National Modeling and Simulation Center of Excellence
NICCE is the parent organization for the National Modeling and Simulation Center of Excellence, the National Capitol Clean Energy Incubator and the Virginia Clean Energy Business Incubator, an affiliate member of the national organization. Combined, these programs represent the leading models for energy technology commercialization and were designed to grow the new clean tech economy.
Our team works with major universities and national energy labs who maintain state-of-the-art hardware interfaces and software libraries, as well as develop unique, project-specific software solutions. Our teams offer expertise from some of the most advanced technology scientists and engineers in the world (through universities and corporate partners). Together, we are solving some of the nation's most complex problems with practical solutions. We offer supercomputing capabilities, secure data storage, geographic information system interface capabilities for pre-processing, a myriad of computational stage simulation capabilities, ecological analysis, environmental analysis, and 3 and 4-D post-processing visualization and animation. Our partners have unique relationships with some of the nation's leading research and development facilities. The National Modeling and Simulation Center of Excellence uses Oak Ridge National Lab and Virginia's Tech supercomputing capabilities and we are currently developing the World Data Center on Energy within the National Capitol Clean Energy Incubator. A site location for the incubator is now under consideration by NICCE's corporate executives. The picture featured on this page was taken by the NICCE team and it is of the Riverstone Energy Center, a small incubator in Virginia developed from 2004-2010 by Dr. Inge, President and CEO of NICCE. The facility houses a 3D visualization decision support theatre, an audio-visual laboratory, a TelePresence meeting room, a high security network and over $2 million in equipment and software libraries focused on energy and the environment. Environmental Services
Virginia Clean Energy Business Incubator
Dr. Inge, through generous funding from the Virginia Tobacco Commission and other sources, founded the nation's first statewide energy incubator model in Virginia to attract and retain engineers, researchers, scientists, and related business people to the United States. Dr. Inge and her team also created several vehicles to integrate the academic communities of several educational institutions with the business community in and outside of the state. Shared intellectual property or a work for hire models can be used to obtain the services of these institutions and the incubator offers university partnership services to help companies navigate the complex and often frustrating maze of the university system. The partnering universities include Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, James Madison University, and many more. To date, this synergy has created research and commercial opportunities for small and large companies. Over the last two years, Tetra Tech, Inc., a Fortune 500 company and a commercial enterprise benefited from its affiliation with the incubator when they joined forces with Virginia Tech to develop a TriGeneration Hospital Feasibility Project. The results of the project showed that if the hospital would install certain energy efficiency technologies along with an alternative power system, it could save as much at 60% of its power bill. As a result of Tetra Tech's work at the modeling and simulation center in Riverstone Technology Park with Virginia Tech, and thanks to the generation contribution of Mr. Wayne Human, former Vice President of Tetra Tech, Inc., the company expanded its presence. These projects have been wildly successful in attracting financial investment groups like Battelle Venture, Harvard Management Company and many more organizations seeking energy technologies to invest in and bring to market. A key service the incubator provides is matching inventions to investment.
Energy Services
Virginia Technology Commission
Since 1994, Dr. Inge has worked with various regional and local groups to create a "buzz" about technology. Technology policies that lead to funding enable outcomes like the ones listed below. The Virginia Technology Commission (VTC) is a non governmental group with its goal of unifying and developing technology leadership around technology projects in Virginia. In collaboration with the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), VTC is leading efforts designed to attract and retain technology businesses, people, and entrepreneurs who support and enhance the state's economic, educational, technological, and scientific endeavors. The activities of VTC have supported significant public and private investments in technology over the last few years, especially in the southern regions of Virginia. Dr. Inge is the Chairwoman of the VTC.
VTC's Outcomes Include
*Deployed the largest videoconferencing network in the nation for the Southside Virginia Regional Technology Consortium (SVRTC). The SVRTC is a 22 county state funded regional network that today distributes online content and shared technical resources among its members. Bill Wilson was the senior network engineer that aided in this effort. Today, Longwood University is leading these efforts.
*Installed Virginia's first university TelePresence system for Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and created a business model for its use. This included connecting to the National Lambda Rail, the nation's leading research network. Every major university is on this network. Model also includes connecting to Internet2.
*Installed Virginia's newest state-of-the-art 3D visualization system.
*Created Virginia's first regional clean energy incubator in Halifax County (Riverstone pictured here) as a prototype for the National Capitol Clean Energy Incubator, now under development. Established the Virginia Clean Energy Incubator as the 14th statewide incubator in the nation and sanctioned by the Clean Energy Alliance, a spin off out of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
*Established the Modeling and Simulation Center of Excellence for Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University at Riverstone Technology Park. This is the university's first aggregated modeling and simulation program and the center is the first center in the nation that focuses on energy and environmental services. The project was part of a regional economic transformation program funded with $13.2 million from the Va Tobacco Commission. This successful program created the template for the development of the National Modeling and Simulation Center of Excellence.
*Created the Regional Broadband Initiative, beginning with the SVRTC in 1994. This project later became part of an 1250 mile fiber optic network founded by the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative, a start-up company in Virginia. Today, MBC is a $126 million corporation. Dr. Inge, the President and CEO of NICCE is a founding corporate officer. As a result, this company's headquarters is in Riverstone Technology Park.
*Created the template for the World Data Center on Energy, a program being developed by NICCE with the USGS and plans are to house the data center in the National Capitol Clean Energy Incubator.
*Established a feasibility study, business plan and five year Pro Forma for the development of high quality jobs in the southern region of Virginia around modeling, simulation, visualization, geospatial and related services. Project attracted ten companies and twenty-two employees.
*Attracted or expanded the presence of the following universities in the southern region of Virginia: Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, Virginia State University, Old Dominion University, Christopher New Port University, the Virginia Military Institute and Longwood University,
*Created the first video on demand scientific study for Discovery Communications. Students who received the videos scored 12.6% higher on test scores than those that did not.
*Brought the NASA Center for Distance Learning to the southern region of Virginia to create the award winning "Energy Crunch" and the STEM rock band program around an energy theme.
*Created VTACE, the first online program for job awareness serving under represented people who are on job assistance.
*Created the "next generation" incubator model with Research Triangle International (RTI). The model became the template for the creation of the National Capitol Clean Energy Incubator and NICCE, its parent organization.
*Founded the STEM education consortium focused on energy education. This served as a template for the National Center for Energy Education.
Virginia Technology Commission
National Capitol Clean Energy Incubator
The National Capitol Clean Energy Incubator is a next generation incubator defined by high level business services that expand beyond basic business plan and fiscal reviews. It is also more that an incubator with inexpensive space and shared infrastructure, a fairly outdated model in our view. In a global economy, companies and clients deserve world class services and infrastructure and therefore, our incubator members are selected using stringent metrics. The National Capitol Clean Energy Incubator has been designed to 1) validate technology, 2) match technology to customers, 3) capitalize companies with technology and bring the technology to market through a highly sophisticated proven process. We also play a role in helping companies find suitable site locations for business development, expansion and or manufacturing and we help them negotiate the terms. Our new facility is expected to be 100,000 sq/ft of high tech and high securety space and with the right incentives, we plan to locate it in Washington, DC metropolitan region outside the nation's Capitol. The estimated number of jobs this incubator will create is projected at 400. The pictured simulator is one of many high tech pieces of equipment our clients have access to and considering we work with some of the nation's leading partners, there is little we can't offer to our partners and clients.
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