Virginia Economic Review

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.

A trilateral security partnership to share technology and military resources is poised to benefit the Hampton Roads economy and Virginia’s defense ecosystem. The United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom formalized the AUKUS partnership in 2021.

If every journey begins with the first step, in Roanoke that first step looks like 40,000 square feet of lab space.

When Jeremy Moyer was 6 years old, he started following his dad around their 1,000-acre dairy farm in Amelia County. By the time he was 12, he was getting paid to do chores around the farm. Now, at 42, he runs the farm with his father and brother.

Like his fellow Type 1 diabetics, Alec Smith took insulin every day to regulate his blood sugar.

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.

From fourth-generation oyster farms to award-winning distilleries, Virginia’s food and beverage trails offer a bounty for hungry travelers. Here’s how some of those businesses have benefited from being on these trails.

Dr. René Rodgers is head curator at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, where she leads the museum’s collections, permanent and special exhibits, and other educational programming.

As U.S. Route 58 winds west along the southern border of Virginia into the Blue Ridge Mountains, the road takes on another name — drawing on the distinctive music for which southwestern Virginia is known.

Virginia Offers Challenge and Respite as Midpoint for Thru-Hikers It happens every spring and fall in Virginia. In the south, on the Tennessee border, they come just as the dogwoods bloom.

Philip D’Anieri is a lecturer in urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, where he teaches courses on the built environment.

Educational institutions across Virginia are finding innovative ways to work with businesses to provide a pipeline of potential employees while also creating better employment outcomes for the students they serve.

Many high school students feel compelled to get a four-year college degree, even if that’s not always the best option. Students may not realize that careers in the trades are in demand and pay well.

Expertise in grapevine grafting and propagation, basic tractor repair, fermentation, and wine racking aren’t exactly skill sets that are widely found among the general population. Yet they are skills upon which the more than 800 wineries, breweries, cideries, and distilleries in Virginia depend.

As the COVID-19 pandemic raged on over the last two years, contractors became more popular as people reevaluated the spaces where they lived (and suddenly worked).

Cyberattacks that can drain bank accounts and steal personal data are high on the list of things that keep Virginia business owners and government officials up at night. A University of Maryland study found that hackers launch cyberattacks every 39 seconds. The good news?