Business View Magazine - October 2018

22 23 VIRGINIA TECH CORPORATE RESEARCH CENTER in the same integrated community. A private developer is building apartments and condos on land adjacent to the Research Park that will allow people to walk from their residence to their office. For sustainability, that’s a great thing to take pressure off the transportation system, reducing traffic backups on the main roads around here, and saving energy and cutting emissions.We’re fortunate to have more land available near our park than others that are city-based.” Myers: “Environmental sustainability is an area we are continuously focusing on: current- ly we offer electric car charging stations, and a recycling program that began in 2014 and since has nearly recycled 200 tons (almost half a million pounds) of material from going into the landfill. By using our compacting equipment to compress our waste/trash, we have reduced the amount of landfill space the VTCRC uses by 500 percent. In addition, we have a light bulb recycling program that has contributed to a truly massive reduction in the VTCRC’s overall carbon footprint over the last four years. Ongo- ing environmental and energy saving measures include: stormwater management; a bus transit system to reduce car usage/carbon footprint; new building construction that will have the first example of a white, high-reflective roofing membrane for solar reflectance and heat miti- gation; and the implementation of LED lighting. “The research park has many companies that are working to solve energy and environmental impact issues in a variety of ways. For exam- ple: developing robotic simulation software for aerospace, automotive, renewable energy, and manufacturing markets; providing consulta- tion, lab services, and water quality monitoring technology to water, waste water, and chemical manufacturing clientele.” BVM: What does the future hold for VTCRC? What are your goals and objectives for the next five years? Dr. Meredith: “We have a 30-year track record of stable growth and I certainly expect to see more of that, but what’s really exciting is the way Virginia Tech has embraced entrepreneur- ship in the last few years. The university is in- vesting heavily in additional research now, and that research becomes the seed corn for future companies. “A lot of what we do is broker connections using Virginia Tech’s international relation- ships between people around the world who have problems, and folks, faculty, and students here in the community that can solve those problems. The most important point, to me, is the opportunities that companies have to part- ner with research universities to further their business success. If they understand that, they would understand that the Research Park be- comes a platform to achieve that objective.” Stewart: “Although research parks are all very different, there are some fundamental elements that are common. They foster the knowledge flow between universities and industry by