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Greater Richmond’s Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing cluster wins 2024 Community Innovation Award
April 12, 2024
RICHMOND, Va. (April 12, 2024) – Greater Richmond’s Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing cluster received the 2024 Community Innovation: Building a Better Business Climate award by the Site Selectors Guild, an association of elite site location consultants.
The award was presented to representatives from the Greater Richmond Partnership (GRP), City of Richmond, Henrico County and Dominion Energy during the Guild’s 2024 Annual Conference in Nashville, Tenn. It recognizes a unique initiative, public policy program or legislative action that was created and successfully implemented to support economic development and build a healthier business environment.
GRP is part of a community consortium that makes up the region’s APM cluster which aims to reshore manufacturing and ultimately bring more affordable essential medicines to Americans and submitted for the award on behalf of the region. The APM cluster has secured more than $100 million in federal, state, local and private funding, landed a $27.8 million laboratory testing facility and earned designation by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration as one of the nation’s 31 Tech Hubs to drive regional innovation and job creation.
“Greater Richmond’s Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing cluster is an impressive achievement that shows major promise for reshoring important operations to the region and increasing access to affordable medications for Americans,” said Larry Gigerich, Site Selectors Guild board chair and executive managing director at Ginovus.
“I have the pleasure of serving alongside many great leaders from peer organizations like Activation Capital and the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) in bringing this impactful work to Greater Richmond,” said GRP President + CEO Jennifer Wakefield. “Our region is well poised to bolster the Alliance for Building Better Medicine’s mission.”
“The Community Innovation award for building a better business climate by the Site Selectors Guild is a testament to the Richmond-Petersburg region’s commitment to serving as the world’s central access point for advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D,” said Chandra Briggman, President and CEO at Activation Capital. “Our region is honored to receive this distinction from the largest gathering of professional site selection consultants, and we look forward to continuing to invite leaders in life sciences to expand to Richmond-Petersburg to make affordable, high-quality medicines with us.”
“Serving as a proud recipient of the Site Selectors Guild award for building a transformative and innovative environment is another step forward for the Richmond-Petersburg region and our shared efforts to bring vital medicine to life,” said Robby Demeria, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Phlow Corp. and Chair of the Alliance for Building Better Medicine. “Thanks to ongoing public-private partnerships and collaboration, our region is not only making medicine better but we’re doing it in a way that welcomes everyone to participate. We invite others committed to building healthy communities to consider our region’s end-to-end, advanced manufacturing ecosystem that is ready and capable of producing the world’s most essential medicines.”
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About GRP
The Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. (GRP) is the lead regional economic development organization for the City of Richmond and counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico in Virginia. GRP attracts new companies to the region by providing in-depth market data, marketing the region globally and generating quality economic opportunities. For more information, visit www.grpva.com.
About the Site Selectors Guild
The Site Selectors Guild is the only association of the world’s foremost professional site selection consultants. Guild members provide location strategy to corporations across the globe and for every industry, sector, and function. Founded in 2010, the Site Selectors Guild is dedicated to advancing the profession of international corporate site selection by promoting integrity, objectivity, and professional development. Members are peer-nominated, vetted and must demonstrate significant professional location advisory experience. In 2023, Guild members facilitated the committed or announced creation of approximately 107,000 jobs and $101 billion in capital investment by corporate clients, which required location analysis across 74 countries. Guild membership is the highest standard in the site selection industry. For more information, visit siteselectorsguild.com or follow @siteselectguild on Twitter.
- Topics:
- BioScience
- Health + Life Sciences
