Column: GO Virginia invests in the Hampton Roads “portfolio of assets”

For much of the past decade, Virginia has fallen behind other states in competing for economic development because we failed to make critical investments in our workforce, site development and entrepreneurship. Further, our localities often competed with each other instead of collaborating to lift up the entire Hampton Roads region. The Virginia Initiative for Growth & Opportunity (GO Virginia), created through a business-led, bipartisan effort in 2015, is reversing that trend.

GO Virginia has similarly made a major contribution to Hampton Roads’ economic development, and its support, combined with other critical investments and initiatives, marks last year as a banner year in the evolution of our regional economy. Our economic prospects for this year and beyond are exciting.

The Hampton Roads region benefited in 2023 with investments in several critical areas. We made meaningful progress last year with:

• The announcement of a $300 million-$500 million investment from the U.S. Department of Energy in the Jefferson Lab High Performance Data Facility, which will make Hampton Roads a national leader in data science and analytics.
• Investments in transportation infrastructure, such as the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, highway expansion, the Port of Virginia, rail and broadband, totaling $6 billion.
• Expansion of our green energy infrastructure and associated technology, including offshore wind, subsea cable, and the creation of a green hydrogen hub, which was supported by a GO Virginia grant.
• The creation of a “Global Internet Hub” with Richmond through RVA757 Connects, also supported with GO Virginia funding.
• The continued development of our workforce and talent programs, bringing more than $50 million in investments from U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), U.S. Navy and other programs, which was initially leveraged with GO Virginia talent pathways funding.
• Working with our localities, the Hampton Roads Alliance had its best performance in the past 25 years, announcing 13 projects totaling 2,860 jobs and $626 million in capital investment.
• Expansion of our entrepreneurship system, bringing new funding from the U.S. EDA which was initially leveraged with GO Virginia funds to 757 Collab.
• Identifying emerging opportunities for the region related to uncrewed systems and autonomy, airport/electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL), and coastal resilience, also supported with GO Virginia funds.
• All of these impressive investments, which will help transform our region and advance economic growth, are the result of careful coordination and planning. Our region’s economic growth strategy is shaped by a GO Virginia regional Economic Growth & Diversification (G&D) Plan, managed by the Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable, which is the support organization for GO Virginia Region 5 in Hampton Roads.

Our regional plan, available at roundtablehr.org, identifies key industry clusters for growth as well as the investments and initiatives needed for expansion. Our region already has a unique set of assets and opportunities unlike any others across the country, with the largest Navy base in the world, the significant presence of NASA, and leading industry clusters related to our water and maritime economy. The G&D plan is also used to collaborate with other regions across the commonwealth and further leverage resources. Last year, GO Virginia invested $35 million in our region and stimulated an associated $47 million of matching investment funds.

Collaboration among our regional economic development organizations is another area of focus. Last year, several organizations with similar missions merged for strategic focus, and a new Regional Organizations Presidents Council was established to align regional organizations, coordinate activities, avoid duplication and identify new issues and opportunities ahead.

There are certainly more investments to be made in 2024 and beyond to take advantage of existing and emerging opportunities. Education and training, talent attraction/retention, housing, child care and branding are also critical to our growth trajectory.

What is exciting for the Hampton Roads region today is the mix of investment and collaboration to build on this strong foundation of unique assets for growth ahead. GO Virginia has been a key catalyst in our region’s emergence and we are excited about our future prospects.

Cliff Fleet and Dennis Matheis are co-chairs of the Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable. Tom Frantz serves as chair and Lynn Taylor as vice chair of the GO Virginia Region 5 Council.