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State Releases Funding to Support Region 2000's Center for Advanced Engineering and Research

Posted on: Friday, 9 February 2007, 15:00 CST

LYNCHBURG, Va., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Virginia's Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) this week signed contracts that will release funding to support the newly established relationship between Region 2000's Center for Advanced Engineering and Research (CAER) and Virginia Tech. The funds total $900,000, allocated by the General Assembly over a two-year period (FY '07 & '08).

The purpose of this support is to help Region 2000 develop its regional research and development center, and to enable the center to acquire research and technical assistance from higher education institutions, such as Tech. Local employers in existing industry clusters will benefit from the competitive advantages resulting from technological research tailored to their needs.

Louellen Brumgard of the DHCD points out while the CAER does now have a working relationship with Virginia Tech, the funds are not specific to Tech, and could be employed by the CAER for any participating higher-education institution. Ultimately, she adds, they are intended to "bring higher education functions into communities that currently don't have research institutions in them."

The CAER is ready to apply the state dollars to a slate of research projects that focus primarily on needs expressed by the region's nuclear power industry. Funds released this week will enable Tech professors and research personnel to undertake research projects initiated by the CAER on behalf of those local nuclear industries. (Four initial research projects are scheduled to begin within the next month.) Eventually, the bulk of the Center's work will be performed by research personnel living and working in the region...not on a university campus.

The Region 2000 Economic Development Council organized the CAER in 2004, with seed funding from Centra Health, the Center for Innovative Technology, the US Economic Development Administration, the Virginia Tobacco Commission, and the Region 2000 Local Government Council. Currently, the Center is housed with the Region 2000 Economic Development Council, but with the DHCD funds now providing operating funds, plans are underway to seek financing for a new freestanding facility.

Lee Cobb, Executive Director of the Economic Development Council, notes that though the CAER has been greeted enthusiastically by local government and business leaders, securing the initial research funding from the State has required some very hard work in Richmond. "Delegates Kathy Byron and Lacey Putney were the leaders in keeping funding in the budget approved by the 2006 General Assembly," Cobb explains, "while Delegate Shannon Valentine worked simultaneously to ensure the support of Governor Kaine."

Virginia's Region 2000 Partnership is an alliance formed by the governments of Altavista, Amherst County, Appomattox, Bedford City, Bedford County, Campbell County, and the City of Lynchburg for the purpose of promoting economic growth throughout the 2,000 square-mile region occupied by those localities.

For additional information, contact: Lee Cobb (lcobb@region2000.org) Region 2000 Economic Development Council (434) 847-1447 or Jonathan Whitt (jwhitt@region2000.org) Region 2000 Technology Council (434) 847-1447 X 13

Region 2000 Technology Council

CONTACT: Lee Cobb of Region 2000 Economic Development Council,+1-434-847-1447, lcobb@region2000.org; or Jonathan Whitt of Region 2000Technology Council, +1-434-847-1447 X 13, jwhitt@region2000.org

Web site: http://www.r2ktech.org/

Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire

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