When the Weldon Cooper Center projects the future population for Virginia localities, they may not necessarily be taking economic development efforts into account.
In the past ten years, Albemarle has gone from having no economic development office to one that is very active in promoting the locality’s targeted industries. This work includes support for the biotechnology and life sciences sector.
The Albemarle Economic Development Authority has a virtual meeting at 4 p.m. at which the group will reaffirm its pledge to match a statewide grant with a $300,000 contribution to CvilleBioHub that was first agreed to in March. At the time, the nonprofit was applying for a GO Virginia grant from the Department of Housing and Community Development for its Commonwealth BioAccelerator Project. (meeting information)
“GO VIRGINIA is a statewide economic development initiative designed to drive the growth of higher paying jobs and diversify regional economies by incentivizing collaboration between business, higher education, and local government through regional councils,” reads a resolution that updates the resolution from March.
The BioAccelerator Project is an effort to provide more laboratory space throughout the community for companies that may form here when the Manning Institute of Biotechnology comes online at the University of Virginia.
This initiative is known as Project Vital and there’s a memorandum of understanding between nearly a dozen entities for what is also known as Virginia Innovation Team for Accelerating the Life Sciences. According to Section F of the MOU, The Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development and CvilleBioHub have been awarded $4,302,887 in funds.
The contract is also of interest because it lays out how much money is being added to the project from various entities.
“A total match of $2,702,158.35 in matching funds over three years is committed to this
PROJECT by the Quantitative Foundation, Evan Edwards, Cooley, CSC Leasing, ThermoFisher, Virginia Bio, The Manning Family Foundation and the University of Virginia,” reads the contract.
This contract also lays out milestones for the three years of the grant and might be worth a look if you’re interested in the future of this industry.
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Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment is from the December 16, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.
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