In 2012, the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development hired a consultant to identify ideal business sectors that officials might pursue. The Target Industry Study produced by Younger Associates identified four main areas including Bioscience and Medical Devices.
“Optimal targets should provide solid business rationale for firms looking to relocate or expand in the County and provide County residents with a strong reason to support their presence in the County,” reads a staff report for the May 12, 2012 meeting that year at which the Board of Supervisors endorsed the targets.
Four years later, a nonprofit called CvilleBioHub was created to help nurture the industry which already included companies like MicroAire and Afton Scientific. The latter announced an expansion in October 2024 that promised 200 new jobs, just one sign of the success the industry has had.
CvilleBioHub has just published their latest annual report that covers a year in which Albemarle County landed a deal with AstraZeneca to invest $4.5 billion in a pair of pharmaceutical factories at the Rivanna Futures site.
“In 2025, CvilleBioHub transitioned from a convening organization into an operating platform, accelerating company formation and growth,” said Nikki Hastings, President of CvilleBioHub, in a letter that opens the report. (download the report)
A big component of that work has been the launch of the Commonwealth BioAccelerator at the UVA North Fork Discovery Park which is intended to help startups with laboratory space as well as access to capital.
“This model was designed to support companies from early development through commercialization while enabling them to remain local,” Hastings continued.
Firms compete to be included in the process with a residency lasting up to two years. The first cohort consists of Avant Genomics, Built Biotechnologies, nanoSTAR Institute, Navion Neurosciences, Parabon Nanolabs, SonoFx, Stride Robotics, and Vasarya Therapeutics.
Other achievements in 2025 included the launch of a study intended to create ways to train area students and residents how to be ready for some of these jobs. Learn more about the Talent Pathways Study in a press release from December. I hope to get a story out on that in the near future.
This annual report serves as an update to that target industry study. Between 2015 and 2025, the sector raised over $257 million in capital for start-ups and over 300 patents have been awarded.
The other target industries for the region were Business & Financial Services, Information Technology and Defense & Security, and Agribusiness and Food Processing.
Before you go: The goal of Town Crier Productions is to increase awareness about what is happening at the local, regional, state, and federal government levels. Please share the work with others if you want people to know things. Paid subscribers cover the cost of conducting research for this article which was originally published in the May 7, 2026 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. You can either subscribe through Substack or make a charitable contribution.
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