
DATE: Saturday, October 25, 1997            TAG: 9710250401

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   71 lines

AREA HOPES TO MIMIC SEATTLE'S TECH SUCCESS

Seattle has high-tech jobs. Hampton Roads wants more of them. So next month, the Chamber of Commerce is leading a 60-member contingent of local business leaders and city officials to the land of Microsoft to learn how to get them.

About 20 Hampton Roads officials along with business leaders, educators, regional economic development representatives and military officials are planning to attend a three-day forum where Seattle business and civic leaders will discuss their successes.

``We have to do this,'' Gregory N. Stillman, managing partner of Norfolk law firm Hunton & Williams and a co-chairman of the trip, said of luring high-tech businesses. ``Our average income has lagged considerably behind the national average. The reason why we're interested in technology? It's no secret these are high-paying jobs.''

Stillman, the chamber's outgoing board chairman, said the idea of pursuing a forum to learn about technology was born about a year ago. Leaders from Greenville, S.C., visited Hampton Roads to learn how its leaders were tackling regional issues, and Stillman said chamber officials thought Hampton Roads could benefit from doing the same thing.

Choosing a topic was next. A lead was taken from the Hampton Roads Partnership, which focuses on improving the region through transportation, the port and technology. Technology was picked, and Seattle was chosen as the site shortly afterward.

Some who are headed west said Hampton Roads hasn't focused on technology until recently, but the region has a good head start.

Matthew James, director of the Portsmouth Department of Economic Development, said Hampton Roads has military and scientific communities, including a strong NASA presence and university-level engineering programs, and an educated workforce. High-tech companies that have already moved to town, including Gateway 2000 and Oceana Sensor Technology, will act as magnets for more, he said.

``I'm going to Seattle to see what they've done and to see what knowledge I can bring back to Portsmouth,'' James said. The trip may help his efforts to fill a new city-funded office building with high-tech businesses, he added.

In addition to economic development, the trip is also about regionalism, chamber officials said. Sponsors of the Seattle forum are the Hampton Roads Partnership and the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, two regional bodies aimed at improving quality of life for residents and marketing the area to the world's business leaders.

Bruce Bradley, president and publisher of The Virginian-Pilot and trip chairman, said the Seattle forum has drawn interest from existing businesses because they will benefit from new businesses and a good economy.

``If the high-tech market expands, their markets will expand,'' said Bradley, the chamber's incoming board chairman. ``That's true in banking and in newspapers. . . . The rising tide raises all boats.'' ILLUSTRATION: The Space Needle is Seattle's best-known attraction.

Leaders will travel to Seattle...

Next month, 60 business leaders and city officials will travel to

the Pacific Northwest city to attend a three-day forum during which

Seattle leaders will discuss their successes.

...To build on this area's strength

A sampling of high-tech companies that have moved to the region:

Oceana Sensor Technology, 20 employees

Yupo, expects 100 employees next year

Gateway, 800 employees but expansion to 1,300 expected

Solarex, 80 employees

Muhlbauer High Tech Intl., expects 50 employees

Mariah Vision3 [exponent] 25 employees