Virginia Tech opens new Innovation Campus in Alexandria
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A new university building in Arlington. Photo: Courtesy of Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech's new Innovation Campus celebrates its grand opening this week.
Why it matters: The tech-focused graduate school, in Alexandria's Potomac Yard neighborhood, is a critical part of National Landing and Northern Virginia rebranding into innovation centers.
The big picture: Virginia and several partners have pledged over $2 billion to educate and support more tech students and graduates — a key reason Arlington was picked as Amazon's HQ2 location.
- That money funded the Innovation Campus, as well as George Mason's new Fuse building in Arlington, which combines labs focused on virtual reality and AI with work areas for industry pros — and some robots.
State of play: Over 500 students have been taking classes since the beginning of the year at the first building to open on Virginia Tech's three-and-a-half-acre campus.
- It offers programs in fields like computer engineering, computer science and business.
- When Axios visited, students led demonstrations on work they're doing to keep AI systems like ChatGPT safe and to program drones for situations like disaster relief.
The 11-story, 300,000-square-foot, geometric-looking building is home to a public visitor's center, the Boeing Auditorium, 14 classrooms, a two-story drone testing cage, a cyber physical lab for testing wireless technology, and a center for artificial intelligence and data analytics.
- Also included: a center dedicated to K-12 education, a roof deck, wellness spaces like a stretching station and relaxation rooms, a maker's space with 3D printing tools, and an immersive visualization lab, where art and data can be projected visually onto the walls and floors.
- Outside, there's landscaped green space, an outdoor classroom and multiple plazas.
What we're watching: There are two more buildings planned for the campus, although next steps on construction are TBD, per a spokesperson.
Meanwhile, National Landing has seen lots of moves: companies like Boeing and Raytheon have relocated their headquarters there, Amazon's HQ2 opened, the neighborhood got a new Metro and plans for a commuter bridge to DCA are in the works.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to say Amazon HQ2 opened in National Landing (not PenPlace). The credit for the second and third photos were corrected to show they were taken by Judy Davis for SmithGroup.