Vision Hampton Roads GOAL:

With proper foresight, continuous planning and dynamic economic

development, Hampton Roads will be recognized internationally as
a region fueled by Innovation, Intellectual and Human Capital,
Infrastructure and a Sense of Place.

Vision Hampton Roads: Innovation Task Force

“Failure is not an option, it's a requirement.”

Date and Time: Monday, November 29, 2010 @ 3:00pm

Location: VMASC, Room 2100A
1. Welcome, Introductions – Chair Joe Bouchard called the meeting to order, gave the welcome
and invited members to introduce themselves:
Lee Beach Rick Lally
Bill Bean Gretchen LeFever
Judy Begland Larry Lombardi
Dan Bell Jeff Maisey
Joe Bouchard Donna Morris
Greg Byrd Tom Osha
Ellen Diggs Mike Provance
Doug Dwoyer Bob Rea
Tim Early Missy Schmidt
Jarrett Early Jim Schultz
Karen Eck John Smolak
Kenny Golden Bill Wasilenko
Scott Hall Bob Williams
Zohir Handy Terry Woodworth
Marty Kaszubowski Mike Yazkowsky
Cynthia Keppel

2. Communication – Messaging
Marketing is a big need, and there is just no budget for it currently. We’re relying on vo-
lunteers for the present time.
• Showed the first draft of a PowerPoint Slide Show to begin socializing the transforma-
tion of Innovate!HamptonRoads™ (IHR) and creating buzz.
Comments: Who is the audience? Business-to-business, to start. Appears to be one level
too high and too short on specifics. What are the labs, the university assets? How does
that tie to innovation? Should play off clusters that exist with any specifics such as num-
bers of jobs, etc. The natural opening slide is #14 which features 200 yrs ago we were
agrarian, 100 years ago we were industrial, etc. Where is IdeaWorks? The name didn't
play well as we pursued EDA grants so it was eliminated for now. The perception was that
IdeaWorks was another organization. Others outside of the inner circle of IHR were con-
fused by the additional term and would like to see acronyms eliminated.
• Showed the first draft of a shorter “Commercial.”
Comments: Who is the audience? Again, business-to-business to start as we need to at-
tract investment and enthusiasm. Should always add “Virginia” to “Hampton Roads” as no
one knows us; this will be seen outside the area, too. I don't see entrepreneurs in that
message; we need to see their faces and hear their success stories in the message. I have
acronym choke and don't like the use of STEM. Can we show the great things that NASA
or JLab is doing versus just their logos. The greatest assets in Hampton Roads are our
people and skill sets and they need to be highlighted. This needs to be more business-
oriented; it is too educational and too research lab driven. These should be at bottom not
at top of the message. Incubation challenges that have been turned into successes should
be addressed.
Please email communication recommendations to Missy@HRP.org

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3. Framework for an incubation system in Hampton Roads
Primary focus at this stage is on the incubation system framework, i.e. defining the incu-
bation process, nurturing innovators and promoting entrepreneurship. Incubators are
programs and not buildings, and a regional approach makes the most sense.
A recent Syracuse NY study cited that companies working inside incubators grew faster
and larger than those outside. There is an intrinsically greater value to growing tech jobs
no matter the stakeholders industry. Everyone gains, including insurance, legal, etc.
Changing the entrepreneurial spirit here is key; failure in Hampton Roads is a “scarlet let-
ter” while in Silicon Valley, it is a badge of honor.
Technology Hampton Roads’ (THR) Hampton Incubator is thin on clients. They are sche-
duled to move into a new building which will offer wet lab facilities, be closer to more
universities and generate some revenue from rent. A new approach is that THR is the an-
gel investor in some companies which is not working here the way it does in places like
Orlando.
Where is the news? When the Hampton Incubator was first set up, reporters were hungry
for information. How do we get the popular press interested?
We could make entrepreneurship a practice area, like mod sim. We’re losing aeronautical
engineers and where do they go to work? Google coops them. Let’s give them an oppor-
tunity here on the east coast. Buzz is needed around this topic; we need good news sto-
ries. We need to focus on real problems and projects and channel students to "run" the
business in a real life scenario.
Can we stir up a community outside of the classroom; a club? A competition? They don't
exist here. How do we teach acting like an entrepreneur. William & Mary just opened a
Center for Entrepreneurship. http://mason.wm.edu/entrepreneurship/index.php
Knowledge worker young professionals, including entrepreneurs, have left the area. There
are examples of some that are here and they should be engaged: Grow Interactive ,
http://ThisIsGrow.com, in Norfolk; We Are Titans, http://www.WeAreTitans.net, moved
here from Silicon Valley. These are the kinds of young entrepreneurs to get engaged and
bring them to the table.
We need some big enticements at the local level, such as a tax incentive for new entre-
preneurs to get monetary help to spur economic development. The State needs to pitch
in, too.
The Innovation Research Park at ODU, http://www.irpodu.com, is designed for those who
graduate from incubator system. ipConfigure http://www.ipConfigure.com, an ODU grad-
uate, is an example of a success story there. The IRP fills a space in the incubation conti-
nuum. The purpose of the ODU Business Gateway is to fill the need for business-work-for-
hire not research-oriented work.
Great teachers and researchers don't make great business people. We have to define
what do I do if I’ve got a technology, but I need help to commercialize it. We must match
entrepreneurs and management talent with money. We have the facilities in the region,
we need people to fill them.
ODU has a broader network nationwide, which can help market Hampton Roads. We
need to take a few baby steps for success. Suggestion is to avoid federal or DoD money
and look for commercial ventures instead to aid in economic diversification. Wexford, a
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private equity firm, is looking at how to set up the system for funding eligibility. Hampton
Roads has the opportunity to answer the question: How could we best use that money?
Back to culture: there is a general openness on the west coast; the culture is very open
and sharing. The Hampton Roads economy, on the other hand, is based on a zero sum
game, i.e. with military and tourism. There is no benefit to collaboration, and in many in-
stances, there are rules against it. Innovate!HamptonRoads™ is certainly not about ignor-
ing the military or forsaking any pillars of the economy. But there is a tech benefit for
them as well with new technology developed. Exiting military make good CEOs and men-
tors, too.
The Franklin-Southampton Incubator is focused on mixed-use business services and would
like to collaborate more with ODU since their only education link currently is to Paul D.
Camp Community College.
Innovate!HamptonRoads™ (IHR) must develop a regional process for incubation and acce-
leration and put it in place at each incubator so that no matter what door an entrepre-
neur enters in the region, they have access to all of the region’s assets. Connectivity is
what is needed.
The Miami-Dade region is going through the same exercise as IHR right now. The St. Louis
metro’s innovation is singularly focused on Monsanto. Baltimore is focused on a medical
genome project. Chicago has big EDA support with big companies mentoring small com-
panies.
What are they few things we can articulate and draw people here to Hampton Roads?
The Hampton Roads Partnership (HRP) is to be applauded for their efforts, but the Hamp-
ton Roads Economic Development Alliance (HREDA) needs to be included. HREDA is the
sales force for Hampton Roads; they need to understand the clusters. What is the mes-
sage? What are they supposed to sell? HREDA can promote soft landings.
There are 27 sister-city relationships with Norfolk alone; that should be leveraged.
What is entrepreneurship to us in Hampton Roads? Is it promoting clusters or a type of
behavior? Or both? How do we create a buzz? What should we ask school superinten-
dents to put in place in schools? What is our shared concept?
Driving more new business startup is the narrow focus of entrepreneurship. Small busi-
nesses are stuck in neutral. There is real value in a regional approach and in setting the
bar, that we as a region believe entrepreneurism is our key to success. This atmosphere
and attitude is an excellent selling feature for HREDA.
If we are after a cultural change, then education certainly has to be brought into play.
The James City County Incubator may be too far away from the local scene. It was started
with four tech companies and when they graduated, no more have been identified. Their
successes have all been outside of the tech industry. They use a “category” methodology
now based on academic, relocation and soft-start international program (one from Malay-
sia and one from Australia). It is difficult for a single community to support an incubator.
If someone wants to start a company in Hampton Roads, do they really know where to
go? We need many components: SCORE, SBDC, a one-stop-shop regional incubator.
From the economic development department’s perspective, we need an ecosystem,
which takes entrepreneurs from point A to point B and provides access to the almost im-

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 possible such as finding CFO help or a CEO. The mentality needs to change; business lead-
ers in the community must buy-in to regional incubation needs.
HREDA should be here but IHR also needs to sit on HREDA’s marketing advisory commit-
tee. HREDA needs to know what is the message that Hampton Roads is and has to offer?
The municipal economic development offices need IHR to participate with HREDA’s MAC
to know what is going on.
Let’s think about how to do this regionally? From the discussion today, we have all of the
elements to get entrepreneurs up and running.
A classic example of being inefficient is if each incubator tries to do everything them-
selves, such as identifying mentors. They all have similar needs, but they can't afford to do
it all themselves. This is what we hope IdeaWorks can do, developing roles and objectives
for the incubators in a virtual incubation network to promote commercializing research
innovations.
We need to setup smaller working committees around incubation. Ideally, IHR could fi-
nancially support the incubators, seek funding as a whole and provide region-wide re-
sources. Anyone could help play a role in developing this system. It is not necessary for
every incubator to do everything the same way, but we need a common regional process.
Anyone should be able to walk into any incubator in Hampton Roads and be engaged in
the same network.
Have other metros been examined such as Pittsburgh’s transformation from a steel town?
A fairly thorough study of the state of entrepreneurism here in comparison to peer re-
gions was conducted for the Vision Hampton Roads document:
http://hrp.org/Site/docs/Publications/Hampton_Roads_Entrepreneurism_Assessment_2010.pdf
Intangibles are important, too. The cultural heritage elements of an area are what draws
younger people; adding some “hip” factor entertainment came out very clearly in the en-
trepreneurship research. Quality of life factors cannot be overstated. Other forms of crea-
tive entrepreneurship should be attracted, too. The Neptune Festival’s sand sculpting
competition cannot be overlooked as part of the Hampton Roads unique “cool” factor.
There is a huge potential pool here with the over 50 creative types, too, not just 20- and
30-somethings. We need a “sizzle” effort to focus on the buzz here to support IHR’s effort.
Sense of Place has to be focused on; it is important.
How do we create a pipeline of (hopefully) homegrown people with an entrepreneurial
background from K-12?
Money is the issue and transportation is a huge thing. If we do not solve that problem,
nothing else we do will matter. Where are the bankers at the table? Should they be at the
next meeting?
4. Committees
Important ideas came from the discussion today. We need to flesh them out further and
put plans into action.

5. Actions/Next Steps
TBD. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

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ADDENDUM
A follow-up meeting held on December 3, 2010 determined next steps. Attendees:
Joe Bouchard
Dana Dickens
Doug Dwoyer
Marty Kaszubowski
Rick Lally
Donna Morris
Missy Schmidt

A. Incubator Committee
The following people will be tasked with creating a draft program of “Incubation on Pur-
pose” or “Incubation & Acceleration in a Box” based on the needs and assets of Hamp-
ton Roads and focused on proactive commercialization: Marty Kaszubowski, Lead; Tim
Early; Bill Bean; Bob Rea, and Tom Osha. This draft will then be reviewed with the com-
plete Incubators group for refinement or concurrence. For consideration is the need for
a uniform Hampton Roads Incubator Assessment which includes jurisdictional special
requirements.
B. Identification of Resources
Recognizing that little to no funds are available for marketing, additional resources, in-
cluding volunteers, are needed. Dan Bell (Canon), who has volunteered his time and tal-
ents to help with crafting the message (slideshow and commercial shown), is also
charged with identifying and inviting additional people and organizations to the table.
C. Entrepreneurs
1. A Hampton Roads Entrepreneurs Meet-Up (or Meet-ups, as needed) will be sche-
duled to brainstorm with some of the region’s entrepreneurs (not service providers) to
define, diversify and develop what Hampton Roads’ entrepreneurial culture
should/could look like and how do we get there? A hip local entrepreneur will be ap-
proached for hosting as it was felt this would be more meaningful as a grassroots effort.
2. Reaching out to and connecting the right people is important to the success of
Innovate!HamptonRoads™. Anyone who knows of an existing or potential entrepreneur
or other person or organization of interest, please email the contact information to
Missy@HRP.org.
D. Strategic Communication and Marketing
1. A meeting was held this week with Drew Ungvarsky of Grow Interactive to discuss
messaging to create buzz. Drew offered two examples:
- Raleigh Denim http://vimeo.com/13517107
- Detroit Lives (if you only watch one part, watch the first one)
http://www.palladiumboots.com/exploration/detroit
2. Jim Schultz and Marty Kaszubowski volunteered to work on initial messaging script.
3. Website is under construction. All content suggestions and volunteers are appre-
ciated. Template will be similar to http://PlugAndPlayTechCenter.com.
4. Please find attached a one-sheet: What is InnovateHamptonRoads™.