George Mason University Unveils $254M Tech Hub

George Mason University has opened up a new state-of-the-art tech research hub featuring capacity for artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and drone development.

George Mason’s Fuse building – a $254 million, 345,000-sqaure-foot public-private hub – aims to be a “beacon” for students, researchers, and entrepreneurs and foster technological advances in Northern Virginia, the Fairfax County, Va.-based university announced.

“The most surefire way to strengthen an innovation ecosystem is for a top-tier research university, local industry, and the community to join together in partnership,” Gregory Washington, president of George Mason, said in a statement.

In addition to special lab spaces for different technologies, the building also features office spaces, retail, and co-working areas and classrooms, the university added. Around 75 percent of the building’s commercially available space have already been claimed.

The building will be open and available to students starting in the fall 2025 semester.

Fuse also supports the Tech Talent Investment Program, a Virginia state-wide program which aims to expand computer science, computer engineering, and software engineering degrees by producing 25,000 additional tech graduates across a 20-year span. The hub also will house George Mason’s Institute for Digital Innovation and its new School of Computing, which will feature courses in AI, data analytics, and cybersecurity.

The new hub also aims to be a “catalyst for economic growth,” transforming Northern Virginia into a tech center of the eastern United States while also helping to “fuel the economies of the region and the commonwealth of Virginia,” the university said.

“When we started the Fuse project in April of 2022, I said then that we’re not just breaking ground on a building – we’re breaking ground on Virginia’s future,” said Washington. “That future begins in earnest today with the Fuse leasing grand opening.”