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2004 SESSION
044882352Whereas, according to a study by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) in 2002, approximately 90 percent of research and development (R&D) expenditures in Virginia are attributable to private sector activities, federal agencies, and federal labs; and
Whereas, more than half of R&D expenditures in Virginia are attributable to the private sector, with a significant portion of that activity occurring in northern Virginia; and
Whereas, only two of the seven public research universities are located in northern Virginia and Hampton Roads while nine of the 12 federal labs, agencies and centers identified in the SCHEV report are located in the two regions; and
Whereas, Virginia’s research universities must be located near its technology businesses if the Commonwealth is going to be on the world stage with an intertwined and vibrant academic research environment and entrepreneurship culture; and
Whereas, across the Commonwealth, several universities have gained eminence in critical fields of science and technology and attracted top students from the Commonwealth, the nation, and internationally; and
Whereas, most of the graduates of these leading-edge programs are unable to find jobs in their fields near where they studied causing many of them to move; and
Whereas, these graduates are as likely to move out of Virginia as they are to relocate within Virginia; and
Whereas, this situation stymies collaboration between Virginia’s research universities, the private sector and the federal customers that drive much of Virginia’s technology-based business activity; and
Whereas, co-location of research space and equipment for shared use and partnership between universities, federal labs and the private sector can produce enhanced access to cutting-edge equipment, decreased expense associated with capital costs and equipment, and more professional collaboration and shared objectives between Virginia’s various research actors; and
Whereas, enhancing the capabilities of Virginia’s universities to conduct sustained and significant research programs in close proximity to leading-edge companies and institutions would contribute enormously to improving leverage of existing private sector assets and expenditures while the private sector would gain better access to faculty and graduate student expertise; and
Whereas, such an institution would enable a student to pursue a degree in nanotechnology from one institution, while taking courses from another institution at the same campus, and working on cutting-edge research projects in the private sector; now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) shall conduct a feasibility study on building an academic research and advanced education enterprise in northern Virginia and in Hampton Roads to provide for multiuniversity collaboration and closer ties to industry. The feasibility study shall include costs and benefits of and strategies for creating such enterprises, each with a graduate school component that features participation from all of the Commonwealth’s research universities. The study shall also review other options for enhancing the research capabilities of the Commonwealth’s public institutions and leveraging the Commonwealth’s proximity to the research activities of the private sector and federal government. SCHEV shall report its findings to the Governor and the General Assembly by November 30, 2004.