photo credit: Leidos

Innovation, shore enough: Reston-based Leidos’ autonomous landing craft was deployed outside the continental United States for the first time, Naval Technology reported. The demonstration was conducted in Albania in support of Defender-Europe 21, an annual U.S. Army-led, multinational, joint exercise designed to build readiness and interoperability between U.S., NATO and partner militaries. A sailor remotely moored the vessel to the roll-on-roll-off deployment facility during the exercise. In addition to autonomously beaching itself, the vessel carried a load to the pier from the Sealift Command ship. According to Leidos, the program demonstrated its existing and future ship-to-shore capabilities while operating autonomously as part of a deployed group operating near the shore.

We Are Greater Washington: Localities across Greater Washington, including Fairfax County, plan to work together to pursue federal funding for regional economic-development priorities in a new effort spearheaded by a nonprofit that’s spent the pandemic promoting greater local collaboration. Connected DMV, an organization of government, business and academic leaders working on regional issues, will launch and manage a joint program office called “We Are Greater Washington” aimed at steering federal money made available by the American Rescue Plan and other programs to the D.C. area. FCEDA President and CEO Victor Hoskins has been leading the Connected DMV initiative to create a regional economic development strategy. The Washington Business Journal has more.

C-ing globally: Tysons-based event-management software firm Cvent is among eight companies to graduate most recently from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Virginia Leaders in Export Trade (VALET) program, Gov. Ralph Northam announced last week. The VALET program helps Virginia companies use international exporting as a growth strategy. During the two-year program, businesses learn international sales plan development services through trainings from international service providers, meetings with potential partners, educational events and market research, Virginia Business reported.

A bridge not too far: Qualtrics International reached a deal to acquire Reston software company Clarabridge for $1.13 billion in stock. Qualtrics makes software that allows companies to survey customer feedback. It spun out of German software giant SAP SE earlier this year. The Provo, Utah, company gains Clarabridge’s AI-powered software that combs social media, customer service support chats and other channels for feedback about a customer’s experience, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Galleria of pent-up demand: Shopping mall owners across the D.C. region and the nation have sought to adapt to the changing retail market by transforming old department store boxes, and the latest example in Tysons has quickly succeeded in backfilling the space. Brookfield Properties told Bisnow it renovated the 260,000-square foot former Macy’s space at Tysons Galleria and has fully leased it to 10 new tenants, including CMX CinéBistro, Bowlero, RH, ArHaus and Crate & Barrel. Brookfield also said it has multiple deals it can’t yet disclose, including one with a “high-profile” restaurateur. These deals were in the works before the pandemic, according to Chris Pine, Brookfield’s EVP of anchors and big box leasing. “Everything that we did seems to have hit the market perfectly,” Pine said. “Furniture and home is one of strongest categories in retail right now, and we’re well-represented by some of the best operators in the category. And then entertainment and restaurants, there’s people with a lot of pent-up demand to go to restaurants and seek out entertainment and theaters as well.”

Very hot market: IDEMIA CEO Donnie Scott told the Washington Business Journal that he wants to accelerate the digital-identity business post-pandemic. The Paris-based global security firm, which bases its North American subsidiary in Reston, provides identity authentication tools. Scott, named CEO of the company’s North American operations in June, said the company has weathered many of the pandemic’s effects. And perhaps because of the pandemic, the digital-identity industry is picking up steam in a way that shows both the benefits of technology modernization trends and the need for some alternatives to physical identification. “I think the identity space and the contactless biometrics space is a very hot market with a lot of eyes on it,” Scott said.

Supporting woman veteran entrepreneurs: Tysons-based PenFed Foundation is launching a bootcamp accelerator program for women veteran entrepreneurs in collaboration with the Department of Veteran Affairs. Female veterans from 29 different states interested in starting a business will participate in the four-month program, which culminates in a pitch competition. The pitch winner will receive a $15,000 grant from PenFed, with $10,000 and $5,000 grants for second and third place. The bootcamp follows the foundation’s Veteran Entrepreneur Investment Program, which launched in April of 2018 and offered seed investments to women vets, reported Technical.ly/DC.

Got game: Tysons-based Gannett signed an agreement with the American subsidiary of European sports betting and gaming firm Tipico Group to partner on sports betting and digital gaming. The deal will integrate the Tipico Sportsbook brand into the more than 250 local news sites throughout the USA Today Network, including The Indianapolis Star and Detroit Free Press, as well as 200-plus sports news sites in Gannett’s USA Today Sports Media Group, such as For the Win, Golfweek and others, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Noble endeavor: Reston-based Noblis announced that the company has launched Noblis MSD, a newly rebranded subsidiary made up of the recently acquired McKean Defense Group and Cabrillo Technologies, to deliver solutions that drive new levels of “scale, agility, efficiency and innovation” for the U.S. Navy and other defense clients. “Noblis MSD combines decades of specialized defense mission domain knowledge with the latest technological innovation, and the resulting synergies will directly benefit both our clients and our employees,” said Amr ElSawy, president and CEO of Noblis. The Washington Business Journal has more.

Here comes the sun: Tysons-based LMI acquired Falls Church firm Suntiva, in order to provide LMI with deep offerings in hot markets like technology modernization, workforce services and business optimization operations, the Washington Business Journal reported. It’s the first time since the pandemic that the Tysons government consulting not-for-profit has turned to M&A since acquiring The Tauri Group in February 2019.

Silver lining: When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, it felt as if the long-running goal of transforming Tysons from a commuter-driven “edge city” into a vibrant, urban, walkable destination “would be so disrupted,” said Victor Hoskins, president and CEO of the FCEDA. But the increase in social distancing and remote work caused by the pandemic “actually has improved the kinds of things we thought we could do,” he said. “Out of unfortunate circumstances, we’ve found new ways to do the work that we do.” Those new ways have included creating more bicycle and walking paths and making better use of public spaces, Hoskins said. “It sounds small, but it’s happening and it’s creating a better sense of place” in keeping with the long-term vision for Tysons, he says, “and we want to hold on to all of those things.” Hoskins isn’t the only one who sees a silver lining in the otherwise dire events of the past year and a half. See Virginia Business to read more.

Hops-ing down the bunny trail: Bunnyman Brewing opened at 5583 Guinea Road, Fairfax. The brewery, started by Fairfax County friends Sam Gray and Eric Barrett, capitalizes on the urban legend involving a person in a bunny suit with a hatchet or axe in Clifton decades ago, and it is the first brewery in the Burke area. Burke Patch hopped in the news.