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For anyone who ever wanted to be a professional computer hacker (or one of the guys who stops them) a new WV Forward Report suggests there’s never been a better time. The report, titled “Strategy for Economic Development and Growth,” noted 5 percent growth in the IT (information technology) field nationwide. That field includes cybersecurity, where computer whizzes work to protect company information from hackers, thieves and digital criminals of all kinds. WVU Senior Associate Vice President For Academic and Public Strategy Rocky Goodwin said that of the potential areas of growth noted in the report, cybersecurity is among the most promising.

The increasing national backlog of security clearance approval hinders West Virginia’s ability to take advantage of one of the nation’s fasting growing economic sectors, prompting two development groups to convene a discussion Friday with Senator Joe Manchin, representatives from the office of Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and array of government officials and industry to discuss how to chip away at the buildup. West Virginia Forward, a collaboration of West Virginia University, the state Department of Commerce and Marshall University, joined with Discover the Real West Virginia to bring together Manchin, West Virginia National Guard members, congressional delegation representatives, government officials, business and industry executives and higher education leaders.

Hoping to speed up the move from idea to application, West Virginia University and 23 other regional institutions have come together to create a “virtual hub” that will ultimately help speed the commercialization of groundbreaking university research. WVU, as part of its commitment to create and support a strong entrepreneurial culture in the state, will collaborate with XLerateHealth, a small business that focuses on healthcare technology startups and commercialization. The hub will help accelerate cutting-edge biomedical technologies and products move from the laboratory into the marketplace and commercialize new innovation in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare IT and electronics.

West Virginia University has taken another step forward in beefing up its entrepreneurship ecosystem with the Board of Governors having approved the creation of the College of Business and Economics Startup Engine. The startup engine is intended to help new businesses hone their ideas further and develop mentor relationships and partner with existing businesses. It is also meant to build upon WVU’s role as an R1 research institution while complementing the other 14 business support entities on campus.

An op-ed by Charles McElwee: The WV Public Education Collaborative and WV Forward, in collaboration with and financial support of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, will host a day-long, invitation-only forum in Charleston on Oct. 9, having as its theme, “Focus Forward: Preparing Today for the West Virginia of Tomorrow Understanding the Impact of Machine Learning on People, Education and Policy.” The forum will have speakers and panelists addressing various relevant aspects of the theme and conclude with the question, “Where do we go from here: Translating trends to policy,” involving Presidents Gordon Gee of WVU and Jerome Gilbert of Marshall University, and people involved in state leadership roles.

West Virginia University continues to be part of a multimillion dollar effort across a 10-university alliance to support STEM education for underrepresented students in Appalachia. Funded for a third phase by a five-year, $3.5 million National Science Foundation grant beginning fall 2018, the Kentucky-West Virginia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation will examine underrepresented students’ perceptions of science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines and careers and work to improve recruitment, retention and graduation rates of these students. Focused on undergraduate underrepresented students, the grant will continue to support experiential learning, stipends, workshops research activities and other activities at the alliance institutions.

West Virginia University’s Center for Excellence in STEM Education and West Virginia Forward are working to improve STEM education while encouraging more students to study disciplines that will help build the state’s manufacturing talent pipeline. A new partnership with MakerMinded, designed and launched in 2016 by LIFT – Lightweight Innovations For Tomorrow, will connect middle school and high school students with cutting-edge STEM and manufacturing learning experiences.

Hindered by access to high-quality healthcare, West Virginia children demonstrate some of the worst health outcomes in the nation. Over 25 percent of West Virginia children live in poverty. Many rural communities do not have nearby OB-GYN providers, let alone hospitals. Moreover, West Virginia has the highest rate of opioid drug overdoses in the nation. To address these challenges, Simon Haeder, an assistant professor of political science, and Sara Anderson, an assistant professor of child development and family studies, have been selected to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Program.

Experts examined how a big part of West Virginia’s economic potential could come from downstream natural gas development at the state’s Economic Outlook Conference on Wednesday, October 3, 2018. The panel discussion featured leaders in business and energy, including WVU Energy Institute Director Brian Anderson, who said business, government and community leaders must take advantage of the economic opportunities connected to development of natural gas now.

West Virginia has the lowest rate of business start-ups in the country, and that's a problem, according to Terrell Ellis, executive director of Advantage Valley, a nonprofit regional marketing and strategic initiative organization. Advantage Valley's mission is to foster and facilitate regional growth and advancement opportunities for businesses, communities and residents in the Charleston-Huntington Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Tackling the relatively low rate of start-ups in the region is one factor the group hopes to change.