Here, the university is mapping out a playground for the innovators, inventors, and makers who will build the world of tomorrow. Finding solutions for complex problems that range from water conservation and food supply chains to energy demands and transportation congestion will require expertise from many sources. For a global community, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. By creating spaces that bring together poets and engineers and artists and chemists and historians, Virginia Tech is leveling the field, advancing cross-cultural research and development, and emphasizing the combined strengths of science, technology, business, and the humanities.

The $250 million Creativity and Innovation District capitalizes on existing programs and facilities while creating new spaces and making large-scale changes to others. The goal: to galvanize innovation—from conception to commercialization.

“The whole Creativity and Innovation District is becoming something quite incredible,” said Ben Knapp, founding executive director of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT). “I don’t really know of any other university district across the country that is merging town, gown, and live-learn communities that span the arts, design, the sciences, and engineering.”