Last week, a Southern Virginia research partnership announced plans to build a $25.5 million advanced manufacturing center in hopes of attracting new businesses to the region.
The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research’s (IALR) Danville, Virginia, campus will house the 51,000-square-foot Center for Manufacturing Advancement, which is expected to open in 2021. It will also be located next to a tech hub recently built by electronics giant Kyocera.
The new center will include support services for startup businesses — including facilities for off-site production while factories are under construction — and a platform for collaboration between manufacturers, technology companies, and engineering students.
The complex will also house process improvement labs and an inspection lab that organizers said could cut eight to 10 months — the time ordinarily needed to secure ISO lab certification — from companies’ startup phases.
Officials said few other regions could offer comparable services to manufacturers, and expressed hope that the facility would be a catalyst for economic growth.
The project will be funded by the state and the Danville Regional Foundation. The IALR is a partnership between state and local governments, nonprofits, and regional colleges and universities.
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