Northern Virginia leaders today launched a new innovation district focused on national competitiveness, with the goal of sparking more growth in an area flush with promising startups and established companies.
Called the National Innovation Quarter — or National IQ, for short — the initiative was designed in partnership with defense tech firms and other businesses. The district stretches across Arlington and Alexandria, home to several Fortune 500 companies including its partners SAIC and Northrop Grumman.
“We’ve had the fundamentals for so long … and National IQ is going to take these assets to the next level.”
Tracy Sayegh Gabriel, National Landing BID
It’s also the location of Amazon’s HQ2, the tech giant’s much-hyped second headquarters that in the 2010s set off a bidding race among regions across the country. Northern Virginia won that contest, thanks to local leaders, but the payoff has been less than hoped for. After announcing the new site in 2018 with the promise to add 25,000 new jobs, Amazon has since reported slow job growth there, and even implemented layoffs.
National IQ hopes to buck that trend and help connect companies, academics and the government to grow the local economy.
“We’ve had the fundamentals for so long,” said Tracy Sayegh Gabriel, CEO of the National Landing Business Improvement District (BID). “So many exceptional anchors and outstanding talent, and National IQ is going to take these assets to the next level and create a deeper, more impactful ecosystem for our area.”
The name National Landing, which refers to the area spanning Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard in Arlington and Alexandria, was coined during the HQ2 bidding process. Originally met with some criticism and confusion by locals, the concept stuck, Gabriel said, and it’s now “the super-neighborhood name.”
National IQ’s goal is to develop and scale technology faster and drive local economic growth, she said. New programming planned for 2026 includes hackathons and investor-specific events. A search is on for an executive director to lead the organization, with an expected budget of $5 million over the next three years to scale programs and staff.
National security has long been a key part of the DMV’s ecosystem, and the sector is on the rise, though some relied-upon government funding for early-stage testing has lapsed. National IQ aims to be “connective tissue” for local players in the space, including startups and established entities like Virginia Tech and Arlington Economic Development, as well as big corporations like Amazon, according to Gabriel.
Why a new district when a BID already exists?
The already-established BID in National Landing, led by Gabriel for the past eight years, has different goals than the National Innovation Quarter, she said.
Typical BIDs don’t focus on technological events or startup support — more so events and programs for the general public, like transportation improvements and lifestyle popups.
The jurisdictions included under the two entities are also slightly different. Potomac Yard, which houses Virginia Tech’s campus, is in both Alexandria and Arlington. The BID covers just the Arlington section, while National IQ covers the entire neighborhood.
This innovation district, organized as a nonprofit under the “business league” 501(c)(6) definition, will tap its large-scale private and public sector partners to provide event space, host programming or offer pro bono support services.
DC has a similar program. The Penn West Equity and Innovation District focuses on boosting innovation with fintech, edtech and govtech. It’s a collaboration between a local BID, George Washington University and the DC government, and offers access to healthcare facilities, hosts networking events and launched a soft landing program in 2024.
In addition to tech related to national competitiveness, National IQ is looking to support climate tech and fintech, as well as dual-use, meaning tech that has both military and civilian applications.
“I believe we have strength, obviously, in defense tech, but we also see so much opportunity in emerging technologies,” Gabriel said.
Encouraging startup growth is one part of the plan, she said, but so is boosting the region’s economy and reputation as a whole.
“The goal is to accelerate the impact of moving ideas faster, from ideas to deployment,” Gabriel said. “It’s really an accelerator for our market.”
