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At ODU, We're Open for Business

One of the six priorities in Old Dominion University's recently developed strategic plan is to increase opportunities for engagement with the community: to transform the way businesses interact with ODU and to become the "go to" place for providing solutions for the private and public sectors across Hampton Roads and throughout the Commonwealth.

Today, with the help of Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jim Cheng and a host of economic, business and community leaders, we officially opened the ODU Business Gateway -- the centerpiece of this strategy.

The ODU Business Gateway provides a single, consistent entry point to the intellectual capital, innovative technologies and world-class infrastructure of the University.

Old Dominion University is proud to be one of the first institutions to take such a significant step forward to support Governor McDonnell's initiative to position Virginia as a leader in productive and solution-oriented relationships between businesses and higher education.  The activities of the Business Gateway will have a direct impact in creating jobs, encouraging capital investment, and supporting the business attraction activities of the governor.

While the ODU Business Gateway represents an important economic development tool for Governor McDonnell, Secretary Cheng and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, it is equally vital to business creation, attraction, and retention efforts right here in Hampton Roads.

The recently completed Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), led by Dana Dickens and the Hampton Roads Partnership, highlights the importance of University-Business collaborations. 

The CEDS also looks toward the regional universities to help create a culture of innovation through the establishment of Centers of Excellence, such as ODU's efforts in modeling and simulation, bioelectrics, alternative energy, and sensors.

We established the ODU Business Gateway to create, nourish, and extend that culture of innovation across our region.

The Business Gateway was built on the foundation of our exceptionally successful Virginia Applied Technology and Professional Development Center (VATPDC).  This Center has a long history of extending the talent and expertise of our Batten College of Engineering and Technology to help companies large and small.  I want to thank College of Engineering and Technology Dean Oktay Baysal for his entrepreneurial spirit, energetic leadership and visionary outlook that has enabled centers like VMASC, the Reidy Center for Bioelectrics, and VATPDC - now the Business Gateway - to grow to such scope and scale that they've become university-wide platforms for research and economic development.

Old Dominion University is dedicated to bringing together the top minds, most innovative technologies and state-of-the-art facilities to help solve problems, expand capabilities and create new ventures.  We are committed to being the intersection where ideas meet and results happen.  That is Idea Fusion.  And the ODU Business Gateway is just the beginning. 

This article was posted on: May 19, 2010