Yesterday, former Attorney General and current presumptive Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore announced his proposal for a Virginia Advanced Research Alliance.
"I hope to see in the future Virginia businesses locating at or around colleges and universities and partnering with those colleges and universities," Kilgore said. "I want to see Virginia lead the nation in research initiatives."
Under his proposed plan, Kilgore said he hopes to create a Governor's Research Partnership Fund to attract businesses to areas around universities to facilitate a partnership between the two. Kilgore also said his plan will further support implementation of the VORTEX broadband fiber optic network to link Virginia universities with state businesses.
"VORTEX is the telephone line to opportunities," Kilgore said. "Governor Warner announced it's creation, but implementation goes to the next governor."
According to Kilgore, Warner made a $2.4 million one-time contribution toward the VORTEX project. Warner then challenged universities and private companies to come up with an additional $6 million over the next five years.
This broadband network would make the economically poorer areas of southern Virginia more economically viable and attractive for various businesses, Kilgore said. He also added that it would improve the viability of a college in the southwestern region of Virginia."
For a university to work in south side, it will need linkage to other major universities in the beginning to help it get on its feet," Kilgore said.
Current Lieutenant Governor and presumptive Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tim Kaine does not disagree with Kilgore on the general importance of technology, but he discredits the Alliance proposed by Kilgore according to Jeff Kraus, deputy director of communications for the Kaine campaign."
It's ironic that the plan that Jerry Kilgore proposes would fail against the U.Va. honor code," Kraus said.
According to Kraus, almost every aspect of Kilgore's proposal is already being implemented.
"The Commonwealth Tech Research Fund, founded in 2000, has raised over the last three years $25.9 million to increase private and public funding for research projects and encourage partnerships between businesses and universities," Kraus said.
He further added that the current Warner-Kaine administration is already working on a partnership with Verizon to provide broadband access to vast areas of the Commonwealth.
Kraus also pointed out that it was the lieutenant governor who got the ball rolling on the South Side University Initiative in 2003."
The lieutenant governor went to the Danville Institute for Advanced Learning and Research and announced that we need to build a four-year state school in south side," Kraus said. "Families there do not have the option for their kids to get a four-year college education without sending them away and the jobs aren't there to bring them back."
Earlier this year, a report was released which questioned the need for a university in the south side. Kraus said Kilgore used the report to justify not building a university in south side.
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