The Brooks Crossing Innovation Lab was the result of collaboration between Old Dominion University, the City of Newport News, and Newport News Shipbuilding, in order to bring together shipyard workers, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Outreach and Workforce Development. The Brooks Crossing Innovation Lab is an instructional hub for STEM learning driven by team building and collaboration allowing opportunities for students and people of all ages, abilities, and disciplines to learn by designing creative solutions to real-world problems. It is the first and only lab of its kind in Virginia.

Design Principles for Brooks Crossing Innovation Lab are:

- Be a place where, through team building and collaboration, students will develop social and communication skills as they become responsible citizens and leaders of the future.
- Establish an environment that will encourage participants (students, innovators, and all stakeholders) to be competitive locally, nationally, and globally.
- Be accessible to all learners by removing barriers to broad-scale engagement.
- Be an instructional hub for STEM Learning, driven by a value-added-based curriculum, allowing visitors to work in a safe environment to develop work-ready skills for existing and future industry needs as well as be a model for professional development and continuing education.
- Respond to the needs of a diverse and evolving community to create a welcoming, safe, inclusive, and collaborative environment where participants can learn and grow, both personally and professionally, as they innovate, transform, and create new opportunities.
- Model a relevant and diverse outreach and engagement strategy that empowers the community and garners buy-in.
- Cultivate a culture of producers and makers that will use their collaborative thinking and products to contribute to the community at large.
- Provide continuous learning opportunities for people of all ages, abilities, and disciplines to conceptualize and design creative solutions to real-world problems.
- Provide learning opportunities for pre-school aged children with the intent to foster interest in STEM prior to entering elementary school.
- Provide opportunities for ongoing internal and external evaluation and data analysis that is responsive to community needs in order to continue to improve programming in the lab.

Brooks Crossing Innovation Lab opened on August 24, 2019 with strategic focus areas to include: increase STEM education and opportunities for Newport News, Hampton, and regional students (K–12); elevate the economic status of the area (social mobility) by creating opportunities for digital innovation and upskilling to increase employability (18+); align post-secondary programs, workforce development training and technical certifications to increase employability (ages 18+), and fulfill future workforce demands forecasted by major industries in the region.