The IDHS evolved following the release of Gov. Mark R. Warner's Commonwealth of Virginia Strategic Plan for Technology last fall and subsequent recommendations by the governor's Steering Committee on Research Capabilities and Centers of Excellence. A report by this committee, led by Virginia Tech president Charles Steger, was presented at Warner's Higher Education Research Summit in early May and resulted in the governor's challenge to Virginia's public and private universities to aim for a target of $1 billion in research and development expenditures by the end of the decade.
George C. Newstrom, Virginia's Secretary of Technology, and John O. Marsh Jr., former Secretary of the Army, will serve as co-chairs of the IDHS executive committee. Additional members of the panel include current and former federal officials from defense or homeland security agencies, Virginia cabinet and university officials, and industry representatives from research- and technology-intensive companies in Virginia.
"The Virginia Research & Technology Advisory Commission [VRTAC] advised the development of unified statewide research priorities to enhance the commonwealth's competitive advantages," said John Backus, managing director of the Draper Atlantic Venture Capital Fund and VRTAC co-chair. "IDHS emerged as a compelling way to unite Virginia's wide array of technology expertise in the pursuit of answers to immediate national security and defense challenges."
