In 2010, Instagram and the iPad made their debuts, The King’s Speech and Black Swan were the hot movies, and Tesla went public. It was also the year Gerry Hayes joined with other visionaries in founding the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina (WRC), launching an important innovation and entrepreneurial resource for the Town of Wake Forest, the Triangle Region, the State, and the nation.
To mark the Center’s 15th anniversary, past and current stakeholders will gather on the afternoon of August 19 to celebrate its many achievements and look toward the future. The event will take place at the Center’s offices on Heritage Trade Drive from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. and is open to the public.
It will also be an opportunity to reflect on how technology has changed over the past decade and a half. “When we started the Center, the Internet of Things (IoT) was just getting started,” recalls Hayes, who had spent much of his career in telecomm engineering roles at Ericsson and Sony in RTP before founding the WRC. “Now, it’s ubiquitous.” The Center also worked to lead the deployment of 5G cellular technology, starting in 2019. “The commercial side has now matured,” Hayes says. “That’s why we’re pivoting to DoD and medicine.”
Late last year, the Wireless Research Center was one of five technology accelerators selected by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to support next-generation technologies with both civilian and military applications. “Everything is on track and rapidly building momentum,” Hayes says of the Center’s federal accelerator initiative and its partnership with DARPA, a transformation-minded Pentagon agency that played a central role in the development of the Internet in the 1960s.
The Center’s economic development role is based on the expertise it provides to local companies. “We can curate subject matter experts in various technologies,” Hayes explains. The organization maintains a network of applied technologists and commercialization advisers that it can assign to companies. “That’s a win for economic development locally,” he says, noting that 85 percent of the businesses associated with the Center have been successful. “We have not found an organization that does anything similar.”
Hayes hopes to see both new and longtime supporters of the Center at the August 19 event, including local elected officials, Town administrators, Chamber leaders, and invited guests from the Golden LEAF Foundation and the N.C. Board of Science, Technology and Innovation, both early advocates of the Center. Former U.S. Senator Richard Burr, another key supporter, is also on the invitee list. The afternoon’s agenda will include a tour of the facility and discussions of the Center’s programs, outcomes, and future plans. “WFBIP [Wake Forest Business & Industry Partnership] is helping us put the event together,” adds Hayes.
In addition to its work with DARPA on the Federal Accelerator Initiative, the Center also leads several other key programs: Regional Internet of Things (“RIoT”), a meet-up group organized as a free-standing non-profit in 2014; Digital Bridge, a training and workforce development program aimed at creating a more inclusive digital economy; and WRC Technologies, the Center’s engineering and testing services. “Within those four initiatives, we’re launching the path for the WRC’s next 15 years,” Hayes says.
More recently, the Center has helped establish the N.C. Critical Technologies Alliance, which aims to expand the region’s economic development efforts surrounding critical technologies -- defined as solutions supporting defense, homeland security, and mission-critical government services. The Alliance was co-founded by defense policy analyst Jarrett Lane and venture leader Bill Fields, both of whom are based at the Wireless Research Center.
The Critical Technologies Alliance will also be featured at an upcoming event – Triangle Tech Night - hosted by the Wake Forest Founders Collective and set to take place at The Loading Dock Wake Forest on September 18. Triangle Tech Night is a recurring gathering around the region designed to promote inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship. September’s event will focus on government tech, with a special emphasis on defense technologies.
Hayes also foresees artificial intelligence being a big part of the Center’s future. “AI is another rapidly emerging implementation,” he says. “It is emerging and being applied across a broad range of disciplines. WRC has commercialization advisers and subject experts who understand AI and its business applications,” says Hayes.
The Wireless Research Center is among the most visible assets in Wake Forest’s technology ecosystem, according to Jason Cannon, President of the Wake Forest Business and Industry Partnership (WFBIP). “When you look back at the last 15 years, there’s a direct correlation between the Center’s development and the emergence of our Town as a competitive player in the Triangle’s innovation economy,” Cannon says. “The one-of-a-kind expertise that has been assembled at the Center sets the Town apart, and we are grateful to Gerry and his colleagues for the exciting energy that emanates from this unique organization. We look forward to actively supporting the opportunities and partnerships that WRC will generate across Wake Forest and the region in the years ahead. ”
