Affiliated Research Corporations

In addition to the work of the Research Division, two affiliated research corporations advance research and promote economic development. The president of each of these corporations reports to a board.

Corporate Research Center - To attract industrial research and development operations to interact with university research programs, Virginia Tech in 1985 established the Corporate Research Center (CRC) on 120 acres adjacent to the main campus and the Virginia Tech Airport. The center was dedicated on September 25, 1987, and the first building opened in May 1988. The CRC in 2017 includes 33 structures (and space on the 230-acres to build another 16 buildings) containing office and laboratory space that serve more than 180 firms with 3,000 employees.

Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties - To commercialize innovations and discoveries made by university researchers, the board of visitors in 1985 created Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties as a nonprofit corporation. A 1997 fiscal year survey by the Association of University Technology Managers revealed that VTIP ranked ninth in the country among universities without medical schools in patents, seventh in licenses, twelfth in disclosures, and fourteenth in license income.