Research and Innovations to Support Empowerment (RISE) Campus™

The Enterprise and Empowerment Foundation of Norfolk State University

Transforming Hampton Roads Region via Strategic Alliances, Applied Research, &Technological Innovations

 

What is the RISE Campus™? Managed by the Enterprise and Empowerment Foundation of Norfolk State University, the RISE Campus™ will be a strategic hub for the applied research and technological innovations that will position Norfolk State University, the City of Norfolk, and the entire Hampton Roads region as a key high-technology gateway for the southeastern United States. The Hampton Roads region includes the Cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Poquoson, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, and the Counties of Gloucester, James City, and York.

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Where is the RISE Campus™?

The RISE Campus™ is located in southeastern Virginia within the City of Norfolk, hailed by Money Magazine as “The South’s #1 big city to live in”. It is also just a short distance from the 29 miles of Atlantic beaches that border the Hampton Roads region. The economy of the Hampton Roads region continues to evolve into one with a distinctive high-technology-orientation. With a population approaching 1.6 million, it is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Southeast United States, and the largest between Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, more than two-thirds of the nation’s population and a majority of the nation’s markets are within a 750-mile (1,200 kilometers) radius of Hampton Roads. Moreover, with one of the nation’s largest concentrations of active duty military personnel and home to the world’s largest naval base, Hampton Roads serves as a focal point for defense-related and security operations. The RISE Campus™ offers government agencies such as the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security proximity to world- class researchers, graduate-level students, and high-technology assets within a highly secured environment. The RISE Campus™ is located within an Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community, HubZone, and a Hope VI community. All of the state and federal benefits, such as New Market Tax Credits, associated with this venue can be realized by businesses that locate on this 25-acre applied research and technology campus.

What is on the RISE Campus™?

Opened in April of 2007, the campus’ first research facility, the Marie V. McDemmond Center for Applied Research, is a State-owned, six-story, approximately 128,000-square-foot structure, and is the anchor for applied research, graduate-level education, and training for the workforce of the future in science, engineering, and technology.

The campus also contains the RISE SuperNode^SM, which provides premier regional access to all major Points-of-Presence (gigaPOPs). The RISE SuperNode^SM is a private synchronous optical network (SONET) with ultra-high capacity, fault-tolerant design, supporting speeds from 1.5 megabits per second (DS-1) up through multiple 10 Gbps (10,000 megabits per second) Lightwave networks. Its design incorporates redundant connectivity and reliable backup power in a highly secured environment.

RISE Two through RISE Six will complete the full build-out of this 25-acre research and high-technology business park. This full build-out will be realized as a result of highly strategic private/public partnerships.

Why is the RISE Campus™ so important?

A robust high-technology infrastructure is vital for today’s business model. The RISE Campus™ will enable the entire Hampton Roads region to attract high-technology-related companies and their innovations, promote economic development, and create high-wage jobs. .

• The RISE Campus™ can support the regional connectivity needs of research institutions; can link Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) together for collaborative research and academic instruction; has the capacity to connect these institutions to the National LambdaRail (NLR) or any other terascale-bandwidth research networks; and provide broadband access for business needs.

• The RISE Campus™ will leverage its location to provide entrepreneurial business incubation and venture capital incentives, and thus contribute positively to the economic development of the Hampton Roads region.

• In a recent economic impact study conducted by Dr. Andrew C. Brod, Director of the Office of Business and Economic Research in the Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, it was projected that the RISE Campus™, when completed, will contribute more than $122 million annually to the economy of Hampton Roads. This is in addition to the more than $520 million current annual contribution from Norfolk State University to the region’s economy.

• The RISE Campus™ has the unique ability to address the challenge of positioning the Hampton Roads region as a positive force in the high-technology-led economy of today and tomorrow.