Is Prince George's County,
Maryland ready to become the national economic center for biological and agricultural research,
technology and innovation? Surprise! - it already is; we just don't take advantage of the fact. Can we pause
long enough from our focus on shopping malls to ponder the possibilities of
working together to bring business to a national one stop solution to
agroeconomic challenges facing the world today? Is it possible to collectively
begin to take advantage of our core capabilities already here in the business
industries of food, fuel, fiber, feed, forest and flowers? Why are we still not
actively working to create international trade centers dedicated to businesses
that need the scientific advancements are found here in the county every day?[1]
Prince George's County is home to
University of Maryland-College Park (UMCP), the US Department of
Agriculture-Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (USDA-BARC) as well as the
world's largest agricultural library, the National Auricular Library (NAL), the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), the
MedStar Research Institute, the US Animal Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard
Spaceflight Center (NASA Goddard) and Bowie State University (BSU). And most importantly,
these world renown and world class institutions are ALREADY here.
Where is our political will to
sit down with businesses in Brazil and South American countries, China, India,
and the countries of Asia as well as Africa discussing the creating of research
and trade centers? The world needs food, and Prince George's County can provide
a one stop center for all the food chain problems and challenges facing
businesses, governments and their customers today and tomorrow. We fall over
ourselves to bring federal and state agencies here, and I
vigorously support this effort, but we already have tremendous resources
and what exactly are we doing to leverage what we already have?[2]
We can do both work to bring facilities here and work to find economic
development opportunities with what we have.
Did you know that U.S. wheat
exports to Brazil were rejected in 2000 because of suspected Wheat Seed Gall
Nematode infections. Scientist in Prince George's County at BARC working with Brazilian scientists,
convinced Brazil to reverse its actions. US national wheat exports to Brazil
rose from $0 in 2000 to $76 million in 2001. This is an example of the power of
Prince George's County. Do you like chocolate; do you
think the rest of the US has a craving for chocolate? Prince George's County's
BARC scientists, working with industry counterparts, discovered a fungus that
inhibits a devastating disease on cacao trees. The $8.6 billion U.S. chocolate
industry depends entirely on imported chocolate. The chocolate industry uses
40% of US almonds, 20% of peanuts, 8% of sugar, and more than 1.5 million lbs.
of milk per day, all produced by U.S. farms, so a stable supply of chocolate
helps U.S. farmers. Do you know of any
current plan to take advantage of this and bring businesses here to the one
place in the US that can address any agrobiotech issue?[3]
Perhaps the magnitude of the
opportunity that Prince George's County is overlooking is obscure. [4]
The Agricultural Research Service according to its web site "conducts research
to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national
priority and provides information access and dissemination to: ensure
high-quality, safe food and other agricultural products, assess the nutritional
needs of Americans, sustain a competitive agricultural economy, enhance the
natural resource base and the environment, and provide economic opportunities for
rural citizens."[5]
What follows is a partial listing of
private business opportunities that Prince George's County could offer because
the world's largest 21st century agricultural research center sits here in this county hidden
in plain sight:
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Do I need to remind you of the
impact of NASA? When is the last time you took a look at what Goddard Space
Flight Center Patent Portfolio has in it?
NASA's Technologies Available for License is among the too many to list
here opportunities for businesses one mobile robotic unit. The unit has
multiple legs supporting a main body i.e. vehicle body, and moving the main
body in forward direction and reverse direction about a base surface. The leg
includes wheels to roll along the base surface. A drive assembly comprises a
motor operatively associated with hip and knee joints and the wheels for
independently driving pivotal movement of the hip joint and the knee joint and
rolling motion of the wheels. The assembly comprises drive shafts imparting
driving pivotal movement to the hip and knee joint and rolling motion to the
wheels.[6]
Why is it that
despite the concentration of such impressive assets, "the number of
bioscience companies and the impact of bioscience industry growth in the county
has been limited compared with nearby jurisdictions which have fewer research
and innovation assets?"[7]
We need a National
Harbor type, hi tech 21st century, multi-tenant, flagship facility. We need to
work with USDA's leasing authority to
create incubators or
aaccelerator/expansion offices and wet lab spaces for young
bioscience companies, such as TAP incubator graduates, to keep them in the
county, as well as other small, but growing companies that could be
attracted to the county. We need to provide support services for start-up
companies and entrepreneurs. We need to be reaping the befits of a highly competitive
highly trained well paid 21st century work force. We need to start doing
something after all the opportunity as only been here for over 100 years.
[1] I
am not against retail; rather I am for a balanced approach to economic
development - I want a clearly visible active pursuit of 21st century
businesses in Prince George's County. Retail is a secondary reason for
businesses to locate; opportunity to create wealth is the primary reason and
retail wil; follow the creation of wealth
[2]
Thompson. Prince George's County works to be the next home of the new
Headquarters of the FBI. January 17, 2012. [accessed January 28, 2012] http://princegeorgian.blogspot.com/2012/01/prince-georges-county-works-to-be-new.html
[3]
USDA-ARS Current Research Impacts. 2006 [accessed January 27, 2012] http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Place/12000000/AboutUS/researchImpacts.pdf
[4] USDA-ARS
Available Technologies
[accessed
January 28, 2012] http://www.ars.usda.gov/business/availtechs.htm
[5] United
States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Office of
Technology Transfer & Partnerships. Program Aid 1706. Forming Partnerships
With the Agricultural Research Service. August 2011. [accessed January 28,
2012] https://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Place/01090000/Partnership%20Brochure2.pdf
[6]
Goddard Space Flight Center Patent Portfolio. Technologies Available for
License. January 2012. [accessed January 27, 2012] http://ipp.gsfc.nasa.gov/portfolio/
[7]
The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Prince George’s
County Planning Department. Prince George’s County Biotechnology Research and
Development Center Study Prepared by
ANGLE Technology Group. September 2009. [accessed January 27, 2012] http://www.pgplanning.org/Assets/Planning/Countywide+Planning/Research/Biotech+Study+2.pdf
1 comment:
Also often forgotten are the county's resources for historical research and preservation, including the Smithsonian facilities in Suitland and the National Archives facilities in College Park and Suitland.
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