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FIVE-YEAR PROJECT SUMMARY
BUSINESS ATTRACTION & MARKETING
THE RETURN OF TRADESHOW TRAVEL
The Department actively markets Montgomery County to prospective businesses and site consultants at industry trade shows. The goal of these efforts is to develop leads on new projects that may have an interest in locating in our community. After a year of cancelled or rescheduled events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 saw somewhat of a return to normal for the Department when it came to travel for industry trade shows.
AVUSI Xponential 2021
In August, staff traveled with representatives from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) to Atlanta for AUVSI Xponential 2021 at the Georgia World Congress Center, showcasing unmanned systems and robotics technology across land, air, and sea. This year’s tradeshow was conducted as a hybrid event, with virtual programming taking place in the spring and the in-person gathering in Atlanta in the summer.
Attending the Xponential tradeshow allowed the Department to interact with the people and businesses who are shaping the unmanned industry, and to showcase Montgomery County as an up-and-coming hotspot for unmanned research, development, and commercialization. The Department was also able to visit with Montgomery County companies Aeroprobe Corporation and Moog, Inc., as they both exhibited their technologies on the tradeshow floor.
The Virginia team poses together outside the exhibit hall at AUVSI Xponential 2021 in Atlanta.
In September, staff traveled with VEDP to Novi, Michigan for the 2021 Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo and The Battery Show. The two-part tradeshow exhibits the latest innovations in design and infrastructure for electric and hybrid vehicles and equipment, as well as showcasing advanced battery technology for everything from electric vehicles and portable devices to utilities and renewable energy support.
The Department attended this tradeshow for the first time in 2021 to gain a better understanding of the evolution of electric vehicle and battery technology, as many Montgomery County companies use and even develop these technologies for their work in our region.
Aeroprobe displays their air data measurement technology, applicable across a wide variety of unmanned industries. Moog exhibits several of their innovations at Xponential, including slip rings, actuators, and radar technology.
In 2021, the Department and its allies generated 47 prospect leads. Of these 47 leads, 40 were from new businesses not previously located in Montgomery County, and seven came from existing businesses. At year end, 24 were still actively considering projects in our community, while five were successfully located in Montgomery County.
2021 Prospects by Industry (47)
2021 Source of Leads
2021 Year-End Prospect Status
Department’s prospect tracking system definitions:
Located: Project located in Montgomery County. Active: Project is under active consideration. Inactive: No project activity in 3 months or more. Closed: Project located elsewhere, or no activity in over a year.
YESMONTGOMERYVA.ORG NEARS 9,000 VISITS Top International Visitors
YesMontgomeryVA.org is the official website of the Economic Development Department, and showcases the quality of life and business climate in Montgomery County. In 2021, the website had 8,760 visitors from 69 different countries and all 50 states.
YesMontgomeryVA.org Global Visitors in 2021
1 Canada 2 Ireland
110 88 3 India 88 4 Philippines 41 5 United Kingdom 32
Top Visitors By State 1 Virginia 4,220 2 Illinois 1,519 3 California 225 4 Maryland 197 5 North Carolina 191 6 Washington 160 7 Texas 146 8 New York 121 9 Pennsylvania 100 10 South Carolina 100
