Region hopes for jolt from batteries, electrification
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Adam Wells is charged up about a plan to create a “battery and electrification economy” in Southwest Virginia. “This is the most exciting thing that I’m working on,” says Wells,
Va. Tech researchers make Spot go
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Spot can’t dance. Well, Spot could, but you’d have to pay extra for that. “Spot out of the box cannot do all those tricks,” says Virginia Tech doctoral student Srijeet
(Solar) powering the economy
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A 700-acre solar farm on a former surface mine outside of Hurley will be more than it appears, according to Adam Edelen. “Buchanan County and the entire region of Southwestern Virginia
Aquaculture proves big catch for region
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A Russell County native and a Singapore-based asset management firm are about to turn a corner of Virginia’s coalfields into an aquaculture center. Jake Musick’s Riverbound Trout Farms is building
Shenandoah eyes old rail line as trail to prosperity
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Woodstock Mayor Jeremy McCleary has a vision. On a vacated railroad line that runs nearly 50 miles, from just outside Front Royal through Shenandoah County and down to the Rockingham
Power contract keeps third-party solar out of reach
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More than 40 years ago, local governments in Appalachian Power’s service area banded together to negotiate rates. Now, Rocky Mount Town Manager James Ervin, chair of the steering committee that
Barter Theatre hangs on with Moonlite shows
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Abingdon’s Moonlite Theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places and in the lyrics of at least two country western songs, but the drive-in movie theater was closed for
Downtown Norton gets a glow-up
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Like other coalfield communities coping with the downturn of its signature industry, Norton is working to reinvent itself, says City Manager Fred Ramey. This fall, the city’s three-year, $2.3 million
Out of the lab, into the market
Virginia Tech debuts tool to turn innovation into businesses
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Virginia Tech was born to promote business. The 1862 Morrill Act, which created land-grant universities including Virginia Tech, requires such universities to “teach such branches of learning as are related
Virginia Tech’s proof-of-concept grants
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It’s about gaps. Gaps between the uncertainties that exist and the uncertainties investors are willing to accept. Gaps between a working prototype and a mass-produced model. Gaps between what researchers