“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”
When Bruce Katz talks about the importance of developing a strategic plan to grow the economy of a region, he’s known to first quote Dolly Parton.
Because it’s true. It also happens to be good advice.
Katz, an economic development expert with New Localism Associates who works with major metropolitan regions around the country, has led the team to help figure out who Hampton Road is, and unveiled the plan to do it on purpose to growth the opportunities in the region.
At the Mid-Year Mixer for investors and Hampton Roads Alliance stakeholders on Thursday, June 26, Katz joined Alliance President & CEO Doug Smith to unveil the draft Hampton Roads Regional Investment Playbook.
“What an Investment Playbook does is give you the ability to articulate a very clear narrative for a region,” Katz said. “It’s not something you write and stick on a shelf. This is a report of action.”
It’s a report that goes beyond defining who Hampton Roads is in this rapidly shifting global economy. It charts a clear, intentional path forward.
Who Is Hampton Roads?
The answer is both rooted in history and primed for the future.
Hampton Roads is a major metropolitan region with deep expertise in defense and maritime industries, underpinned by a growing presence in critical technologies, green energy and advanced manufacturing. From shipbuilding and submarine construction to military equipment, aerospace and logistics, this region has been a cornerstone of America’s economic and national security since the founding of the Republic.
But defining who the region is now also means understanding why this matters more than ever.
Why Now?
The world is changing fast. Katz outlined the forces reshaping the global economy:
- Rising geopolitical tensions
- Technological acceleration in AI, robotics, and biotech
- Climate crisis and the energy transition
- Lasting impacts from the pandemic
- Disruptions in global trade and federal policy shifts
These challenges are daunting but also present historic opportunities.
“There’s a renewed importance of defense, a rapid rise in clean energy demands and an explosion of technological innovation,” Katz noted. “Hampton Roads has legacy assets that the world suddenly values more than ever.”
From Research to Action
The draft Regional Investment Playbook identifies four strategic, catalytic projects designed to strengthen the region’s economic security, attract public and private investment and unlock the full potential of the workforce.
These include:
- A Defense and Efficiency Production Center
- A series of Centers of Excellence to support AUKUS (the trilateral security pact between Australia, the U.K., and the U.S.)
- A Hampton Roads Ambassador Corps to globally represent the region’s assets and capabilities
- An Innovation Hub focused on accelerating autonomous systems technology
But the Playbook doesn’t stop at identifying ideas. The next critical steps are about execution.
A Summer of Socialization and Listening
Throughout the summer, the Hampton Roads Alliance will lead a community-wide effort to socialize the draft Playbook with the goal of gathering feedback, refining priorities and rallying partners around the projects.
This is the moment for businesses, educational institutions, local governments and community organizations to weigh in:
- What are the workforce needs?
- What technologies must be leveraged?
- Who are the partners who can make these ideas real?
“This is a Hampton Roads moment,” Katz emphasized. “You have what the global markets demand. Now is the time to mobilize with the right mix of public and private capital to seize it.”
What’s Next?
The Playbook is designed to lead directly to implementation — defining the projects, fleshing them out, identifying implementation partners and securing financing.
The summer months are for refining. Then, this fall, the region will reconvene for a region-wide meeting to finalize the Playbook and take the next steps toward making it real.
This isn’t just a report. It’s a call to action.
