Create West Virginia

The Gateway New Economy Council is a group of volunteers in the Eastern Panhandle Region of West Virginia dedicated to serving as a catalyst to ensure the region will have the opportunity to participate fully in, and benefit from, the “New Economy” of the twenty-first century.

By Sarah Halstead

Inc. Magazine recently published its 2008 list of the 500 fastest-growing companies. Many West Virginians were proud to see beBetter Networks of Charleston ranked 15, and Innovative Management & Technology Services of Fairmont ranked 323 on the list. Morgantown’s Augusta Systems, Centra Bank Incorporated and KeyLogic Systems, and Advanced Technical Solutions of Scott Depot are on Inc.’s expanded list of 5,000 fastest growing companies.

Google Protea Biosciences Inc. and the first thing that comes up on your computer screen is “Click here to discover employment opportunities…”

That’s one proof that what proponents say of tech-based economic development is true: investment in university-based research results in private-sector jobs.

By Sarah Halstead

High tech businesses need ample broadband; cultivation of more New Economy businesses requires better broadband infrastructure.

"It took a while to build it, but we've completed the state’s biggest, fastest fiber optic Internet pipeline, offering customers a whopping 100 megabits of broadband," says Dave Armentrout, president and COO of FiberNet, a Charleston-based telecommunications firm.“ We’re especially happy about that because the service standard right now in West Virginia is 15 megabits.”

Drama of immense proportions may be unfolding this very moment inside Jack Smith’s head.  

Jack’s head, or more accurately his mind, is where randy electrons cruise at breakneck speeds, languid protons wait for a hookup, and molecule matchmakers such as himself calculate the perfect setup for a climax. The plot thickens. But not so fast…there’s this tremendous energy barrier…Jack turns the heat up, the molecules go crazy…and BAM!  They come together with tremendous force, they reach their peak, and the next thing you know, they’re bound.  You get a new polymer, and maybe an extra little sibling.