Trade mission considered a success
By Mary Wade Burnside
FAIRMONT - Officials at some high-tech Washington, D.C., firms now have a better idea what the state has to offer after a rade mission gave them tours of business such as the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation (WVHTC).
The two-day event took participants first to the Eastern Panhandle where they met with Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who created the Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation (www.drwvfoundation.org) that sponsored the trade mission, and then to North Central West Virginia.
“I think the general impression I got from people was that they were pleasantly surprised by the resources provided here and where we are at from an infrastructure standpoint, and Class A office space that they would step into and occupy isn’t a long start-up to get up and running here in North Central West Virginia,” said Brad DeRoos, vice president of the Scientific Research Group for the WVHTC.
DeRoos was one of the presenters in Fairmont and met with officials from Booz Allen Hamilton, a McLean, Va.-based consulting firm.
The Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation headed up the trade mission and Rockefeller attended some of the initial events held in Shepherdstown, said Jessica Stanton, a spokeswoman in the senator’s Charleston office.
A specific focus for the trade mission was biometrics and homeland security, she noted. Members of the I-79 Development Council and its project, the West Virginia Biometric Initiative, also took part in the activities.
“I thought it was well-received, and I think people were surprised to find out the level of business activity and the level of expertise that companies in West Virginia possess in terms of the broad topic of homeland security,” said Mike Kirkpatrick, the executive director of the West Virginia Biometrics Initiative.
The idea behind the trade mission was to show D.C.-area businesses that the state is a place where they could consider relocating or for expansion purposes.
“A gentleman I talked to, I asked his impression of his visit to West Virginia, and he said he was very pleased,” said Bob McLaughlin, president of the I-79 Development Council. “He said this was one of the best informational trips he has ever been on. They got the chance to talk to a lot of companies and a lot of owners or CEOs or presidents of companies.”
In addition to Booz Allen, officials visited from companies that included Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Corp., and Armor Holdings.
Those officials toured the West Virginia University Research Park, the WVU College of Engineering & Mineral Resources and the National Biometric Security Project, all in Morgantown, and in Fairmont, Azimuth Inc. and the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation.
A hope would be that businesses would expand to the area and collaborate with existing ones.
“One of the big messages that came from Mike (Kirkpatrick) and myself was that they will find a very collaborative working environment here,” DeRoos said.
DeRoos did not know if any progress on that end was made during the trade mission, and Estep was not available for comment Friday.
But participants were hopeful that in the future, something will come out of the meetings.
“What you try to do on things like this is plant a seed that West Virginia has the capabilities and that companies and workers here have certain expertise, and hope the next time the companies have a need for that expertise, they will think of us and connect with someone here in the state to help them solve a problem,” Kirkpatrick said.
