Igniting a new corridor of innovation

Imagine being able to bike, run, or even walk from Ashland or Petersburg in the Richmond region all the way to Colonial Williamsburg and then onto Fort Monroe on the Peninsula or across the James River to the Virginia Beach oceanfront.

That vision is closer than ever.

The Richmond-Petersburg region is rapidly emerging as a national hub for advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing — reshaping how essential medicines are made and secured in the U.S. This growing sector is critical to strengthening the country’s supply chain, enhancing national security, and ensuring equitable access to life-saving medications.

A unique mix of mission-driven companies, public institutions, and nonprofits — including Phlow Corp., Civica, the Alliance for Building Better Medicine, and the federally designated Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Tech Hub — is leading this transformation.

Virginia Beach-based DroneUp is confronting America’s growing airspace crisis with next-generation traffic management technology.

Low-altitude airspace is on the edge of collapse. Over one million drones now operate in the U.S. and most fly without real-time oversight or deconfliction. Near-misses are climbing. Emergency missions have been disrupted. Unauthorized flights near critical infrastructure are surging. This isn’t a future risk — it’s a current failure. DroneUp has already deployed a real solution.

Tune in to a webinar on Wednesday December 4 to learn about LS Greenlink USA’s planned $680 million investment in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Chesapeake that will bring a massive 660-foot tower – the tallest building in Virginia.

The webinar also will highlight the growing offshore wind industry in Hampton Roads.

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development's Office of Broadband manages a portfolio of nearly $2 billion in combined state and federal grants to close the digital divide in Virginia, including local and private investments on broadband infrastructure projects across the state. The agency also will manage an additional  $1.5 billion in federal funding from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program and $18 million in Digital Equity Act program that will support access, affordability, and adoption. 

Hampton Roads is emerging as a hub for hydrogen innovation. Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center in Newport News is spearheading the Hydrogen Tech Center initiative, a collaborative hydrogen research and demonstration project that aims to better define and showcase how clean hydrogen and other emerging technologies could play a role in the region’s energy mix.