Create West Virginia

Catching Creative Economy Dreams

There are a handful of creative economy pioneers in West Virginia who are still going strong. Scot Jackson and his Dreamcatcher web services firm, launched in Charleston in 1996, are certainly among those who have blazed the high-tech trail within this industry segment.

Scot and his growing staff were profiled in the Charleston Gazette-Mail. We're also pleased to note that Dreamcatcher was selected to re-design the createwv.com web site, which (fingers crossed) should be completed this fall to enhance our ability to stay connected and share new economy best practices and ideas across the state.

Scot is also a major supporter of West Virginia's creative economy growth and finding ways to hire great local talent. "The push for creative business is a good thing. Most [local creative talent] want to stay," he said. "We try to figure out a way to use them."

There are creative, web-centric businesses like Dreamcatcher popping up all over West Virginia, some in places many would not expect. For example, Matterhorn Marketing, an Internet search engine optimization and marketing firm focused on the tourism industry, is based in Hico.

The beauty of these growing businesses is their ability to locate themselves almost anywhere and serve markets within West Virginia and beyond. The major growth inhibitors aren't necessarily tax related or legal climate (although we certainly agree those need work); it is the ability to find or attract the creative talent required to fuel these businesses. That's why Create WV and others are championing West Virginia's need to improve and market our "quality of place," those tangible and intangible characteristics that make a place attractive for young talent to thrive.

With this model, the economic development slogan shifts somewhat to "build it and they will come" to "they (creative entrepreneurs) will come and build it."

Appy + World = Culturefest 2008

Culturefest is a world music and arts festival at the Appalachian South Folklife Center in Pipestem, WV, which celebrates the culture of Appalachia alongside that of the nations of the world.  The goal of the festival is to promote respect and understanding, with music and art being the bridge. The festival offers world music, hip hop, blues,

In its fifth year, the festival presents numerous top-quality music acts and dance performances from around the world, ethnic food, artisan vendors,  a children’s village, drum circles,  demonstrations and workshops.  This year’s Culturefest will be held September 19-21 at the beautiful Appalachian South Folklife Center in Pipestem, West Virginia, offering 3 full days of fine West Virginia camping, entertainment and cultural enrichment. 

A weekend pass is only $30, and daily passes are just $15. You can purchase tickets online.

The festival is run by the same folks who run the RiffRaff Arts Collective in Princeton, WV. You'll meet these young, creative entrepreneurs at the Create WV 2008 Conference October 20-22. But before you head to Snowshoe, make sure you experience the amazing talent lineup at Culturefest!

New Songs, New Talent Found by WV Group

For the past seven years, NewSong has been a highly respected source for discovering, nurturing and launching new singer-songwriter talent to the world. Through an array of contests, events and academies, NewSong encourages new musical artists to spread their wings and reach new heights.

NewSong, which is owned by investors in West Virginia and New York, has helped launch numerous artists. You can find a sample on YouTube or the NewSong web site.

NewSong has crafted a highly successful partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting's own Mountain Stage. You will often hear NewSong contest winners on a Mountain Stage show, and the two organizations have partnered to deliver the Mountain Stage NewSong Contest in the United States and Canada. Regional contests have been, or are being, held in cities around the country such as Austin, TX, Atlanta, Chicago, LA, and New York City.

We were thrilled to learn that Huntington's Jeff Ellis was the winner of the Southeast Regional contest in Atlanta. Congratulations Jeff!

The Mountain Stage NewSong Contest culminates with the final competition right here in West Virginia on October 11. The finals will be held at the Cultural Center in Charleston, with the winner debuting on Mountain Stage the very next night.

We encourage everyone in West Virginia to consider coming to support this great event with such a powerful national reputation for discovering and developing new creative talent! Watch for ticket information on the NewSong site for the finals contest, and the Mountain Stage site for the October 12 show. 

For those considering attending the Create WV Conference Oct 20-22, 2008, at Snowshoe Mountain Resort, consider this a teaser that you might find some NewSong talent in the lineup. 

Got Funding?

Do you have a great idea or project that needs financial support? A new business? A public-private partnership that needs some investment?

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, in partnership with Create WV, is holding an exciting "seed capital matchmaking" event at the 2nd Annual Create WV Conference at Snowshoe Mountain Resort on Wednesday, October 22, 2008. The purpose of the event is to introduce business, social, and community entrepreneurs who have solid business plans with potential funders from banks, private investors and other sources.

"Our goal is to help cultivate early stage projects that benefit communities," said Courtney Mailey, Regional Community Development Manager for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, whose responsibility covers most of West Virginia. "We want to connect people with well-developed ideas and projects with the funding sources to help bring these projects to reality." The event will run from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m on Wednesday, October 22, immediately following the Create WV Conference.

Entrepreneurs will gain experience by spending 10-15 minutes with potential funding partners to pitch their investment opportunity. Seed capital investors will benefit from the opportunity to see a number of high-potential business plans in a single event.

In preparation for the October 22 event, which is a "post-conference" component of the Create WV 2008 Conference (www.createwv.com) running October 20-22, the Federal Reserve will be holding three regional business planning presentation seminars in Athens, Fairmont, and Charleston on September 9, 10, and 11, respectively. The purpose is to ensure a strong pipeline of entrepreneurs with business plans ready for the matchmaking event.

"It's important to note that communities are eligible for this event, not just individual business entrepreneurs," said Jeff James, Chairperson of Create WV. "The Federal Reserve has been a key partner in West Virginia to help stimulate creative, bold projects to help communities embrace the new economy. This resource matchmaking event is a fantastic opportunity for local leaders to identify and fill gaps in funding to move forward."

Register for the business planning presentations by contacting Courtney Mailey at [email protected] or call 804-697-8778 today!

To register for the Seed Capital Matchmaking event, simply register for the Create WV Conference at www.createwvevents.com!

WV Companies Earn Badge of Growth Honor

To be the top 500 in anything in this world, you have to be pretty good. While the Fortune 500 is the most respected list of large corporations, the Inc. 500 is the prestigious of the fastest-growing small companies. Such names as Microsoft, E*Trade and Domino's Pizza are just a few of the now-large companies that have appeared on the list.

We would like to congratulate the two West Virginia companies on this year's Inc. 500 list: #15 beBetter Networks and and #323 Innovative Management and Technology Services (IMTS).

beBetter Networks of Charleston, lead by CEO Ralph Gaines, ended up #1 in growth in the healthcare category with a blistering 6600% growth rate over a three year period. beBetter provides wellness programs for companies that help their employees live a healthier lifestyle, thereby reducing costs and increasing productivity.

IMTS, based in Fairmont, provides advanced computer services using grid technologies to the federal government and leading integrators. IMTS, which grew 889% in three years, is one of several growing tech companies in West Virginia's North Central technology region.

Other highly rated growth companies in West Virginia who made the broader Inc. 5000 list included Morgantown-based Centra Bank, August Systems, and KeyLogic Systems, and Scott Depot-based Advanced Technical Solutions.

For West Virginia to grow out of the basement in categories such as job growth, entrepreneurial vibrancy and household income, we need a bucket load of "gazelle" (fast-growth) startup companies like these to permeate all parts of West Virginia. We encourage our state business and government community to make stimulation of a healthy entrepreneurial community our #1 priority.

Why is this so important? First, these companies are based in West Virginia and can make decisions that support their community and state. One of the challenges West Virginia faces is that it has very few healthy, profitable, growing companies based here. Almost all major banks are headquartered outside the state, as are most large coal and energy companies. This impacts the charitable and community giving priorities, as well as the business decisions these firms make when it difficult decisions need made.

Second, fast-growing companies can influence the image of a region. What was Seattle before Microsoft? Primarily a manufacturing and defense contracting town (Boeing) with high unemployment. One company can have a huge influence on the image and growth of new industry segments.

Congratulation to this year's Inc. 500 winners, and here's hoping we see even more in future versions of the list!

Disrupting Class-Chapter 6 "Language Dancing"

Dr. Johnson was kind enough to send me a new book so I am back on track with chapter summaries.  This chapter discusses changes that must occur before school starts, during ages 0-4.  A chapter on early childhood education may seem out of place, more appropriate for a textbook on parenting or child development.  But if you consider that "by some estimates, 98 percent of education spending occurs after the basic intellectual capacities of children have been mostly determined", I think you will agree that this subject is very relevant.  And what is most relevant at this stage of a child's development is "language dancing", where the parents are "engaged face to face with the infant and speak in a fully adult, sophisticated, chatty language-as if the infant were listening, comprehending and fully responding to the comments..It is deliberate, uncompromised, personal adult conversation...It is talking about 'what ifs,' 'do you remember,' shouldn't you,' wouldn't it be better if,' and so on.  These often take the form of questions that invite infants to think deeply about what is happening around them.  Language dancing entails chattiness, thinking aloud, and commenting on what the child is doing and on what the parent is doing and planning...Other scholars have shown that the most powerful factor influencing reading skills is auditory processing skill-the very skill that is honed as infants listen to parents speak to them in sophisticated, adult language."  Furthermore, the children whose parents did not speak seriously to their children until their children could speak, at roughly 12 months, suffered persistent deficit in intellectual capacity, compared to those whose parents ere talkative from the beginning.  (By some estimates, by age 36 months, children of talkative parents had heard 48 million words)

This is based on the research of Todd Risley and Betty Hart  http://www.childrenofthecode.org/interviews/pdfs/Risley.pdf

According to them, "80 percent of the variation in public school performance results from family effects such as those summarized above, not school effects."   Most importantly, their findings indicated that "the level of income, ethnicity, and level of parents' education had no explanatory power in determining the level of cognitive capacity that the children achieved.  It is all explained by the amount of language dancing that the parents engaged in."

"By age 4, the best can be expected from education or intervention programs is to keep less advantaged children from falling further behind."

West Virginia Building its Research Muscles

Some exciting announcements on steps forward in West Virginia's quest to become a more significant player in university research. As many of you are aware, a strong R&D infrastructure is critical to economic growth in today's innovation economy.

First, WVU unveiled its new Health Sciences Learning Center and the WVU Erma Byrd Biomedical Research Center. According to the State Journal, the $42 million facility will house the Sensory Neurosciences Research Center, the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Cardiovascular Sciences and researchers from the School of Pharmacy. In 2009-10 it will also house the Multiple Sclerosis and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Center.

Not to be outdone, our state's second major research institution, Marshall University, has brought their integrated research leader on board, Dr. Eric Kmiec.In January 2009, he will join Marshall University as the first Director and Lead Research Scientist for the Marshall Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (MIIR). Dr. Kmiec will be responsible for assembling the team of interdisciplinary research scientists who will comprise the core of the Institute.

From WV Public Broadcasting's WV Morning show, where you can listen to an interview with Dr. Kmiec:

He is currently a Professor of Biology at the University of Delaware and Director of Applied Genomics at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute.  He is also a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of OrphageniX, Inc., an innovative biotechnology company focused on correcting genes that cause "orphan diseases."

He is widely recognized as a pioneer of gene repair, a technique in which synthetic DNA molecules are used to patch or repair mutations in human chromosomes.  He has trained numerous post docs and graduate students in the field of molecular medicine.

Dr. Kmiec is the recipient of numerous research and community service awards.  Research in his laboratory is supported through funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), private research foundation and the State of Delaware. He is the owner of more than 60 issued patents or patent applications and  founded several biotechnology companies, is a Managing Editor of Frontiers in Bioscience, and has recently joined the editorial board of Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

 

Huntington Gets Even Greener

Richard Cobb is an advocate for Cabell County's neighborhoods. He is the chairperson of the Huntington Human Relations Commission, a member of the executive committee of the Cabell-Huntington Chapter of the NAACP and a past citizen member of the Herald-Dispatch Editorial Board. He founded Adopt YOUR Block - Be a Litter-Gitter, a litter abatement group that now numbers more than 1,400 community volunteers.  In 2006, Richard was a recipient of the national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service.

Each resident of Huntington and Cabell County, who has joined the mission to make the area clean and green, has pledged to keep just the block on which they live free and clear of cigarette butts and litter. They focus on eliminating litter - one block at a time.  To date, the volunteers have removed over 250-tons of litter from their streets.  Plans include an advertising and educational campaign that will focus on changing the attitude and behavior of individuals who senselessly litter the area and state.

The group is now participating in the collaborative effort of the Create Huntington organization and are proud to be a part of this creative force of community political and business leaders, business, civic and fraternal organizations, along with private citizens. For more information, check out Richard's "Neighborhood Issues in Huntington and Cabell County" blog at http://media.herald-dispatch.com/blog/cobb/.

The Questions, My Friend?

On June 23, 2008, I posted an article called, “The Answer, My Friend?”  Its focus was wind energy as an alternative to mountain top removal mining.  Obviously, the title winks and tips its hat to Dylan; but it also paved the way for today’s post, “The Questions, My Friend?” 

Ken Ward writes in the Gazette today about the coal forum event engaging wind energy advocates and the coal industry:  “Dueling campaigns like the Coal Forum and the Coal River Wind Project offer competing views not just of the answers to the nation's energy problems, but conflicting ideas of what the questions themselves should be.”

Ward is right on the money.  Continued wrangling about the same old questions is intellectually and practically bankrupt.  New frameworks and fresh questions are necessary to propel West Virginians and the nation into the kind of innovation and problem solving necessary in the face of the 21^st century crucible of energy, environment, and economy.

Is it time to get serious about reforming the coal industry, or is it time to get serious about abandoning it for alternatives?  Or neither?  What are the short and long term consequences of the many different directions available to us?  Create West Virginia is committed to bringing open, honest dialogue to bear on these questions.  That is the dynamic we want to strike at the annual conference in October (see www.createwv.com for registration).  There will be a special breakout session on these questions and more, featuring top representatives of both the coal industry and of alternative energy.

It is going to take all of us to establish the right questions, and then to answer them with integrity and vision.  We hope you will come to conference ready to help rebuild the conversation about West Virginia’s future in these areas.  Please also post your thoughts here!

Posted by: Elizabeth Damewood Gaucher

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200808181550

Making a New Generation of Innovators

One of the most exciting speakers at this year's Create WV Conference is Dale Dougherty. You may not have heard of him, but those in the publishing and Internet worlds certainly do. He was the co-founder of O'Reilly Media, one of the earliest and largest publishers of computer and software manuals. Today, he is credited with coining the term "Web 2.0" and is the publisher of one of the hottest new tech/innovation magazines, Make.

Dougherty spotted a new trend in 2002 that incorporated many diverse elements:

• Powerful, cheap electronics
• A software development and "hacker" community
• The crafting industry
• The green/recycling rage

The result? Make magazine, called a "recipe book of invention" by Forbes. It now has a paid circulation of 120,000 and is growing fast. Even more impressive, "Maker Faires" are popping up all over the country (one in San Mateo, CA, drew 65,000).

Dougherty says that "stuff", or physical objects, are becoming as customizable as software. He believes from innovative hobbyists will spring new technologies, companies and industries. "Why can't I do to my car what I do to my computer," he says. "We're seeing the collision of computers and stuff."

This is a keynote that you don't want to miss. We're even going to have a mini-Maker session of our own at the conference. What ramifications does the intersection of the physical and digital have for West Virginia and our heritage of handmade "stuff"?