Biotechnologists and life scientists could be players in the U.S.’s defense and intelligence worlds, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, told a group gathered on Wednesday in Roanoke.
Warner was part of a roundtable at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion, where he heard a lot about the Roanoke-Blacksburg region’s growth over the past decade. Warner, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the group that one of his jobs is to try to broaden the definition of national security beyond tanks, guns, ships and planes.
It is increasingly about who is going to dominate in a variety of technology domains, including bioscience, genetic sequencing and the like, he said. There is a competition with China, which apparently is leading in using science for intelligence purposes, he said. Virginia has the brainpower to help the U.S. catch up, he said.
“And there is a rush, and I think you’re going to see a lot of funding rushing this way,” he said, adding that he could work to get “the right folks” from the defense and intelligence communities together with a group from Roanoke to make a pitch about this region’s possibilities.
The Roanoke visit was part of the senator’s swing down Interstate 81 and U.S. 460 to multiple localities this week for a round of information gathering and discussions.
The trip included technology- and science-centric stops in Buena Vista and Roanoke, along with visits to Harrisonburg, Staunton and Lynchburg. He concluded his tour on Wednesday at Fralin Biomedical.
In that session, Warner discussed Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed “Virginia’s Research Triangle” plan, which would allocate $90 million to university-based programs including the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Tech. Fralin Biomedical would be in line for $27 million.
The General Assembly budget proposal on Youngkin’s desk preserves that funding, to be administered by the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority. The ripple effect could be more like a wave, according to Warner. For example, the federal Economic Development Administration selected the Richmond-Petersburg region, with participation from Virginia Tech, as a Tech Hub — eligible to apply for the next phase in a program that will invest between $50 million and $75 million in each of at least five regions.
“If in that [state] budget is $90 million for the creation of the Research Triangle between UVa, Tech and VCU … that kind of … commitment really strengthens our Tech Hub application,” Warner said. “Because candidly, we wouldn’t even be in the game, if you don’t have [a] $90 million to $100 million range of state support or private sector support. You’re not going to win one of these Tech Hubs. So I want to thank the administration and the governor for those efforts.”
At any rate, the term “Research Triangle,” already famous in North Carolina, is obsolete in the commonwealth. Michael Friedlander, executive director of Fralin Biomedical, showed a graphic that included Old Dominion University in Norfolk, as well as enterprises in Alexandria and Washington, D.C. It became more than three, he said.
“And so then it was a quadrangle, now it’s a polygon, I’m not sure what it will end up being called,” he said.
Warner heard presentations from people including Friedlander and tech startup leaders Rob Gourdie (Tiny Cargo) and Sarah Snider (BEAM Diagnostics Inc.). On Tuesday in Buena Vista, the senator was front and center for most of the event at the former Mundet-Hermetite factory, a cigarette paper printer that closed in 2015.
The building now houses a nascent agriculture tech incubator called the Virginia Innovation Accelerator. The building, run by business accelerator The Advancement Foundation, is home to some ag tech and small manufacturing startups, with plans to add amenities including retail, food and beverage, according to its website.
Warner toured the building. Afterward, he spoke about such topics as Congress finalizing the federal budget last week to avert a government shutdown, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the U.S.’s technological competition with China, including what he said were potential threats from the social media site TikTok, before taking questions from visitors.
“And I think I already picked up six new business plans, [from people] trying to hit me up not as a senator but as the former venture capitalist,” Warner said.
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