The Consortium will engage the broader business communities of Region 5 & Region 6 in the resilience economy to advance collaboration across regions and sectors to enable growth and diversification of the coastal resilience and adaptation sector, and prepare businesses for a future with water. Virginia’s Resilience sector is fragmented, creating barriers to entry and hindering growth. Coalescence of businesses in this sector will catalyze growth in new and existing firms.

The Consortium will build on existing efforts including the Hampton Roads Adaptation Forum, Fight the Flood program, and architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry sector interest to engage in resilience. It will engage the chambers, regional economic development groups, industry associations, the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) & other innovation centers to encourage broadening participation across all industry sectors (e.g. maritime, real estate, logistics, manufacturing, aquaculture, and forestry). The Consortium provides an opportunity to educate businesses about the coastal flooding risks related to sea level rise and the associated economic impacts, provides business continuity training opportunities and enables adoption of resilient strategies and practices. It provides an opportunity for Regions 5 & 6 industries to build urban and rural capacity through knowledge and talent transfer, and create identification of best practices, and development of implementation pathways for priority resilient infrastructure projects in both regions.