Tuesday’s dedication of the new SRI International facility in Rockingham County represents the culmination of several years of work by city, county, state and James Madison University officials and is a large step in the region’s efforts to bring more technology related businesses to the region.

In December 2006, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced amid great fanfare that SRI International, a non-profit scientific research institution based in California’s Silicon Valley, would build a facility just north of Harrisonburg in Rockingham County.

The firm’s Center for Advanced Research would partner with James Madison University and other Virginia institutions and would create some 100 jobs worth about $85,000 annually, the governor declared.

The Commonwealth of Virginia stepped up to the plate to assist the region in landing and launching this project, committing some $22 million in start-up costs. And yesterday, nearly three years after the original announcement, SRI’s top officials joined local and regional officials to celebrate the dedication of the new $17 million facility located in the Rockingham County Research and Technology Park. The county fronted that $17 million, which SRI will repay through a 30-year lease.

As positive as bringing this project to bear is to the region, the real potential lies in what it may be the seed for. One of the greatest potential benefits for the area will be the spinoff companies that should come from SRI’s work.

It is estimated that SRI will create one spinoff company, each with a potential market value of $1.5 billion, at least every five years. If this becomes a reality, hundreds of more good paying jobs would be created in the region, and the new companies, likely to locate near the new SRI facility, would also make a significant contribution to the economy through personal property and real estate tax payments.

While the national, state and regional economies continue to dig out of a deep recession, the dedication of this new facility sends a positive message about the future of the economy in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. Area officials have worked for years to morph the region from an economy heavily dependent on the poultry industry to one that leverages the strengths of James Madison University and our central location.

The new SRI facility is a welcome symbol of the progress that has been made to that end.