April 2019

The Hampton Roads Innovation Collaborative (HRIC) has launched Corporate Pillars, a program designed to emulate some of the conditions that contributed to the success of Silicon Valley tech firms.

Dan Bell, president of HRIC stated “The goals of the Corporate Pillar program are twofold: to provide an environment where large regional organization’s IT leaders can become aware of smaller/growth technology firms within the region, and also to provide feedback on their product, services, strategies and more, contributing toward their growth.”

The approach taken by HRIC was to solicit involvement from senior IT personnel in large business, government and academia.  To date, the following organizations have opted to participate: Cox, PRA, City of Virginia Beach, City of Chesapeake, Clark Nexsen, Huntington Ingalls Inc. Technical Solutions Division, Newport News Shipbuilding, ODU Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Port of Virginia, Sentara, Tech Center Research Park and Towne Bank.

Beginning with the first meeting in April of 2019 and continuing every 90 days, HRIC organizes a 3-hour Corporate Pillars meeting, inviting 6 growth firms in to present for 20 minutes each (with Q&A) on their business.  These are private sessions, closed to the public and invitation only from HRIC.  Meeting locations are intended to take place on both the southside and peninsula.

Read More at: Corporate Pillars PR