NORFOLK, Va. — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday $1.5 million in funding for six business winners of the inaugural RISE Coastal Community Resilience Challenge.
The winners will each receive between $160,000 and $310,000 to build innovative products, services and workforce development programs to help coastal communities adapt to climate change, a news release said.
RISE will collaborate with the winners with access to real-world infrastructure, data, experts, and mentors.
"I am thrilled to announce the six entrepreneur winners of the RISE Coastal Community Resiliency Challenge competition,” Northam said. “As we continue to look at innovative and creative ways to address the growing challenge of extreme weather events and sea level rise, these businesses will be leading the charge to develop, test and demonstrate these products and approaches to tackle this ever-growing risk to Virginians, especially those in our Hampton Roads region.”
Coastal Community Resilience Challenge Winners:
- Building Resilience Solution - Building Resilience Solutions will pilot alternative flood resilience retrofit methods for older and historic structures under various flooding conditions.
- Constructis Energy - Constructis Energy will pilot patent-pending technology that harnesses kinetic energy from traffic to provide power to emergency services, traffic signals and pumps that clear flooded roadways.
- GROW Oyster Reefs - GROW Oyster Reefs will demonstrate a novel concept of oyster reef restoration which will improve the overall water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and reduce effects of flooding by creating an organic seawall.
- InfraSGA - InfraSGA will pilot innovative urban retrofit bio-retention systems that will reduce stormwater flooding while decreasing the design, construction, and operation and maintenance costs.
- Landscape Resilience Partnership - Landscape Resilience Partnership will accelerate the adoption of green infrastructure by growing its workforce training program. This will ensure that Hampton Roads has a well-trained network of skilled workers to design, install and maintain nature-based solutions.
- Resilient Enterprise Solutions - Resilience Enterprise Solutions will offer financing, insurance and home-raising as a single source offering while also establishing a Home Raising Training Academy in Hampton Roads.
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