Years ago, before Janelia Farms had even been announced I used to argue with the President of Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology (the inverted pyramidal building out by Dulles) that inevitably Northern Virgnia would become not only a center for basic science research, but that science would eclipse technology as the engine for the regional economy. My reasons then are the same as they are now: the demographics of the region (both in terms of income and education) would in fact constrain the growth path.
Echoing Vannevar Bush’s report to FDR “Science the Endless Frontier”, science is an enabler for technology and for economic growth (to say nothing about public health)–not vice versa. If a region has the basic R&D enterprises, then the satellite growth in technology and related fields has a solid base upon which to grow itself. Without that sold base, technology development is brittle and can easily tank in response to the whims of the equity markets.
Mason is now perfectly positioned to be one of the three legs for the stool upon which Northern Virgnia science growth can fuel the rest of the regional economy (the others being INOVA and HHMI’s Janelia Farms). That’s a good position to be in, and it makes for an exciting time for those of us at Krasnow.
Jim
Discoverers and Discoveries 