The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce awarded UVA President John Casteen the 2009 Paul G. McIntire Citizenship Award on Wednesday, November 17 at its annual dinner.
Casteen, who will retire from his role at the University after 20 years next August, began what may be called his farewell tour. Casteen’s speech centered on the need to enhance local entrepreneurship and combine it with academic resources available at UVA, as well as strengthening interaction between agencies.
“One of the things that I do think we need to think about from time to time is the extent to which, we, citizens of Charlottesville, residents of this region, depend on one another,” he said.
Casteen, 65, is one of the longest-serving presidents in the nation. He began his academic journey at UVA in 1961, as a 17-year-old freshman. After taking a job as the president of the University of Connecticut, Casteen came back to Charlottesville and became president of the University in 1990.
In front of an audience of about 400 members of the area’s business community, Casteen laid out his thoughts, concerns and hopes for the future of the region.
Fundamentally, Charlottesville could become the epicenter of environmental and entrepreneurial progress, he said. But there are still obstacles to overcome and technologies to perfect. In fact, Casteen argued that “there is something fundamentally amiss in the model nationwide with the transfer of technology from university laboratories to entrepreneurial companies that develop those technologies,” he said. “In a sense, if we find that solution, we can make that a Charlottesville-branded thing.”
For almost his entire career at UVA, he said, Casteen has worked to improve and bolster this very transfer.
“We have the capacity to find out how to solve problems involved with technology transfer. It’s doesn’t have to happen in MIT labs. It doesn’t all have to happen at Cal Tech,” Casteen said. “A great deal of it can and should be happening right here.”
Ultimately, Casteen said the region needs to be able to launch more start-ups. Last March, UVA Darden School of Business hosted the first annual Venture Summit, a showcase aimed at the venture community at-large.
Casteen sees a growth opportunity in the environment.
“There ought to be a kind of Charlottesville stamp on a technology for green roofs, with practical and domestic structures; there ought to be a kind of Charlottesville stamp on alternative fuel that will represent the coincidences of interests between our communities and our academic community,” he said.
“It’s time now to begin putting the pieces together,” he told the audience at Boar’s Head Inn. “It is time for another American renaissance.”
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