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Register Soon! Conference Date: April 10th, 2012 8am- 6pm Ted Constant Convocation Center, Norfolk ECOnference’s technical sessions will appeal to a wide audience including the military, marine and commercial sectors. The conference will deliver an intensive learning experience on innovative green technologies and continue to provide you with the important CEUs needed for your professional licenses and certifications. This year’s conference tracks feature Offshore Wind Energy, Fossil Fuel Reduction and Green Energy Technologies.

What the Day Looks Like… 7:30-8:00 am -Registration 8:00 am -Opening Remarks 8:30 am: Plenary Session- Visionary Innovation in the 21st Century Jay Kimball 8020 Vision 9:30 am -BREAKOUT SESSIONS 12:00 pm: Luncheon Keynote: U.S. Navy’s Perspective on Energy Security Captain (Sel.) James Goudreau United States Navy, Director of the Navy Energy Coordination Office (NECO) “Energy security is a national issue. It requires us to not only operate more efficiently with systems that are currently in place, but also to acquire more efficient systems. The challenge is to judiciously refit complex systems of systems while operating under the constraints of a fiscally austere environment. We must-and will-meet this challenge by partnering with only those entities that understand the dilemma and can help us achieve our goals.” 1:00 pm -BREAKOUT SESSIONS 3:25 pm: Plenary Session-  New Energy Economy: Global Competition for Jobs of the Future Terry McAuliffe GreenTech Automotive

Registration Details   $225 per ticket $195 HRP Network Discount use code: HRPECO Register 3 Attendees and get the 4th FREE 0.8 CEUs/8 Contact Hours REGISTER NOW A Sample of the Breakout Sessions: * Visionary Innovation in the 21st Century * Offshore Wind Studies and Potential * FlexGen Applications in the Marine Environment * Lockheed-Martin Energy Solutions * Application of Metal Oxide Super Capacitors for Naval Applications * Photovoltaic Research and Commercialization * Bio-based Technologies * Economics of Making Offshore Wind a Reality in Virginia Want to Sponsor? Sponsorship Details Want to Exhibit? Exhibitor Details Read more about the ECOnference   View our 2012 Conference Agenda

Continue reading »]]> The Virginia Business Incubation Association invites you to the 2012 roundtable discussions. These meetings, held across the Commonwealth, will look at the knowledge gained at the VBIA conference on “Economic Gardening: An Entrepreneurial Approach to Economic Development.” Participants will engage in a discussion about the tools and techniques used in Economic Gardening to grow second stage companies.  In addition, VBIA will ask everyone to discuss the tools and techniques they believe are readily available to them to identify and assist second stage growth companies.  Attendees will be provided take away materials they can use to assist their locality and region.  Sign Up Today

Continue reading »]]> Post submitted by Jennifer Jenkins, Online University Project

The Online University Project primarily seeks to empower through knowledge. This is accomplished through providing high quality, insightful articles which foster one’s intellectual curiosity.

Over time, the institution of education has continually evolved. What was once a closed and selective system that barred certain individuals from access to education has evolved into something pervasive and accessible to all. With the rise of technology and the internet, we aim to seize this as an opportunity to provide resources for all. Here at Online University, we are embracing this monumental wave of educational freedom.

We strongly believe in providing access to premium educational materials across a wide range of academic disciplines. The internet has become the new classroom. Online University presents highly valuable, informative articles that allow readers to further their understanding and explore a myriad of concepts. An educated world is a better world, we want to diligently see to it that education is paramount.

Be part of the education revolution: http://www.onlineuniversity.net/

Continue reading »]]> The rate of unemployment has dropped from 6.3% at this time last year to 5.7% this past month, meaning Virginia had one of the eight lowest rates in the entire United States. An article in the Richmond-Times Dispatch says that the unemployment rate has not been this low in the Commonwealth since December of 2008.

The Richmond-Times Dispatch article quoted Christine Chmura, President and Chief Economist, Chmura Economics and Analytics, who said that, “the good news is we are seeing enough jobs being created in Virginia to compensate for the number of the people who are coming back into the labor force.”

Please follow this link to read the complete Richmond Times-Dispatch article.

Continue reading »]]> Over 300 jobs will be lost in Hampton Roads thanks to recently declared layoffs by major defense contractors, according to an article in HRMilitary. Lockheed Martin has notified the Commonwealth that they will be letting go of 150 employees, 92 in Norfolk and Suffolk, in addition to 65 in Hampton, while Luke and Associates will most likely layoff 182 at Langley Air Force Base.

Craig Quigley, Executive Director of the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance, insists that these job losses are not an ominous precursor to others yet to come, but rather the expected result of the U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) closure. “These actions represent arriving at something of an equilibrium from the disestablishment of Joint Forces Command. When that organization ended in August 2011, no existing contracts were cancelled. Rather, they were allowed to run their course and some of them are now ending. One of four things will happen as contracts expire: the work will be re-competed, the work will be done in-house, the work will be transferred elsewhere, or the work will no longer be done.”

An article on the job losses in The Virginian-Pilot said that 1,200 military personnel and civilians, and about 700 private contractors work in Joint Staff Hampton Roads. For those seeking new work during these job losses, a transition center, funded by a DoD grant, was set up in Suffolk a year ago.

Read the complete HRMilitary article here.

Read the complete Virginian-Pilot article here.

Click here to visit the JFCOM Transition Center website.

Continue reading »]]> Inventors and entrepreneurs struggle to launch their ideas.

By Philip Newswanger for Inside Business, originally posted on January 13, 2012

They are flummoxed by a morass of red tape and nervous investors, who, in this weary economic climate, want an immediate return.

Old Dominion University may have an answer, or at least is offering solutions to the problem of transforming ideas into profits.

The idea, according to two ODU officials, is to marry the pursuit of knowledge, a mission of universities, with the management of knowledge, a private sector endeavor.

Tom Osha, president and CEO of Innovation Research Park at ODU, and Jerry Robertson, executive director of the university’s Gateway initiative, recently highlighted this connection between a university and inventors and entrepreneurs in Hampton.

The Jan. 5 event, called “Working with ODU in the Aerospace Center,” was sponsored by Innovate!Hampton Roads, an initiative launched by the Hampton Roads Partnership to drive jobs and the regional economy.

Osha said technology is getting more, not less, expensive, so companies must change how they do business.

ODU has an economic development role, Osha said, but it must become an active instead of passive participant in the economy.

The private sector can leverage the leading research of universities, such as modeling and simulation and oceanography, Osha said.

“But that’s easy to say and hard to do,” he said. “Businesses and universities are like Mars and Venus.”

“I once was in business. I knew who could say yes. In the world of universities, I know who can say no.”

ODU’s Business Gateway is a single entry point and the front door for all of the university’s services, Osha told the audience.

So what are the resources?

Robertson explained.

They are the students, the faculties and the specialized laboratories where experiments and tests, such as materials testing and software development, are conducted.

Robertson listed some examples of companies ODU has helped, such as Rebatt Inc., Solo Manufacturing and Bay Beyond.

Working with ODU, Rebatt reduced its costs by $209,000 over five years due to a redesign of the company’s assembly line to recondition camera batteries.

For Solo, ODU redesigned the assembly of a pump, which saved the company $5 million, boosted its revenues and lowered the high incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome employees were contracting because of the previous assembly operation.

Bay Beyond, a bunch of neighbors who concocted a special spice, needed help to satisfy a contract with Kroger grocery stores.

ODU stepped up.

“Kroger wanted the product,” Robertson said. “The client couldn’t keep up, but they did get national exposure.”

Osha and Robertson addressed the question of who owns the intellectual property, a fear among entrepreneurs.

Osha said ODU has taken some new approaches to the intellectual property rights question, such as the entrepreneur working for hire, since he or she has an idea but no funds.

“We would rather take a little on the front end and then take a payout down the road,” Osha said.

In the fall, the ODU Board of Visitors launched the ODU Innovation Foundation, which creates a safe harbor for entrepreneurs, Osha said, independent of the university and more flexible.

Examples of ventures via the foundation include sweat equity shops or industry “seeded” projects, conducted within the foundation.

ODU is looking at other ways to transform ideas into companies and profits, such as creating an express licensing program for university research to speed research to the commercial marketplace.

North Carolina created one in 2010 through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which is called the Carolina Express License Agreement.

Virginia doesn’t have one. But state officials at the Secretariat of Commerce and Trade are considering it, Osha said.

He also said they are considering the idea of subsidizing intellectual property and products.

Osha praised the draw of ODU’s Innovation Research Park, saying it creates a sense of place for entrepreneurs.

To bring people together, the park hosts a monthly event called “unWined.”

Continue reading »]]> Story by Rachel Judy for Regent University, posted January 12, 2012; photo by Alex Perry

As the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)—one of the nation’s top-ranked schools for undergraduate education—Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III understands the importance of innovation and education. Drawing upon his own experiences as a scholar and educator, Hrabowski spoke to a crowd of approximately 400 about this topic at Regent University’s Thursday, Jan. 12, Executive Leadership Series (ELS) luncheon.

Held each month, ELS brings together businessmen and women in Hampton Roads to hear from business and leadership experts such as Hrabowski.

Hrabowski’s remarks centered on the need for American society to encourage education coupled with hard work—the result being innovation and progress. He began with a story about his own mother’s introduction to literature as a teenager and spoke of how it changed her life. “The more she read, the better a reader she became, and the better reader she became, the more she enjoyed it,” he said.

Academically, the United States is up against nations such as China and India—known for producing a significant number of scholars in science and technology, he explained, and it is up to the United States to encourage its students to take their knowledge and education to the next level.

“We must teach [our students] the importance of hard work in addition to creativity,” he said of the United States.

Ultimately, he continued, “whatever it is that is really important to us as individuals, as a society, we will be known by that thing.”

At UMBC, Hrabowski and his faculty want students to be known for their hard work and creativity, and they work tirelessly to encourage them to apply these qualities to the things they’re passionate about. “If a student comes in with an interest in an area, it is our responsibility to help them succeed,” he explained.

When it comes to innovation—both in education and in other areas and industries—Hrabowski believes that it must start with asking questions. “A part of innovation has to do with asking the questions we’ve never asked,” he said. “It is our responsibility to ask good questions.” That, he said, starts with creating an environment that makes people feel comfortable asking questions.

Those questions lead to innovation in teaching and prompt students to stretch themselves and succeed.

As an educator, Hrabowski is convinced that education is important for the future of the United States and it is up to educators to promote it and improve it successfully. Quoting his mother, who herself became a teacher, he said, “I now understand that teachers touch eternity through their students.”

Hrabowski has served as president of UMBC since 1992. His research and publications focus on science and math education with special emphasis on minority participation and performance. In 2011, he received both the TIAA-CREF Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence and the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Academic Leadership Award, recognized by many as the nation’s highest awards among higher education leaders. Also in 2011, he was named one of seven Top American Leaders by The Washington Post and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership.

In 2009, Time magazine named him one of “America’s 10 Best College Presidents,” and in 2008, he was named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report.

PR/NEWS CONTACT:  Mindy Hughes, Public Relations, contact at (757) 352.4095 or mhughes@regent.edu.

Previous posts about Dr. Hrabowski.

Continue reading »]]> When:  February 7 to April 10, 2012, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.

Where:  Tidewater Community College, Regional Workforce Development Center, 7000 College Drive, Suffolk, VA

About the Seminar:  Contracting with the federal government, especially in the emerging Homeland Security and Defense industries, has many business opportunities… if you know the tricks of the trade. Only at the Government Contracting Business Management 2012 can you learn from top executives about what it takes to succeed in this growing field.

This is the fastest, smartest way to get the edge you need – perfect for transitioning military service members and civil servants, budding entrepreneurs, defense contractors or anyone planning to build a new career in government contracting.

What You Will Learn:

• Strategic Planning
• Marketing
• Proposal Development Process
• Contract Performance
• Contract Administration and Contract Accounting
• Government Customer Expectations
• How to Subcontract with Prime Contractors
• Profitability and Administration
• Employee Relations
• Small Business Resources

Register here