Alexandria joins Arlington in launching National Innovation Quarter
The new nonprofit aims to be 'connective tissue' for the region's defense tech and startup ecosystem, with a $5 million budget over three years.
A new innovation district spanning Arlington and Alexandria launched Thursday, aiming to position Northern Virginia as a global hub for dual-use technology and national security innovation.
The National Innovation Quarter, or National IQ, is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit that will offer year-round programming including startup accelerators, investor summits, hackathons and an international soft-landing program. The organization plans to launch a national search for its executive director this month and has an expected budget of $5 million over the next three years to scale programs and staff, as first reported by Technical.ly.
Nine founding partners are behind the effort: Amazon, Northrop Grumman, SAIC, Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, Virginia Tech, Arlington Economic Development, Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, JBG SMITH and the National Landing Business Improvement District. Nearly 30 companies are sponsoring the initiative.
“This is the future we envisioned when we attracted Virginia Tech to Alexandria and first established National Landing,” said AEDP President and CEO Stephanie Landrum. “National IQ is a vital next step in bringing that vision to reality, cementing collaboration across jurisdictions and offering a tangible opportunity and clear next step for any organization in these fields.”
The district is based in National Landing, the mixed-use community encompassing Crystal City, Pentagon City, and Potomac Yard. The area is home to nearly 30,000 residents with a median age of 34.
The initiative comes as the region looks to build on — and move beyond — the momentum generated by Amazon’s HQ2 decision. The tech giant selected Northern Virginia in 2018, promising 25,000 new jobs, but has since seen slower-than-expected growth and implemented layoffs. National IQ aims to serve as “connective tissue” for the local ecosystem, connecting startups, established companies, academia and government, said Tracy Sayegh Gabriel, president and CEO of the National Landing BID.
“We’ve had the fundamentals for so long,” Gabriel told Technical.ly. “So many exceptional anchors and outstanding talent, and National IQ is going to take these assets to the next level and create a deeper, more impactful ecosystem for our area.”
The new entity differs from the existing BID in scope and mission. While the BID focuses on transportation improvements, public events and lifestyle programming, National IQ will center on technology events, startup support and cross-sector collaboration. The two also differ geographically: Potomac Yard, home to Virginia Tech’s campus, spans both Alexandria and Arlington, but the BID covers only the Arlington portion. National IQ covers the entire neighborhood.
In addition to defense and national security tech, the organization plans to support climate tech, fintech and other dual-use technologies with both military and civilian applications.
Partners marked the launch Tuesday evening at the National Landing Experience Center. The event featured a fireside chat with Dr. Alex Miller of the U.S. Army, moderated by Laura Freeman of the Virginia Tech National Security Institute.
Holly Sullivan, vice president of worldwide economic development policy at Amazon, said the initiative builds on momentum created by the company’s HQ2.
“National Innovation Quarter does exactly that in order to tackle some of our nation’s most complex challenges and work collaboratively to create breakthrough technologies,” Sullivan said.
Lance Collins, vice president of Virginia Tech in the D.C. area, said the university aims to be “a destination for talent — top research faculty and graduate students — that desire real-world impact on global-scale problems.”
Early sponsors beyond the founding partners include Auterion, Bloomberg Industry Group, Consumer Technology Association, Leonid Capital, Pillsbury and Silicon Valley Defense Group, among others.
Washington, D.C., has a comparable program in the Penn West Equity and Innovation District, a collaboration between a local BID, George Washington University and the D.C. government that focuses on fintech, edtech and govtech.
For more information and updates, visit national-iq.com.