Nov 12, 2026 · @William Amos
On November 19–20, builders, researchers, business leaders, founders, investors and students from across the Roanoke-Blacksburg region and beyond will gather at Hotel Roanoke for the Roanoke Blacksburg Technology Council’s third annual Emerging Technology Conference. It’s one week away, and I think it’s one of the most important rooms our region will fill all year.
RBTC describes the conference as the region’s premier stage for work at the growing edge of technology and life sciences. This year’s program spans AI, healthcare innovation, advanced manufacturing, energy, agriculture, infrastructure and venture. Those topics aren’t separate industries anymore. They are the pieces of one regional economy, and this conference is where we see how they fit.
What we learned last year
Last year’s conference brought together more than 500 innovators, founders and tech leaders from more than 250 companies and organizations. That’s double the roughly 250 people who attended the first year. The growth alone tells a story: this region wants a place to connect.
Three lessons stood out to me.
Collaboration is the strategy, not a slogan. Leaders from Children’s National Hospital and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute laid out how they are working together to move pediatric innovations from the lab to the clinic. Children’s National’s chief academic officer put it simply: to elevate care, you have to work collaboratively. Dr. Michael Friedlander credited regional partnerships for helping Roanoke grow into a biomedical hub.
We’ve built the commercialization pathway, and it’s working. Friedlander noted that when FBRI opened 15 years ago, the region had little startup or venture infrastructure. Today, Virginia Tech’s LAUNCH center, the Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation Alliance and the VTC Ventures Fund help researchers take discoveries from concept to commercial product. The impact is measurable: the City of Roanoke cited FBRI’s $1.7 billion economic impact over 15 years when it proclaimed Dr. Michael Friedlander Day.
Talent is the thread that ties it together. Last year’s program was more industry-focused, with tracks in biotech, cybersecurity, manufacturing, energy and AI. It also added STEM-H and talent tracks and a Radford University cyber track to connect students directly with employers. The goal was clear: show our students the jobs that already exist here, so they build their careers here. Speakers were also encouraged to share the barriers they face, so the room could work on solutions together.
From assets to opportunity
- Research to companies. Discoveries at FBRI and Virginia Tech should become startups that grow here, not move away.
- Talent to jobs. A pipeline that runs from our high schools and community colleges through our colleges and universities into local employers.
- Infrastructure to growth. Roads, broadband and computing, and air service that connects our researchers and companies to the world.
No single organization can do this alone. A stronger community comes from people who understand each other’s work and know where to plug in. That’s why a conference like this matters: it puts the researcher, the founder, the hospital executive, the student and the investor in the same room, so they see the same map.
Join us this year
This year’s lineup reflects where our innovation economy is heading. Keynotes include Ken Gall, chief commercial officer at restor3D, whose startups have been acquired in five transactions, and Nigel Thurlow, co-creator of The Flow System and Toyota’s first “chief of agile.” Featured speakers include Eric Hanson, CTO of IWT, on industrial technology and AI; Nicole Hall of UVA on moving from college to career; Gary Mays of Axle on building a translational research network; and Mark Otter of Community Works Collective on rethinking professional credentialing.
If you care about where this region is headed, join the conversation. Bring a colleague, bring a student, and come ready to meet someone whose work connects to yours.
- When: November 19–20
- Where: Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center
- Cost: $325 general, $275 for RBTC members
- Register: emergingtechconf26.sched.com
See you at Hotel Roanoke.
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