Research funding successful
RCG program creates companies; patents issued


This article originally appeared in the March 9, 2008, edition of The Times West Virginian (Fairmont).


By Jessica Legge
The Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT — The original projects funded through the Research Challenge Grant program turned out to be more successful than the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission’s Division of Science and Research initially anticipated.

The RCG program was essentially made available to professors at West Virginia University and Marshall University who could create scientific research projects with an economic impact and eventually attract their own external funding.

“The Research Challenge Grant program was designed by the Legislature originally to provide a level of research funding to projects that showed a lot of promise for growth,” Dr. Paul Hill, vice chancellor for Science and Research, said.

The West Virginia Legislature stipulated that participants could receive seed funding for up to five years and should be self-sufficient by the end of that time frame. The goal was for grant recipients to initiate a start-up company or sell a commercial application, he said.

The state legislature started the program in 2002. The Research Challenge Fund was created in 2004 to give the Higher Education Policy Commission the authority to support projects through a permanent fund from video lottery proceeds. Hill said the first set of projects reached their five-year mark by July 1, 2007, with the last funding coming from the FY07 budget.

“We can make long-term commitments to these researchers over a number of years,” he said. “Providing long-term funds is exactly what you need for those types of projects.”

Hill said the RCG program funded a total of six projects — four at WVU and two at Marshall — on a variety of research topics. The research efforts were related to subjects such as global positioning, biometrics, plastics, cancer and DNA sensors.

In five instances, companies grew out of the projects. The projects also resulted in 10 patent applications and five patents that were issued.

“We were quite pleased and surprised at the pace at which some of these companies have grown,” Hill said.

He said researchers could initially request a maximum of $500,000 a year. Then they had to continually wean themselves from the state’s support and look for ways to bring in additional funding. Each project received an average of $1.2 million for the entire five years. The state invested a total of $8.4 million in the six projects, and the researchers attracted more than $20 million in external funding.

“Once we seeded the projects, they were able to (bring in) federal grants,” Hill said. “That’s what we were hoping for. We’re trying to position people in West Virginia really to capture the other opportunities out there.”

Over the past few months since the projects expired, the Division of Science and Research conducted a full evaluation of the effectiveness of the RCG program, he said. The division presented the findings, compiled from annual reviews of the individual projects, to the Higher Education Policy Commission at its January meeting. Persons can access the report of five-year outcomes from the first round of Research Challenge Grants online at http://www.wvresearch.org/.

In May 2007, Science and Research issued five new projects for the next five years. Hill said the division will track the new projects, which are in some very exciting areas of research, and see if they experience a similar rate of success.

“This program is so important because it provides an opportunity to diversify the state’s economy,” he said. “It’s providing opportunities to create new types of jobs in West Virginia. The fund is so important in stimulating these new ideas in thinking.”

Through participation in the grant program, the GeoVirtual Laboratory within the WVU Department of Geology and Geography was able to develop cutting-edge geovisualization software. The WVU Office of Technology Transfer has licensed this software, which “uses serious video gaming technology to render massive amounts of geographic information systems data,” to a commercial company called Datacaster.

“The Research Challenge Grant was crucial to develop the technology, and it has provided fantastic opportunities to develop cutting-edge technologies in the research lab,” said Vic Baker, who is co-director of the GeoVirtual Laboratory with Trevor Harris.

Over five years, the project was awarded roughly $2 million of grant money. Baker believes that five years isn’t long enough to define a research agenda, and additional state involvement and funding is needed for WVU’s research and development efforts. “We’re grateful to the Research Challenge Grant,” he said. “We would like to see programs like the Research Challenge Grant continued, except for longer periods.”

Report shows significant return on state’s Research Challenge Fund investment

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, Division of Science and Research (DSR), has released a report that shows the state’s $8.4 million investment in a program intended to support the creation of research centers and foster economic development and work force advancement has resulted in a substantial return on investment.

The report summarizes the results of the first six scientific research projects funded through the Research Challenge Grant (RCG) program and concludes that over five years, these projects at West Virginia University (WVU) and Marshall University (MU) leveraged external funding of more than $20 million, and resulted in five startup companies with five-year projected revenues of $124 million, 10 patent applications and five patents. In addition, two university research centers with industry partners were formed and one production facility is under development.

"We could not be more pleased that the Research Challenge Grant program has had such a positive and significant impact," said Dr. Paul L. Hill, HEPC vice chancellor for science and research. "We were able exceed our initial expectations for this program, sponsoring innovative research at our two research institutions and greatly improving their ability to be competitive for federal funding on the national level."

Hill added that two of the startup companies—Protea Biosciences LLC in Morgantown and Vandalia Research Inc. in Huntington—estimate they will be hiring 295 additional employees in the next five years.

"These are exactly the type of high-tech, high-paying jobs we need to create in West Virginia," he said. "The state’s investment in this program is clearly beginning to show that research can lead to a brighter economic future for West Virginia."

The RCG program was begun by the West Virginia Legislature in 2002 and is funded through video lottery proceeds at the state’s racetracks. The fund is administered by the DSR.

A second round of RCG awards, made in May 2007, is funding projects ranging from the development of a world-class center for astrophysics at WVU to cardiovascular and cancer research at MU. The research grants can be renewed for up to five years and all projects must be self-supporting at the end of the grant period. Each grant is worth $1-2 million over the five-year period.


Read the entire report here.

The case for building intellectual capital

This article originally appeared in the March 2, 2008, issue of the Sunday Gazette-Mail.


By Paul L. Hill, Ph.D.


There's a lot of talk these days about intellectual capital as the currency of the 21st century. But what is intellectual capital and why do we need it?

The simple answer is that intellectual capital is the result of the creation of knowledge and innovation. It manifests itself in patents, commercial licenses and new products.

Today, science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills are driving global advancement of the knowledge economy over the industrial economy of the last century. If the United States is to compete successfully in this new world economy, we must improve the scientific and technological expertise of our workforce. We must build intellectual capital.

While it is critical to compete on a global level, West Virginia has a vital role to play and much to gain from building intellectual capital right here at home. And it is important to remember that intellectual capital is not something we can buy--we must create it.

A recent analysis, "The 2007 State New Economy Index," released by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, ranked West Virginia 50th in the country in creation and retention of high value-added, high-wage jobs.

So it is no coincidence that we often find our state at or near the bottom of national rankings in everything from education level to health to average income. We simply do not have enough research and development activity in West Virginia. Studies show that communities that have built intellectual capital with more science, technology and engineering professionals in the population benefit from more job creation and company startups, better wages, higher levels of education, positive health-care statistics, and so on.

With time and investment, West Virginia's status in these national rankings could be dramatically improved by focusing our efforts on knowledge creation and innovation. By building intellectual capital.

We can all recognize the buzzing economies around major research hubs across the country and envy the high-paying jobs created as a result. But in a state like West Virginia, how do we stimulate more intellectual capital to serve as the basis of our new economy? Who is positioned to conduct a volume of research that will stimulate new business opportunities?

Answer: The state's research universities. In fact, this is the overwhelming trend nationwide, but West Virginia must advance research infrastructure and resources at West Virginia University and Marshall University for this to be possible.

West Virginia currently invests approximately $4.3 million annually in academic research through the state's Research Challenge Fund, and provided an additional $10 million this year for the Eminent Scholars Recruitment and Enhancement program. The surrounding states invest significantly more - Pennsylvania ($99.1 million), Kentucky ($52.5 million), Ohio ($109.4 million), Maryland ($60.8 million) and Virginia ($85.4 million).

That is not to say that the fledgling Research Challenge Fund has not had an impact. Over five years, these state grants have supported six major research projects that have, in turn, generated more than a dozen patent applications and patents, several commercial licenses and five startup companies that are already beginning to commercialize intellectual property.

These projects have further leveraged an additional $18.2 million in the form of corporate and federal grants and $2.3 million in venture capital. Business projections by two of the startup companies--Protea Biosciences, LLC, and Vandalia Research, Inc.--exceed $124 million in annual sales and 295 additional employees in five years. In addition, two university research centers with industry partners have been formed and one production facility is being built. These are significant accomplishments of which to be proud, but they are just a start.

Our state's leaders are aware that much more remains to be done if we are to be successful at reinventing our future and creating high-wage knowledge economy jobs here in the Mountain State.

Calling it necessary for West Virginia to stimulate world-class research and development and to reap the related benefits of high-tech, high-wage industries, Gov. Joe Manchin recently proposed a $50 million trust fund for the state's two research universities--West Virginia University and Marshall University. The first program of its kind in West Virginia, this "Bucks for Brains" trust fund would be patterned after successful endowments in other states that match state dollars with private donations to strengthen universities' most-promising research departments--ultimately leading to business spin-offs, new patents and job creation.

The governor's proposal has met with wide praise and support from across the state. West Virginians are beginning to recognize the value of building intellectual capital. With strong leadership and a long-term commitment, West Virginia can, and will, invest major new resources in research infrastructure as a foundation for economic diversification and expansion. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity.


Hill is the vice chancellor for science and research at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.