Fayetteville State University researchers will get a boost with the establishment of an innovation hub providing grants and support services to commercialize public university research.
FSU Chancellor Darrell Allison announced the Fayetteville hub of NCInnovation, a state-funded nonprofit, at the Fayetteville City Council meeting Monday. He said the hub, which has $500 million in North Carolina taxpayer funding, will focus on defense innovation and technology, providing grant opportunities and assistance to researchers working on innovative technology at Fayetteville State.
“And that is pretty significant for us,” Allison said. “That’s an impact here for Fayetteville, that’s an impact here for Cumberland, that’s an impact here for the Sandhills region.”
FSU joins NCInnovation as the seventh hub in North Carolina. Other hubs are located at Appalachian State University, UNC-Wilmington, East Carolina University, UNC-Charlotte, North Carolina A&T State University and Western Carolina University.
Alison Beatty, who has professional experience in national security and working with the U.S. Department of Defense, was named as the FSU hub’s director. At the city council meeting, Beatty said the hub will provide “custom advice and step-by-step directions” on how researchers can turn laboratory ideas into market-ready businesses.
Specifically, NCInnovation aims to assist innovators in surpassing the “valley of death,” when a product has been proven to work in the lab but is not yet ready for commercial development. This window of time presents challenges to researchers because the high risk of practical application failure often deters private investment, Beatty said.
“We assist all of the university researchers with moving past the grant stage and into the prototyping and the startup stage,” Beatty said. “So it’s making sure that you have an idea, getting it patented and then finding customers and revenue across the state.”
Beatty said NCInnovation is already working with FSU researchers who are developing a number of innovative technologies, such as a non-toxic pesticide, AI-enabled remote sensors for intelligence applications, low-cost biosensors to detect PFAS, and microchip sensors that can fit into clothing.
“And trust me, that is just a drop in the bucket of everything that’s happening at FSU,” Beatty said. “I’ve been working my hardest to go out and meet all of the researchers who are doing cool things. And this doesn’t even scratch the surface.”
Amid NCInnovation’s expansion, the organization has faced an uncertain future in recent months. While the GOP-controlled General Assembly approved NCInnovation’s half-billion in 2023, a group of Republican state lawmakers filed a bill in February of this year that would strip the organization of its public funding. The organization passed its first-year audit on March 14 — a financial review that a member of its own board of directors and prominent Republican businessman, Art Pope, had requested. Questions about transparency and conflicts of interest have also plagued the organization.
Bringing technology and defense industries to Fayetteville
The FSU hub is also equipped to provide researchers facing unique challenges associated with developing defense technology, such as patenting questions and national security concerns, according to Beatty.
“Especially when you’re in a high-tech technology area, a lot of the questions that pop up are, do I have technology that can be patented? Is somebody going to steal my idea?” Beatty said. “On the defense research side, is this technology that may put me at risk for foreign attention that perhaps I do not want? NCInnovation is there to assist with all of that.”
Mayor Mitch Colvin and other city council members expressed appreciation on Monday for the NCInnovation hub. Colvin has been a strong proponent of bringing technology and defense industries to Fayetteville, highlighting the city’s attractiveness to defense companies with its proximity to Fort Bragg.
“This is exciting because we always get asked the question, ‘When are you all going to get the good jobs, the tech jobs, the IT jobs?’” Colvin said. “And we’ve been watching the progress that we’ve made as a community … moving in more technical spaces. The employers are taking notice, we’ve got a natural fit for defense. So this is amazing stuff, because those are the kind of jobs I think all of us desire.”
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608. This story was made possible by donations from readers like you to CityView News Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.
