Newsletter Page Title

It’s a chilly day in Blacksburg and snow is falling as I write this. The academic term is just beginning. Students are returning to the routines they left behind for holidays. In this month’s newsletter we focus on breaks from the routine to innovations and new ideas that may shape the Commonwealth’s future economic competitiveness.

For example, last month, OED’s Chad Miller, Jack Lesko from the College of Engineering, and other partners involved in the Deans’ Energy Task Force concluded a very successful Energy Research Engagement Showcase. Almost 200 representatives from companies, communities, and faculty from around the state came to Blacksburg for panels and lab tours providing insights into the latest energy research. The task force is exploring a number of areas with great potential for technology commercialization and economic development including: bio fuels, nuclear energy, fuel cells, and energy efficiency policy.

OED’s John Provo and Heike Mayer of Urban and Public Affairs are exploring new ideas about connections between urban and rural economies through the Economic Development Studio @ Virginia Tech. Dave Nutter continues to work with community and corporate stakeholders in Lynchburg and Hopewell on implementation of Regional Research and Development Centers placing Virginia Tech faculty on the ground working with nuclear and chemical companies, respectively. As for myself, Dave and I are working with the Council on Virginia’s Future and others to produce a follow-up to last year’s Virginia Futures Forum that brought together public and private sector leaders to discuss how Virginia can sustain a competitive workforce.

I’m also pleased to share with you that Virginia Tech has just been designated by the Carnegie Foundation as one of a limited number of community-engaged universities across the nation. The university’s innovative commitments to distressed regions of the Commonwealth, for example through the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research at Danville, were noted by the Foundation.

We’re also proud to announce two new additions to OED.

Sibel Atasoy joins our faculty as an Economic Development Associate. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Virginia Tech’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. She adds great depth to our team in the areas of economic modeling, the description and analysis of economic data, and policy analysis. We also welcome a new graduate assistant this month. Mike Potter is a new Ph.D. student in the Center for Public Administration and Policy. A Hokie (MPA ‘05), Mike was until last month working most recently for the American Banker’s Association.

As always, please let us know what you think of this edition of Virginia Tech’s Economic Development News. We are here to serve as a "front door" into Virginia Tech and help you access the resources of the university for your economic development needs, so we want to hear from you!

The Economic Development Studio @ Virginia Tech Studies “Farmshoring”
John Provo

Virginia Tech’s Office of Economic Development and the Urban Affairs and Planning Program are studying farmshoring through the Economic Development Studio @ Virginia Tech. Heike Mayer, Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, and John Provo, Senior Economic Development Specialist with the Office of Economic Development, along with a class of graduate students in urban and regional planning, are working with state, regional, and local partners to conduct a market analysis for Virginia localities in domestic outsourcing or farmshoring.

While states like Virginia experience tremendous economic disparities between their rural and urban jurisdictions, there now appear to be unprecedented prospects for rural jurisdictions to capture jobs leaving high-cost, urban areas. One example is the recent decision by two firms to locate 750 high-paying information and communications technology jobs in Lebanon, deep in rural Southwest Virginia. The Economic Development Studio @ Virginia Tech is providing the first comprehensive analysis in the Commonwealth of opportunities and barriers related to this farmshoring phenomenon.

In addition to possibly helping rural communities secure jobs and build tax bases, farmshoring may provide urban communities with a new tool for addressing congestion and growth management issues. At the same time, this deconcentration can actually benefit firms, increasing the ability of companies to focus on their core competencies. As a result, both urban and rural communities may become more competitive locations; and the state may retain jobs that would have gone elsewhere.

The Economic Development Studio @ Virginia Tech is a graduate studio class, a real world project requirement in the planning program, conducted this year jointly in Blacksburg and Alexandria. The Studio pilots a new model for university outreach and learning, engaging Virginia Tech faculty and students at the main campus and National Capital Region campus in work with communities on a statewide project. Among the community and agency partners participating in the farmshoring project are the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation, the Cities of Alexandria, Galax and Harrisonburg, and the Counties of Arlington, Carroll, Loudon, and Smyth.

The General Assembly has convened for its 45-day “short session.” Let’s hope they stick to the plan. With an opening day ceremony to highlight the 400th anniversary of the landing at Jamestown, state legislators are getting down to the business of amending the second year of the state budget and identifying new monies for transportation.

With an additional $600 million in additional revenues, state lawmakers will debate additional funding for rural development, state and regional marketing initiatives, and innovative ways to enhance tourism and protect and expand manufacturing jobs.

Always at the forefront, the Virginia Economic Developers Association has released its annual policy agenda. The VEDA supports additional funding for the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, expanding the Workforce Services training program and new dollars for Enterprise Zones.

Building on the substantial investment the General Assembly made last year in support of research at our public colleges and universities, Virginia Tech President Charles Steger’s recent op-ed in the Richmond Times Dispatch argues for sustained funding if Virginia is to continue to be an innovation leader. Michigan, Georgia and California have all launched recent initiatives that are attracting substantial investments from the private sector.

A number of pieces of legislation have been filed that will impact economic development. This includes several bills to raise the minimum wage, allow the imposition of impact fees, use revenue sharing funds for transportation, and restrict eminent domain. In other actions, specific bills were filed to create an agri-tourism investment act – HB 189, require two-sequence course of career and technical education to receive a standard diploma – HB 1442, and use of proffers to acquiring development rights – HB 1858. As this article was being written, the deadline to submit legislation is still several days away. More details on legislation that has been filed are available at this link.

To be ready when prospects come calling, economic developers have always kept close tabs on their community’s infrastructure capacity. Unlike highways and sewer pipes, information on today’s fiber-optic and wireless infrastructure capacity is often proprietary and hard to come by. To address this deficiency, Virginia Tech’s eCorridors program has launched a broadband mapping project. Broadband customers are encouraged to visit the site and confidentially add information on their service to a GIS database. No technical know-how is required; your privacy is maintained, and the results complied over time will allow the eCorridors program to develop a publicly available map of broadband capacity around the state.

Growing health care costs are emerging as a major economic competitiveness concern. Innovative information technology solutions are being explored as an avenue for substantial cost savings. The National Association of State Chief Information Officers recently released a state-by-state look at progress around the country on Health IT initiatives. Read how Virginia and her competitors stack up at this link.

The State Science and Technology Institute and the US Economic Development Administration recently released a Resource Guide for Technology-based Economic Development. The report examines best practices around the nation where states are engaging their universities to foster entrepreneurship and access to capital in support of innovation in their economies

For general demographic and housing information Fannie Mae’s Dataplace is perhaps the simplest website out there. It allows you to construct and export fin-grained maps that integrate data primarily from the US Census. While the graphic capacities on the Council on Virginia’s Future recently released Virginia Performs website are comparable, their site includes both census data and much more timely state data, a major advantage over Dataplace.

Other sites offer more specialized data that will be of particular value to economic developers. While the US Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics “On the Map” programs does suffer from a rather unwieldy name, it offers easy-to-customize maps of geo-coded data on commuter and labor sheds. These can be further supplemented a selection of the most recently available reports on industry and occupational data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s long-anticipated RESolutions site integrates very current state and federal data on industry, occupations, and higher education resources. The data is organized at the region level, based on Virginia Community College Districts. Its most fascinating feature is a “suitability tool.” This allows economic developers to enter basic data on prospective employers and receive an estimate on the ability of their region’s existing workforce to meet the needs of those employers.

A number of these resources are new and unfamiliar to economic developers. OED is considering offering a workshop on the application of these tools. If you would be interested in attending such a workshop, please contact John Provo.

It has only been a year since Glen Sink joined the newly established Center for Rural Virginia as its executive director. Created in 2004 by the General Assembly, the Center was designed to be a catalyst for creative approaches to the economic, social and demographic revitalization of rural Virginia.

As past chairman of the Virginia Agribusiness Council, Sink was no stranger to the needs of the Commonwealth. Because of his leadership experience with Dairymen Inc., and as the founder of a firm specializing in emergency preparedness planning, Sink’s years of experience was a natural fit for the newly created organization. In taking over the Center’s activities, Sink said, “The opportunities in rural areas are many. An organization like the Center can bring people together to work on areas of opportunity for the good of the Commonwealth.”

The concept for a rural center grew out of the work of the Rural Prosperity Commission. Its three year effort identified a number of recommendations. These efforts included the establishment of the tiered-tax credit program, allowing localities to offer telecommunication services, creation of a cabinet-level Secretary of Agriculture, and the expansion of the capital access program.

Sink said that the Center’s efforts will be organized on six core policy areas:

The Center has also launched an annual Rural Summit. Held this year at The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center, the Summit brought together state leaders and local community and elected officials for a comprehensive dialogue on rural issues.

Sink said that one of the first duties of the Center when the General Assembly convenes Jan. 10th will be to hold the first meeting of the legislature’s Rural Caucus. The chairman of the Center, Senator Frank Ruff (R-Clarksville), said the goal of the caucus will be to keep rural issues front and center during the “short” session of the General Assembly.

Sink sees capital access programs as a priority. He said that one of the Center’s goals this year is the creation of a capital finance directory. “We want to make sure that small banks, community banks have ready access to broad array of financial instruments,” Sink acknowledged.

In other areas, Sink said that the Center will be working to promote community foundations as a way to channel philanthropic interest in rural development. He also wants the Center to be more engaged in rural communities through the development of leadership programs. Creating partnerships with regional and state organizations will also be critical goal for the center.

With a strong foundation established, 2007 should be a banner year for the Center for Rural Virginia.