Helen Coffin, president of the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development, told a joint meeting of the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County economic development authorities that the Partnership has begun a year‑long, Go Virginia–funded planning effort to create an Innovation Corridor strategic roadmap.

The project is funded as a regional Go Virginia planning grant with local matching funds, Coffin said, and the Partnership is working with a consulting firm identified in the presentation as Taconomy to produce a data‑driven roadmap. "We measure the region's success in part by announcing new capital investment and new jobs," Coffin said, noting recent announcements including AstraZeneca and other firms.

The planning work, Coffin and Katie Delaney (talent director, Central Virginia Partnership) explained, combines a technology‑push analysis (research strength and university outputs) and a market‑pull assessment (private investment, venture capital, SBIR/STTR awards and patent activity). The consultant will run a five‑to‑nine‑month schedule that includes: quantitative analysis of research and industry data; interviews with UVA researchers, industry executives and personnel at Ravenna Station; a situational assessment of ecosystem readiness; and a final strategic roadmap expected next March.

Delaney described the consultant as a nationally experienced firm that began work on a related BioBridge talent pathway initiative earlier in the year and then kicked off the Innovation Corridor work in May. Coffin added that the Partnership received $100,000 in matching funds for the planning grant and that the region recently secured site development funding for Rivanna Futures: "Albemarle County got about $600,000 for Rivanna Futures from Go Virginia and also $9,700,000 from the Virginia Business Ready Site Program on August 1," she said.

Speakers identified the region's assets they expect to inform the roadmap: a concentration of biotech firms, the University of Virginia's research enterprise, the Manning Institute of Biotechnology, and national security and geospatial intelligence activity at Ravenna Station (including the Defense Intelligence Agency and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency). Coffin said those assets produce significant economic impact figures discussed during the session.

In the Q&A, University of Virginia professor Steven Johnson raised concerns about housing affordability and potential displacement of existing residents as higher‑paying jobs arrive. "What’s happening to our existing workforce... are they being displaced?" Johnson asked. County and city staff and board members responded that workforce pipelines and local hiring were priorities and pointed to related talent and training efforts, including the BioBridge talent pathway and partnerships with Piedmont Virginia Community College.

Speakers said the planning roadmap is intended to produce recommended strategies, estimated resources and performance metrics and to position the region to apply for Go Virginia implementation funding to carry forward new initiatives identified in the plan.

The Partnership asked the local economic development staff and EDA members to participate in steering committee activity and interviews; Coffin and Delaney said the steering committee meets every two weeks.

The project timeline presented to the EDAs calls for completion of the strategic roadmap by March, after which the Partnership and regional partners expect to pursue implementation grants and other actions the roadmap recommends.