Stafford, VA, May 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stafford County and the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony today to formally establish the opening of the new Virginia Smart Community Testbed. The Testbed, located next to the Stafford Government Center at 2143 Jefferson Davis Hwy, is the first of its kind in the Commonwealth. Testbeds are a way of testing new technologies in a real-world setting, a method that drives faster innovation. This Testbed will help propel both Stafford and Virginia to the forefront of smart community adoption across the country and the world.

"Innovation is the key to creating new jobs, driving economic growth, and tackling our biggest challenges," said Governor Ralph Northam. "This testbed will help build Virginia’s first smart community in Stafford County and serve as a living laboratory to pilot smart city technologies. This is exactly the type of public-private partnership we need to make the delivery of goods and services more effective and efficient, reduce our carbon footprint, and improve the health and well-being of our communities, our Commonwealth, and our country."

CIT GAP Funds Managing Director Tom Weithman to Participate in Valleys Innovation Council Founders and Funders Webinar Series
 
Richmond, Va. – April 19, 2021 – The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) today announced CIT GAP Funds Managing Director, Tom Weithman, will serve as a panelist for an upcoming webinar focused on venture capital as part of the Founders and Funders Webinar Series presented by Valleys Innovation Council (VIC). The webinar, taking place Thursday, April 22 at 3:30pm ET, will feature a panel of experts from across the region discussing various types of capital and challenges that entrepreneurs and startups may encounter when seeking capital.
 
Tom will join speakers James Ramey, Managing Director and Fund Manager at Middleland Capital; Jason Caplain, General Partner and Co-Founder of Bull City Venture Partners; and Moderator, Fourd Kemper, M&A Attorney from Woods Rodgers Law Firm. For more information about the webinar, please click here. Registration is free and open to the public.
 
When: Thursday, April 22, 2021 from 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM ET
Where: Zoom – Click here to register

Virginia: Moving at the Speed of Innovation | Virginia Stakeholder Meeting Video | Hosted by Tracy Tynan, Director, Virginia Unmanned Systems Center at CIT - the nexus for Virginia's activity in UxS - Land, Air, Sea, and Space.

[ *The Center is responsible for instilling an entrepreneurial culture regarding Autonomous Systems across Virginia, encourage economic growth across the Commonwealth via Autonomous emergent business activities, and continue and increase the Commonwealth's position as a leader of the Autonomous Systems community. ]

University of Virginia, Penn State & Bowie State teams’ winning proposals to detect ‘Deep Fakes’.

"The challenge was sponsored by The Greer Institute and ran from January 19th through February 1st. Several prominent members of the AI and ML technology communities volunteered to serve on the panel of judges for this challenge including​ David Ihrie, Chief Technology Officer, Center for Innovative Technology..."

March 23, 2021 - Richmond, VA - iDISPLA (Innovative Discovery Science Platform), Army C5ISR Center Night Vision and Electronic Sensor Directorate (NVESD) and The Greer Institute for Leadership and Innovation (Greer Institute) announced the winners of the recent University Adversarial Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) Challenge. The winners are 1st Place – University of Virginia; 2nd Place – Pennsylvania State University; 3rd Place – Bowie State University.

​Thanks to its comprehensive flight test sites, miles of open roads, a long coastline with access to open water and world-class rocket launch facilities, Virginia is a natural location to support all domains in the unmanned systems (UxS) industry: air, ground, sea and space. Despite a challenging year due to a worldwide health pandemic and the sluggish economy created by the virus, UxS continued to accelerate in Virginia as the industry accomplished many new milestones and achievements.

The project to connect Stafford County like never before is well underway.
​
Dubbed “Smart City Test Bed,” the project to remake the county into the state’s first-ever 5G-connected community is focused on how to reduce traffic, how to predict and detect flooding, and, maybe someday, guide a tourist to get a juicy hamburger at a locally-owned restaurant.
“Smart is bigger than technology,” said Stafford County Economic Development Director John Holden.
Last summer, the county signed an agreement with the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), Virginia’s quasi-governmental agency, promising to work together to first blanket the area around the county’s courthouse with 5G wireless technology. That work is happening now.

​Virginia Venture Connect | Ep 6: Forget Smart Homes, We're Talking Smart Cities | Charlottesville Business Innovation Council (CBIC) | Interview with David Ihrie, CIT Chief Technology Officer

​David Ihrie talks about CIT Smart Communities, the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), and what projects might lend themselves for development in the Shenandoah Valley.

About the SVTC: The Shenandoah Valley Technology Council is a non-profit that serves technology users and creators in the Shenandoah Valley. Its members gather together for education, networking, and business development. By helping technology businesses in the area succeed and grow, the Shenandoah Valley Technology Council is an integral component of the region, helping bring high-paying technology jobs to the Valley. Website: https://svtc-va.org/

Charlottesville Business Innovation Council | Interview - Bob Stolle, President & CEO at CIT | Center for Innovative Technology | Virginia

​Stafford’s Smart City is beginning to materialize.

​As an offshoot of the SCITI Labs program, CIT SMART is now deploying 66 of the flood sensors featured in this video below throughout Virginia. We are working with state agencies, including the Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, to make this a sustainable statewide flood sensor network.
 
The sensor network and the data it produces will help better characterize coastal inundation due to climate change, better predict the exact timing and location of flood events on rivers throughout the Commonwealth. It will also help better understand homeowners' risk in flood plains with more accurate updated models than those currently available.

By Kaitlynn R. Copinger | January 19, 2021, 09:56am EST
A Virginia nonprofit organization wants to help young companies in strategically important industries commercialize their technology and create jobs in the commonwealth.

The Center for Innovative Technology believes a new fund will help them do just that.

The Commonwealth Commercialization Fund recently kicked off its first funding round with a plan to disperse $7 million in grants of up to $100,000 in 2021. 

In 2020, NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist conducted a trade study about venture capital firms and their relationships with technology startups. The study used independent research and qualitative data from interviews with firms to develop recommendations for how NASA could increase the impact of its investments. ​

True to The Monthly Blend’s mission of catalyzing regional collaboration, in this Episode, we bring together the brand new CEOs of both TEDCO and CIT, mirror organizations in their respective states of MD and VA. Troy Stovall and Bob Stolle meet for the first time and share their visions for their organizations. Topics include investment, stimulating economic development, areas of focus, and diversity & inclusion. You may be surprised to hear what these leaders have to say about what’s coming for MD and VA!

CIT is coordinating a flood sensor pilot project that originated with the Department of Homeland Security. “And the ultimate goal would be to be able to do this throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Kirby told WDBJ7.

The city has partnered with Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology to bring specialized flood sensors to certain tributaries in the city. 

Chuck Kirby with CIT says that came about thanks to ongoing efforts by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to combat certain natural disasters – including urban flooding. ​

​An arena wired with a range of leading-edge sensors including video, audio, particulate sensors and occupancy detectors demonstrates an essential use case

"Over the coming years, the Commonwealth of Virginia will enable and grow a leadership role in quantum information sciences. Already a thriving hub for information technology, cybersecurity, national security, and much more, Virginia is well placed to help prepare our state, region, and country for the quantum era. We look forward to working collaboratively with Connected DMV, partners, and institutions across the region to help develop our national capital region’s quantum innovation ecosystem." – David Ihrie, Chief Technology Officer, Center for Innovative Technology, Commonwealth of Virginia 

CIT GAP Funds Investment Director Alex Euler participated as a panelist in UpRiver 2020 | "UpRiver is an annual fall event hosted by Activation Capital that brings together founders and entrepreneurs throughout the Richmond region. Sara Maddox, Activation Capital's outreach and community affairs manager, said the pandemic was front and center as they decided on programming for this year's event..."

"Everyone is going through tough times, and founders are going through tough times, as well," she said. "A lot of them are having to reimagine or pivot what their company needs to do to stay viable through the pandemic. We tried to have our panels focused on that."

Richmond, Va. – Sept. 21, 2020 – The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) today announced the participation of Investment Directors, Jennifer O’Daniel and Marco Rubin, as selection committee members for Forefront 2020’s Startup Showcase. Forefront, scheduled to take place virtually from Sept. 22-23, will bring together leading capital sources and industry changemakers who are committed to advancing efforts that build inclusive and diverse entrepreneurial ecosystems.
 
Forefront's review and selection process is an independent process led by MAVA Investor Members. O’Daniel and Rubin took part in selecting the 35 competitive startups to participate in this year’s Startup Showcase on the first day of the event.
 
When: Tuesday, September 22, 2020 from 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET
Where: For more information about the virtual event, please click here.

What: Forefront 2020 Startup Showcase
Ultimately, 35 competitively selected startups will take the virtual stage to present in front of professional investors and corporate partners. Showcase Companies represent the strength of commercial enterprises being built across D.C. and the greater National Capital Region and beyond. These startups stood out for the following characteristics:
 

• Company – ability to describe what makes them different as well as what problem they are solving
• Customer Validation – ability to accurately say where they are in their lifecycle
• Customer Traction – ability to describe who is paying them for their product or service
• Competition / Market – ability to share with the committee what they know about the market and why they believe their company can scale
• Team – ability to describe why their team is most equipped to tackle this problem and drive this solution

Who: CIT Investment Directors

• Jennifer ODaniel | Investment Director
• Marco Rubin, Senior Investment Director, CIT GAP Funds