MORGANTOWN — WVU President Gordon Gee met with state business leaders Aug. 31 to unveil a comprehensive study of how to address West Virginia’s slow progress in a growing national economy.
WVU joined with the state Department of Commerce and Marshall University to launch West Virginia Forward, which led to discoveries that Gee said could change the state’s future.
“West Virginia has many robust industries that we can grow, such as aerospace maintenance, automotive parts manufacturing and metals manufacturing,” Gee said.
“The state also has sectors that are growing more slowly here than nationally, but where we can succeed is by differentiating ourselves from the competition. One area is downstream oil and gas manufacturing, specifically in carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics and fine chemicals.
“New sectors the state can capture that promise high growth are cybersecurity, cloud services and data centers, and higher-end tourism,” he said. “And two areas that create distinct opportunities in West Virginia are the life sciences and automotive assembly.”
A complete report is anticipated by mid-September. Anyone with additional ideas can send an email to wvforward@mail.wvu.edu.
