Virginia s business leaders also have high hopes for commercializing the Wallops Island space port on the Eastern Shore. Commercial efforts in space are all telecommunications related, Templin notes. Virginia is rich in emerging technologies, Templin says. Wireless research is hot. Particle physics and the free-electron laser are so new that their commercial potential is largely untapped.
Trouble is, emerging technology takes time to develop.
Ask Ken Kennedy, executive vice president and general manager of Cybermotion Inc. in Salem. In the late 1980s Cybermotion found its robot s calling in the field of industrial security. Robots are used as roving patrols for fire watch and other security functions. Cybermotion is also working with the Energy Department to develop machines to inspect low-level nuclear waste stored in drums at sites around the country. By that I mean having the necessary capital to expand the business and develop the technology and the market, particularly when you have an innovative product where there is no established market.