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The Commonwealth is home to many internationally recognized
research and development (R&D) facilities. Federally funded R&D facilities, coupled
with the research from Virginia universities, provide Virginia businesses access
to leading researchers and cutting-edge technology. From the automotive industry
to medical research to the next generation of high technology, these research
facilities have something to offer your business.
- The largest concentration of federal R&D establishments in the U.S. is located in Virginia. This includes the largest concentration of federally funded R&D centers (FFRDCs) or 25% of the total number. This concentration also includes over 20 defense-related labs and R&D centers and 19 federal civilian research centers such as the new Homeland Security Institute, NASA Langley Research Center, and DOE’s unique Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.
- Half of the 228 private-sector R&D establishments in Virginia are focused on bioscience research, followed by Information Technology research.
- NASA Langley Research Center propelled the U.S. to the moon in 1969 and today, on its 800 acre campus in Hampton, Virginia, Langley is still NASA'S innovation engine.
- Wallops complex, located on Virginia's Eastern Shore, is NASA's principal center for management and implementation of suborbital research programs and a proven location for applied aerospace innovation. It is also the location of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport which will begin launching resupply missions to the Space Station when the Shuttle is retired.
- Eight unique research parks offer private companies opportunities for co-location and cooperative relationships with Virginia universities, federal labs, and other research consortium.
- Four nationally prominent private, non-profit research institutes have located in Virginia in recent years: SRI’s Center for Advanced Drug Research in the Shenandoah Valley; The National Institute of Aerospace in Hampton; The Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Loudoun County; and Carilion Biomedical Institute in Roanoke.
- The National Institute of Aerospace is a strategic partner of NASA Langley Research Center and conducts leading-edge aerospace research and development through a consortium of research universities including Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, Old Dominion University, William and Mary, Georgia Tech, University of Maryland and North Carolina State University.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Northern Virginia is a unique new biomedical research complex modeled after the successful collaborative science centers in Europe. The complex will house and support 300 scientists across a wide range of disciplines engaged in biomedical research.
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