The Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia (Office of the General Assembly) founded in 1996 that develops and enhances cultural, educational and economic interactions between Israel and Virginia.

In the realm of economic development, VIAB establishes and grows Israeli companies and partnerships in Virginia and facilitates Virginia companies sourcing innovative Israeli technologies. Our goal is to increase investment and expand the workforce in Virginia though activities aligned with Commonwealth policies.

Strategy of Commonwealth-wide collaborations We work in concert with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) at every level of the organization with prospects that have site specific requirements and are interested in state incentives. Separately we balance the projects-based approach with developing smaller scale R&D and commercial partnerships that birth new companies in Virginia or expand existing ones.

Economic Impact of $5 billion and growing. The Dragas Center for Economic Policy and Analysis at Old Dominion University analyzed four Israeli companies with their U.S. headquarters and core operations in the Commonwealth and found they have contributed more than $5-billion to the GDP of Virginia, an economic impact that represents 20,000 times the VIAB’s budget. (See Economic Impact Case Studies) Since the study’s completion, these companies continue to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the Virginia economy.

Israeli companies investing in Virginia over the past year

• UVision USA Corporation, founded by an Israel defense-related unmanned systems company, committed to building its US fabrication and training center in Stafford County, which will employ 40 people. The $2.2-million initial investment was announced in December 2021.

• Starplast, an Israeli company that makes utilitarian plastic items, is investing $17-million in a Chesterfield facility to construct their second U.S. manufacturing plant that will employ 300. Virginia was chosen due to its port and Mid-Atlantic location for east coast distribution.

• Pure Salmon continues erecting its plant in Tazewell/Russell Counties. A $228-million investment, it will employ 200 workers. Please See The project has generated interest from other Israeli aqua-cultural and agricultural prospects considering Virginia for their operations.

• Israel’s Over-SAT and Virginia’s MIL-SAT created a commercial venture in Virginia to bring to market their RIGEL Satcom, after investing $2-million in joint R&D.

Virginia STEM students project-based learning with Israeli moon landing: VIAB is developing a program for STEM students involving tech and space seminars with an Israeli company that will send its second spacecraft to the moon. The students will learn about the mission, send a digital payload to the lunar surface, and monitor an orbiter.

External Impacts on our Operations: In the past year, economic development professional turnover has had a significant impact on our operations.

Competition: Israel is increasingly a priority for US states to target for investment. 35 states and regions (e.g., Dayton, Ohio and Fairfax, VA) have publicly funded economic development staff in Israel, including a close competitor, Maryland, and an announced intent of Washington D.C.

National Landing leverages our marketing Virginia in Israel: To target Israeli tech companies seeking to build operations in the U.S., we are branding National Landing as the place to enter and succeed in the U.S. “It’s a transformational $12B smart city, in the heart of the US’s 3rd largest tech workforce and within walking distance from the White House".

We are leveraging the presence of Amazon’s east coast headquarters and innovation center ($2.5-billion investment); the $1-billion Virginia Tech Innovation Campus and its corporate partners (Boeing and Northrop Grumman) in growing the NOVA Tech ecosystem, to attract Israeli companies.

Until National Landing is fully built, we are working with the initial segments active there:

• Smart City / Smart Buildings / Construction Tech due to JBG-Smith investing $2-billion, including installing dark fiber in the ground to owning spectrum in the air, as well as local edge computing.

• Smart Mobility – working with Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute (VTTI)

• Defence – with increased concentration of corporate HQs in NOVA (Raytheon and Boeing)

VEDP met with twenty companies in Israel: The VEDP brought EDAs from Arlington and Mount Rogers Regional Partnership (southwest, including Bristol) to Israel in March to cultivate prospects. The VEDP is planning another delegation visit to Israel in 2023.

VIAB Thomas Jefferson: Commerce with All Nations Awards: VIAB acknowledges people and organizations that partner with us in an on-going manner. The award cites Thomas Jefferson’s: “Commerce with all Nations."

This year’s recipients included Arlington EDA and Marian Marques, its acting deputy director, for supporting marketing to Israeli companies -including supporting our activities in included National Landing and meetings in Israel with the VEDP team that traveled there in March.