There’s a story, perhaps apocryphal, about the mayor of a good-sized city with certain cultural aspirations.
Read MoreIntelligence Reports
The Winds of Change Have Arrived
There’s a story, perhaps apocryphal, about the mayor of a good-sized city with certain cultural aspirations.
“I will do everything in my power to bring to our fair city a world class symphony,” this mayor is said to have harumphed. “Just don’t make me go.”
It’s a similar thing with regionalism. It may sound great in theory, but joining forces across jurisdictional lines to promote economic development often gets little more than lip service. Or it’s done with the various entities holding their noses.
Not so in Hampton Roads, Virginia. In Hampton Roads — with 1.8 million residents, the largest metro between Atlanta and Washington, D.C. — regionalism is written into the DNA. It’s an article of faith.
“One city can’t do it all by itself,” says Doug Smith, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Alliance, the economic development authority that covers Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and nine other related localities. “We’ve got example after example of really strong collaboration. It’s what we live by, and it’s something companies that are looking at your area expect to see. Just look at the $5 billion transportation package under construction right now, arguably the largest in the nation. We taxed ourselves and are building it ourselves.”
Other such examples abound, many of them tied to the budding marriage of the region’s “blue” (maritime) and “green” (sustainable) economies. Highlighted by the successful, region-wide effort to establish Hampton Roads as an offshore supply hub for the exploding wind power industry, they include the Hampton Roads Maritime Collaborative for Growth (HRMC), Old Dominion University’s Maritime Initiative and the Virginia Offshore Wind Landing, a point of entry for entrepreneurs into the offshore wind business.
Spreading out from that circle and powered by a truly singular workforce abetted by world-class education networks lies the potential to grow in directions that include data analytics, cybersecurity, unmanned systems and advanced healthcare. Regional collaboration, again, lies at the root of efforts to link sections of Hampton Roads to a high-speed fiber ring to enhance the region’s attractiveness to tech-heavy enterprises.
“The traditional blue economy is morphing,” says Smith. “We’re figuring out where the blue economy meets the green economy. And we think we can be that place. We are a maritime industrial base. That’s who we are, and diversifying our economy is built around that.”
— Gary Daughters, Senior Editor
Features
Where Vertical Farming Is ‘Smart’
Bowery Farming, a leading vertical farming company based in New York City, plans to open smart indoor vertical farms in Locust Grove, Georgia, and Arlington, Texas, it announced in January.
Read More
Oregon Revisited
Six Superlatives
BRAVO to the Arts
ON THE MOVE
One-third of the major corporate end-user facility projects Site Selection magazine’s proprietary Conway Projects Database has tracked in Oregon since early 2019 have a logistics purpose.
Read More
Creature Comforts
BUILDING A TECH HUB ON THE WEST COAST
Investment Profile
TechKnowledgy
That’s one way to describe the depth and potential of automotive technology in the Greater Toronto Area’s York Region.
Read More
Into the Woods
Nice Pairings:
The “Weird Little City” That Could.
Professional and business services jobs in Oregon reached an all-time high in November 2021 at 257,500, up 100 jobs from its previous record.
Read More
Oregon’s Metals Industry Edge
MOU Aims to Demystify Bio Sector, Create Jobs and Economic Growth
The Oregon Bioscience Association and Onward Eugene, the Eugene area’s business acceleration agency, finalized a Memo of Understanding in December to jointly develop a targeted industry growth initiative that aims to create more high wage jobs in the region.
Read More
International Update
Help Wanted!
To stay competitive, Vietnam needs to upskill its workforce.
Read MoreInvestment Profile
A Shining Light in the Lone Star State
Features
Where Vertical Farming Is ‘Smart’
Bowery Farming, a leading vertical farming company based in New York City, plans to open smart indoor vertical farms in Locust Grove, Georgia, and Arlington, Texas, it announced in January.
Read More
Features
Remarkable Growth in a Remarkable Time
Exclusive insights from the author of Cushman & Wakefield’s 2022 Global Data Center Market Comparison
Read More
Features
An Expert’s View On Airport Development Post-Pandemic
Investment Profile
Big Fish or Small, Delaware Has Your Back
Cover
Machinery Keeps On Churning
Area Spotlights
High-Tech Connection
Investment Profile
Youth Is Served Here
Departments
Editor’s View: How States Lure the Big Fish
Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Laura Kelly of Kansas are covered extensively in this issue as the winners of the 2021 Governors’ Cups the former for total qualified capital investment projects
Read More