Pancopia held their five-year anniversary celebration and ribbon cutting ceremony for their newly expanded space in the National Institute of Aerospace building in Hampton on Nov. 7. Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck, several dignitaries from the United States Department of Agriculture and NASA and members of the Reaktor Business Technology Innovation Center and engineering community were in attendance for the event as Pancopia revealed their new 4,000-square-foot laboratory and working space.
Pancopia is a private environmental and energy engineering company that specializes in wastewater treatment and research and development projects. The company is creating resourceful solutions that are both economically and energy efficient. By utilizing a nutrient management technology, Pancopia has developed a water purification system that recycles wastewater into drinking water for the International Space Station. They will also improve irrigation water quality and animal health as a part of their first agricultural installation in 2020.
Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck and Pancopia Chief Executive Officer Bill Cumbie cutting the ribbon in Pancopia’s newly expanded space.
With their expansion, the small business is creating additional jobs as well as establishing a nexus for talent and collaboration with businesses within their industry. “We love Hampton and Hampton is our home, but the whole area has a lot of potential too,” remarked Chief Executive Officer Bill Cumbie. “There are a lot connections here that if we can exploit, we can make this area like a Silicon Valley for environmental engineering.”
Mayor Donnie Tuck added, “In Hampton, we’re trying our best to diversify our economy, and we see ourselves really as kind of a research hub…when you think about what NASA has, the National Institute of Aerospace, the kinds of projects that Langley Air Force Base has and then just all of the supporting businesses, we do have that research hub.” Tuck views Pancopia and the Reaktor incubator as part of an effort that is “growing Hampton.”
