July 25, 2019 – Alpha Corporation (Alpha), the principal founding design and construction consulting company of the Northern Virginia Smart Region Initiative (NVSRI), announced today that NVSRI was awarded a $750,000 federal grant through the i6 Challenge program from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. This was one of select awards made from 140 applications.
In addition to providing $150,000 in funding, Alpha collaborated for several months with Smart City Works to identify the opportunity and potential partners, help design the process model, assess its viability, and directly support the grant application submittal through a design-thinking approach.
NVSRI is comprised of local governments, educational, corporate, and nonprofit partners throughout Northern Virginia and was formed to advance and strengthen the smart city technology innovation cluster in the region. With the i6 Challenge grant, the NVSRI will:
- Accelerate the development and lower the risk profile of companies seeking to provide innovative solutions to infrastructure challenges.
- Grow the number of startups and highly skilled tech talent in the region.
- Accelerate the commercialization of innovative products.
- Strengthen the regional smart city cluster supporting innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialization.
As a result of this initiative, the group will support and mentor at least 85 other companies that will create more than 180 new jobs over the next five years. Alpha will lead the industry through pitch competitions with startups and innovators; provide internal value-chain-incubation and external startup/solutions support; host a companywide demo day; and provide one-on-one digital strategy consulting.
Alpha’s Director of Applied Research and Development, Andrew Lindsey, states, “We are very proud to work alongside such a dedicated and diverse team of experts from both the public and private sectors and look forward to collaborating around regional advancement in the built environment.”
“EDA’s support allows for our group to continue to lead and innovate in the emerging ecosystem of mature businesses, startups, universities and governments in the region,” says Robert Mazer, Smart City Works Co-Founder.
NVSRI partners include Alpha Corporation, Amazon, Arlington County, Center for Innovative Technology, Cushman & Wakefield, Northern Virginia Community College, Refraction, Smart City Works and Virginia Tech, among others.
About Alpha Corporation
Alpha Corporation is a woman-owned engineering and construction consulting firm providing civil and structural engineering, program and construction management, project controls, and technology services for clients worldwide. Established in 1979, Alpha provides innovative solutions on a broad range of building, infrastructure, energy/utilities, and transportation projects. To learn more, visit https://www.alphacorporation.com, or visit us on LinkedIn, Facebook at AlphaCorpUSA, Twitter @alphacorpUSA and Instagram @alphacorpusa.
