Virginia Economic Review

As one of the 13 original colonies, Virginia claims many historic firsts among American states. These firsts span numerous fields and industries, from energy generation to food and beverage production to transportation.

New or expanding companies want to know that they will be able to hire workers with the skills they need. While outside training providers offer established but generic faculty, facilities, and programs, in-house solutions allow for customization but require significant investment.

VEDP Vice President of Knowledge Work Meghan Welch spoke with Steven Chen, the founder of PFP Cybersecurity, about the cybersecurity funding environment in Virginia.

Candice Ling is a senior vice president at Microsoft and head of the company’s federal government business unit. Previously, she served as the company’s government industry lead in Asia.

Drake Goolsby is chief commercialization officer at Luna Labs, a Charlottesville-based company that helps develop advanced technologies in biotech, advanced materials, and engineered systems for government, military, and industrial clients.

Brett Vassey is president and CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers Association (VMA), a trade association that supports manufacturing operations across Virginia.

Imagine using a bow and arrow to hit a target the size of a DVD that’s 70 meters away — the wingspan of two Boeing 737 airplanes side by side. That’s the challenge faced by Olympic archers. Ben Summers and his family know it well.

Speed and efficiency are essential competitive edges for any manufacturing operation. Yet the growing adoption of advanced manufacturing techniques isn’t just boosting efficiency with how goods are produced — it’s changing the types of goods that can be made and where they are produced.

Shannon Kellogg is vice president of public policy at Amazon, where he leads the company’s public policy efforts in support of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Prem Natarajan, Ph.D., is chief scientist and head of enterprise AI at Fairfax County-based Capital One Financial Corporation, where he manages technology strategy, architecture, and development for the company’s enterprise data, machine learning, and analytics initiatives.

Karen Dahut is the CEO of Google Public Sector (GPS), where she works to bring Google technology to solve complex problems for U.S. public sector institutions at the local, state, and federal levels.

Imagine an apartment building. The lobby entrance, residential door, and parking deck are all accessed and opened via a phone app. The resident takes their laptop to the pool and it automatically connects with Wi-Fi.

Artificial Intelligence may seem like a new technology, but CarMax has been using it for years. The Goochland County-based company is the country’s largest seller of used cars.

The LEGO Group’s new manufacturing facility in Chesterfield County is designed to support the company’s sustainability ambitions. From building practices to construction materials to operating functions to landscaping, the LEGO Group’s only U.S.

Modern life is shaped by electronic devices that employ many frequencies of electromagnetic radiation, from radio and television broadcasts, to cell phone, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi signals, to visible light displays and high-frequency medical imaging.

Dr. Anne Kress is president of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), the largest public educational institution in Virginia and the second-largest community college in the United States.

While many drivers along the Interstate 81 Corridor focus on the beauty of the surrounding mountains, I-81 is the backbone that connects a thriving manufacturing industry. Unlike many interstate systems, I-81 circumvents major metro areas to connect smaller and mid-size cities.

In recent years, the increased amount of available data — 64.2 zettabytes (equal to 1 trillion gigabytes) were created globally in 2020, compared to 2 zettabytes in 2010, according to Statista — and ways to analyze and use it have escalated the demand for data science professionals to fill data analyst, business intelligence engineer, and other roles.